A Grief Observed

Oh to leave behind this

Feeling

The lost souls are still

Bleeding

I watched you

On the beach

The white horses

Crashed Vein hopes

Dashed

But in my dreams

You were calling

But still

Out of reach My Shannon

 

Oh to leave behind this

Feeling

The lost souls are still

Bleeding

The years

The fears

The broken raven

Dies

At my window

While time

Ticks

The years passing

But not love

Without you

My Shannon

Songs and Poems for my Lost Daughters

Darling Great Queen

Blonde and blue-eyed

My darling great queen

Your gentleness

Shines out before you

I made a life promise

The day you were born

That never could I

Dare to leave you

 

Clever and caring

My darling great queen

Your gentleness

Shines out before you

I watched as you grew

And started at school

I never thought once

I would lose you

 

Learning and loving

My darling great queen

Your gentleness

Shines out before you

Ten years now have passed

My heart beats too fast

To think of that life

Gone without you

 

Searching and seeking

My darling great queen

Your gentleness

Shines out before you

A grey life lived on the rim

Because my love never dims

A broken heart reaches

Northwards to you

 

 

Time is an Ocean

Windward…

The spring day dawned warm

Wrapped in riggings of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Into my strong arms you were born

Wrapped in sheets of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

I cuddled your tiny body close

Wrapped in a spinnaker of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

My promise to you was bonded

Wrapped in a stay sail of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

I watched you grow in beauty

Wrapped in a helm of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Your first word was ‘daddy’

Wrapped in a lateen of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

We watched you laugh and play

Wrapped a genoa of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Leeward…

You were snatched from my arms

Wrapped in a beam of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

Tears flowed and lies were told

Wrapped in shrouds of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

They blew out my candle

Wrapped in a foremast of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

They could not blow out the fire

Wrapped in a main sail of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Cos then the flame began to catch

Wrapped in a halyard of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

The wind whispers words of truth

Wrapped in a luff of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Now you must sail your way home

Wrapped in a lashing of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

 

Don’t Look Away

Sionnan I love you dearly

Don’t look away

I never left you

Sionnan I long to see you

Don’t look away

I am still waiting

Sionnan I long to hear you

Don’t look away

I still need you

Sionnan I long to hold you

Don’t look away

I am not leaving

Sionnan I long to kiss you

Don’t look away

I am not running

Sionnan I long to sense you

Don’t look away

I am still pleading

Sionnan I will not leave you

Don’t look away

This is your father

 

 

Shannon

Your blue eyes linger

With your impish grin

Your dark hair wavers

The joy that’s within

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

You play in the meadow

With sun in your hair

You shout at your sister

With barely a care

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

Your voice resonates

In the caverns of my mind

Your tears wash away

What was left behind

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

You run over the sand

Your buckets to fill

We sit and watch blithely

From the side of the hill

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

We walk the old wall

Along by the farm

You scream with laughter

Safe in my arm

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

Now the years have passed

The memories remain

It’s time to come home

It’s the end of the game

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

It’s the end of the song

 

 

Rhiannon

In this garden of weeds

Your flower still blooms

Like a memory of a time gone by

I can still hear your voice hang in the trees

And see your face in the clouds in the sky

 

Rhiannon, Rhