The Climb
Life is a journey we walk alone
A steady path
With no road home
Time is a war against the unknown
Fears reside
Within every bone
Strangers come and lovers go
Leaving scars
And wounds below
Age descends as years pass by
Feet on the ground
And eyes to the sky
Mistakes count too many
Yet joys are too few
We hold on tight and enjoy the view
The stumble you see is in your eyes
To me it is a pace
As I meet the rise
The stone in my shoe has been there a while
It eases the pain
When I climb the next stile
So join me now on this lonely climb
The hill that awaits
Is yours and mine
A Handful of Rain
I was drifting in from nowhere on a prayer and kiss
Life passed me by, 34 years I had missed
So how did this happen and when did she come?
Like Louise in the attic of Dylan’s radio hum
A handful of rain, a handful of rain
Tempting me to defy it
My scruff bag sweetheart, you don’t know how to buy it
She came from nowhere and she carried my name
Talking to a banana in her wild childhood game
Mercurial mouth and missionary times
Lost in a dream of music and rhymes
A handful of rain, a handful of rain
Tempting me to defy it
My scruff bag sweetheart, you don’t know how to buy it
She captured my heart by words in the mist
Still waiting in line for her geranium kiss
Floating ‘cross the airwaves from time gone by
Tracing blood on blood to the fog on the Tyne
A handful of rain, a handful of rain
Tempting me to defy it
My scruff bag sweetheart, you don’t know how to buy it
Insomniac cat now dancing on her bed
Sixty miles away morning sky’s turning red
Sleepless in Seattle ghostly figures at my door
And words that trip unconscious from phone to the floor
A handful of rain, a handful of rain
Tempting me to defy it
My scruff bag sweetheart, you don’t know how to buy it
She holds my hand in a dream undercover
Tracing Patti and Frederick asleep she’s my lover
Under a southern cross she casts the years unspent
Matching I for eye for a back broken and bent
A handful of rain, a handful of rain
Tempting me to defy it
My scruff bag sweetheart, you don’t know how to buy it
So how did we meet and where do we go?
On a boat on a river we meander and flow
But my darling you have me for time to come
I know I have found you and found my home
A handful of rain, a handful of rain
Tempting me to defy it
My scruff bag sweetheart, together we try it
Future Comfort
Sweet gentleness
Your name is life
It surrounds my being
Cuts like a knife
Cascades and unfolds
In all that I do
The love that surrounds me
And the friendships too
I watch the rain fall
And the winter does grip
But your warmth it envelops
So nothing will slip
Risk and perspective
Valour and pain
Is marked here forever
Though death does remain
So fear not my love
As we walk up that road
Stronger than ever
Let me carry your load
And we come now full circle
To the top of the hill
And hold hands together
Brave blood to spill
For love is not blinded
And neither is truth
As my tale unfolds gently
Our own fountain of youth.
A Day in the Life
A blackbird is singing, grass growing high
There’s a soft cotton dress on the line hanging dry
The window’s wide open, Acacia trees
Yellow wash gently in a warm summer breeze
He sits at his desk, pencil in hand
Watching and waiting for his grey dove to land
A train rumbles slowly, along the old track
There’s smoke in the air from behind the shack
Feel the pulse and vibration and the rumbling force
A young girl is out there upon a white horse
He sits at his desk, pencil in hand
Watching and waiting for his grey dove to land
A faint message appears in the hand of Hermes
Love and affection ‘mid the fluttering leaves
Hope is rekindled, and his brave life it does float
Cool is the wind as he picks up his coat
He sits at his desk, pencil in hand
Watching and waiting for his grey dove to land
Love Minus Zero
Scarred and scared
Battle weary and blind
To a life so shattered
And hope left behind
You came from the stars
And opened my eyes
You healed my scars
And softened my cries
I give you my heart
My life you do fill
We won’t tear apart
My wondrous Gill
Comfort Zone
She cuddles up beside me
The log fire is burning bright
I whisper that I love her
We’re settled for the night
The music plays quite softly
Our glasses both half full
Her head it rests upon me
Warmed by old lamb’s wool
Love is
Love is
Love is
Love is just a pretext for a better place to be
A fox slides through the hedgerow
The owl hoots a new refrain
The wind it howls like thunder
And suggests a chance of rain
The new moon casts mad shadows
Across the placid pond
The air it is enchanted
From the doorstep and beyond
Love is
Love is
Love is
Love is just a pretext for a better place to be
A half familiar key change
A riff that sounds so blue
Guitar music fills the air
It was made for me and you
You searched for love eternal
Now tell me what you found
A passage of lost time
And we are homeward bound
Love is
Love is
Love is
Love is just a pretext for a better place to be
My wedding ring shone brightly
As I hit that final chord
It held our love so tightly
When the final lyric poured
Love is
Love is
Love is
Love is just a pretext for a better place to be
September Song
Boots and bottles and a telescope reel
No-one knows just how I feel
Sitting blindly by a Catherine Wheel
I open my arms to you
Write me a song to sing all day long
Catch me a tune to howl at the moon
Watch me waltz on a silver spoon
I open my arms to you
My golden daughter does what she oughta
Reading medical books with whisky and water
The words get longer but never shorter
I open my arms to you
The breakdown came the breakdown went
Forty-four years they were paid and spent
I’ll pack up my shoes and buy a new tent
I open my arms to you
The sun still warms the September air
The grass is green and the day is fair
I look at my life with barely a care
I open my arms to you
The fox it will run and the bat does fly
The poacher stares at the empty sky
Time it passes with no reason to cry
I open my arms to you
No-one hears the call
Sunlight dapples
Oak tree tops
Above the leaded roof
The sky screams
Infinity
Searching for the truth
Victorian tiles
Line the attic
Of Dylan’s distant vision
The rain cascades
Torrential
Reaching no decision
Radiators rumble
Shunning silence
With dim electric noise
The heating coughs
Creative
Humanity destroys
Window shutters
Cause shadows
Upon the study wall
The day’s stillness
Meanders
No-one hears the call
Fly Sweet Sparrow, Fly
I once held you in my hand
Your broken wing
Hung limply
Your heart it sang
And above the sand
The clouds they drifted
Simply
Fly Sweet Sparrow, Fly
Try to touch
The Sky
The sun it calls you
High
Fly Sweet Sparrow, Fly
I once held you in my arms
Your broken heart
Lay bleeding
Your soul it cried
And behind your eyes
Your spirit it was
Pleading
Fly Sweet Sparrow, Fly
Try to touch
The Sky
The sun it calls you
High
Fly Sweet Sparrow, Fly
I once held you in my mind
Your mercury mouth
Was singing
Your voice it chimed
But beyond your song
Your life it now was
Clinging
Fly Sweet Sparrow, Fly
Try to touch
The Sky
The sun it calls you
High
Fly Sweet Sparrow, Fly
I once held you in my heart
Your timeless love
Was fleeting
Your face it shone
In a world gone wrong
Your memory is still
Beating
Song of hope
In my life of two thousand summers
I have no regrets
Or remorse
Would I have done some things differently?
Would I change some decisions?
Well, of course.
One life
One hope
One love
One spirit
Forever
For you
But we run this race only once
We become who we are
By our deeds
Our words make us human and vulnerable
And love opens our heart
Till it bleeds.
One life
One hope
One love
One spirit
Forever
For you
So look at your friends and your enemies
They are all human
Like you
They hate and they fear for their failures
And those that leave a mark
Are so few.
One life
One hope
One love
One spirit
Forever
For you
So let’s each make our lives individual
Loving and brave
From our soul
Reach out to our fellow human creatures
So their hopes and broken lives
Become whole.
One life
One hope
One love
One spirit
Forever
For you
Love Has Many Faces
Love has many faces
Of warmth
And lies
And lust
Love has many places
Of kisses
And hugs
And rust
Love has many chases
Of youth
And life
And trust
Love has many graces
Of tenderness
Hope
And must
Love has many cases
Of memories
Promises
And dust
Powdered Chalk and Diamonds
When I first saw you
Time stood still
Your hair
Your face
Your smile
Powdered chalk and diamonds
They shone in your eyes for a while
When I first met you
Time stood still
Your warmth
Your laugh
Your love
Powdered chalk and diamonds
An unexpected gift shared from above
When I married you
Time stood still
Your beauty
Your scent
Your touch
Powdered chalk and diamonds
Told the world I would always be your crutch
When I last saw you
Time stood still
Your hug
Your promise
Your need
Powdered chalk and diamonds
Help our lives to somehow succeed
Tell Me
You tell me that you love me
You tell me that it’s true
You tell me you’ll be here tomorrow
But I don’t know what to do
Cos I don’t know the reason for your loving
The reason for your sighs
The reason for your confidence
The reason for your cries
I look beyond the emptiness that I feel inside
I look for something bigger on the greener side
But all the while I struggle
With this warring tide
And the words you spoke in anger
You hoped that I would die
So tell me darling, tell me
What is it that you see?
What is it that you’re hoping for?
What do you see in me?
Because you don’t tell me.
Sign Language
You sign to me in semaphore
You talk to me in Greek
You leave me hidden messages
But I cannot hear you speak
The words they dance before you
Like mummers in a play
Your mouth it makes to open
But I cannot hear you say
“I love you”
Island Dreamer
I left my heart in the islands
On a westerly breeze
Purple heather blooming
Amid bare rowan trees
Bluebells blazing
Where the fast waters flow
The time has come
For me to go
Feel like a prisoner
In a bleak city world
Need to turn back the clock
To where the wild cat is curled
My heart’s in the islands
Wherever I roam
That’s where I’ll be
When I get called home
Feel like I’m drifting
On a grey rolling sea
Watching mermaids dance
And they’re singing to me
But the waves wash deep
Over a mortal dream
And nothing is as easy
As it once did seem
Feel like my love was
Lost in the glen
On a mountain side
Where the stags rut again
On the rocky shore
My heart begins to burn
By a smoking peat fire
Someday I’ll return
My heart’s in the islands
At the break of dawn
When I left there
I hadn’t even been born
Just a young man all at sea
I threw too much out of the door
Now I am further away
Than ever before
Feel like I’m lost
So I sit and yearn
Some things in life
Take an age to unlearn
The sun outside shines on me
But not like the sun that used to be
On the ben I see the winter hare
I’m not lost, I’m already there
Shades of Abandoned Love
I can feel your hand upon my knee
Deceived once more by the clown inside of me
My head tells me it’s time to make a change
But my heart is screaming I need you, something strange
Love was found
Rekindled
And then lost
Sitting here trying to count
The cost
Of an abandoned love
Everybody’s wearing a disguise
To hide what they’ve got left behind their eyes
But me, I can’t cover what I am
Wherever the spirits go I’ll just follow them
Love was found
Rekindled
And then lost
Sitting here trying to count
The cost
Of an abandoned love
I’ve given up the game, I’ve got to leave
The pot of gold is only make-believe
The treasure can’t be found by men who search
Whose gods are dead and buried deep within the church
Love was found
Rekindled
And then lost
Sitting here trying to count
The cost
Of an abandoned love
We sat in an imaginary place and we kissed
I asked you please to cross me off your list
You looked at me with a smile upon your lips
Your heart it heaved towards me in another script
Love was found
Rekindled
And then lost
Sitting here trying to count
The cost
Of an abandoned love
One more time at midnight, near the wall
Put aside your unspoken fears and your shawl
Please come out from the dark room where you sit?
Let me feel your love once more before you abandon it
Love was found
Rekindled
And then lost
Sitting here trying to count
The cost
Of an abandoned love
Coloured Memories
It was in another lifetime
When we walked together
On the moss
Hope it stretched before us
Beneath the Southern Cross
Blue, the sky explodes above you
Green, the leaves they dapple free
Brown, the earth beneath our feet
Black, the colour of the mud
It was in another lifetime
When we talked together
In the woods
Laughter it sang so sweetly
The wine it tasted good
Blue, the sky explodes above you
Green, the leaves they dapple free
Brown, the earth beneath our feet
Black, the colour of the mud
It was in another lifetime
When we danced together
On the green
Our feet moved so swiftly
Your beauty could be seen
Blue, the sky explodes above you
Green, the leaves they dapple free
Brown, the earth beneath our feet
Black, the colour of the mud
It was in another lifetime
When we drank together
In the yard
Words they flowed so freely
Written upon a card
Blue, the sky explodes above you
Green, the leaves they dapple free
Brown, the earth beneath our feet
Black, the colour of the mud
It was in another lifetime
When we laughed together
By the lake
I told you that I loved you
Was that my last mistake?
Blue, the sky explodes above you
Green, the leaves they dapple free
Brown, the earth beneath our feet
Black, the colour of the mud
Opposites
Black after white
Peace after fight
Day after night
Holding onto the light
You came into my life
Like the cut of a knife
Then you entered my soul
And made me feel whole
Sun after rain
Love after pain
Loss after gain
Easing into my brain
You’re there in the dawn
On the wind you are born
Now you fill up my soul
And make me feel whole
Vision
Your face
Your voice
Your eyes
Your hair
I sense you here
And everywhere
The sun
The rain
The night
The day
My love for you
Does not decay
Redemption Song
I stand here amazed
Lost in your gaze
Emerging from hell
In a delicate shell
You came and you saw
Just like the law
I gave you my soul
And it made me feel whole
One life
One chance
One kiss
One dance
I asked for some time
Tasted your wine
Looking to the sky
As the comet passed by
You came and you saw
Just like the law
I gave you my soul
And it made me feel whole
One life
One chance
One kiss
One dance
You waltzed by the moon
At the dark of the noon
Standing so still
My glass yet to fill
You came and you saw
Just like the law
I gave you my soul
And it made me feel whole
One life
One chance
One kiss
One dance
The Moving Finger Writes
On the windswept dales of limestone Karst
See Emily play
A romantic farce
Heathcliff searches
For a Wuthering lust
The window glass shatters
Life returns to dust
But true love never dies
As the darkness fades to light
My soul is yours to keep
Bill Burroughs is writing tonight
My love she sleeps in Cham
In a bed of Norwegian wood
My heart is buried somewhere
Under Dylan’s old Milkwood
On the melting tarmac of Kerouac’s road
The sun now rises
On Sal’s paradise load
Dean Moriarty sleeps
His heart trips a beat
Life it still creeps
But true love never dies
As the darkness fades to light
My soul is yours to keep
Bill Burroughs is writing tonight
My love she sleeps in Cham
In a bed of Norwegian wood
My heart is buried somewhere
Under Dylan’s old Milkwood
On the frozen streets of forgotten Oslo
Knut Hamsun he tries to write
But words are just a show
As the hunger eats within
From Kafka, Joyce and Camus
His life is full of sin
But true love never dies
As the darkness fades to light
My soul is yours to keep
Bill Burroughs is writing tonight
My love she sleeps in Cham
In a bed of Norwegian wood
My heart is buried somewhere
Under Dylan’s old Milkwood
On Woody’s slow railroad train
The hobos beg for dimes
His broken voice remains
In another singer’s song
His tune plays ever onward
Bound for glory all along
But true love never dies
As the darkness fades to light
My soul is yours to keep
Bill Burroughs is writing tonight
Willow’s End
I’ll wait for you where the Willow bends
Where lives and deeds make no amends
Branches and leaves punctate the sky
Life races quickly
And the grey gulls fly
Talk to me, talk to me, we have such little time
We drift this way and pass sublime
And sip our cup of blood red wine
I’ll wait for you where the fenland breaks
Where time releases our past mistakes
Branches and leaves punctate the sky
Life races quickly
And the grey gulls fly
Talk to me, talk to me, we have such little time
The day it breaks and shadows fade
Into a life of light and shade
I’ll wait for you by the wooded glen
Where lovers search for the souls of men
Branches and leaves punctate the sky
Life races quickly
And the grey gulls fly
Talk to me, talk to me, we have such little time
Turn and face the tangled weeds
Forget the curse of forgotten deeds
I’ll wait for you on the old brown moss
Where the water birds don’t count the cost
Branches and leaves punctate the sky
Life races quickly
And the grey gulls fly
Talk to me, talk to me, we have such little time
Clouds of oblivion blow around my head
And we creep still closer to the living dead
I’ll wait for you where the seas cascade
Where life and death are not betrayed
Branches and leaves punctate the sky
Life races quickly
And the grey gulls fly
Talk to me, talk to me, we have such little time
Then drink to me at the graveside brae
And pray together for the passing day
Poppy
Little Poppy fell into the swollen river
She was clinging to a branch
Our breakfast passed by childishly
The poor bitch didn’t have a chance
Just one night
On this lonely night
In the stardust of the fading light
You came to me in black and white
Embracing all my dreams
On the rising curve
Where the ways of life test every nerve
We won’t get anything we don’t deserve
Where we were born in time
You came, you saw
Just like the law
You bound up my heart
On another shore
I fell for you
And you for me
Our lives they were one
Now lost at sea
You are snow, I’m in the rain
You are beauty, I am plain
Oh my Gill, truer words
Have not been spoken or broken
In the hills of mystery
In the foggy web of destiny
You can have what’s left of me
Where we were born in time
Oh fragile flower
In an autumn shower
I watch you bloom
From my ivory tower
I’ll tend your needs
Pull the weeds
And fill our lives
With better deeds
Leather Bound Memories
You wore grey
On that blissful day
Your love cut like a knife
A handful of rain was all I gave
As you held my hand so tight
Just leather bound memories
Our lives were grey
On that frightening day
I feared for my new wife
We waited for fragmented time
Magic and loss returned your life
Just leather bound memories
The future was grey
On that fateful day
Into your wide arms I fell
Abuse and pain ate through my brain
Forty-three years of a living hell
Just leather bound memories
The sky was grey
On that moving day
Into Alice’s hole you stumbled
The snap, the break, the huge mistake
In chaos the dead spirits mumbled
Just leather bound memories
Your dress is still grey
On this broken day
Like Lennon’s dream recalled
A Revolution 9 as I sip the wine
And remember these times before
Just leather bound memories
Tortured Blues
And now that it is over
He could sit and count the cost
Wondering if she’d changed at all
And realised what they had lost
He was standing in the driving rain
Water filling up his shoe
She was lying on a snow white bed
Hair and face were all askew
Tortured by the blues
He found shelter in a small café
Writing hymns and poems on the wall
She slipped close by and cursed at him
They were both heading for a fall
Outside the booths were filling up
Minstrels and waiters in the queue
He stopped nearby and filled his cup
The last romantic of the few
Tortured by the blues
Their breaking up was a tempest storm
Promises and words were said in vain
She withdrew from the human race
Neither one could take the strain
He drowned himself in red wine
Street lanterns burned green and blue
Once their love was something fine
Now it was split like cracked bamboo
Tortured by the blues
Another year had passed by slow
His young face was lined with pain
She lay wrecked in a juniper bed
They both had to start out again
But all the while he was alone
Clinging to an old church pew
Women came and lovers went
The howling wind it ripped right through
Tortured by the blues
The Hill
The hill that we climb
Is the sweetest decline
But does not define
Our journey
Our lives are entwined
With gold ties that bind
Yet we cannot find
The summit
Our eyes are both blind
To what was left behind
And it scrambles the mind
With regret
The sun it does shine
And the day is yet fine
To light up the decline
Together
No Time to Think 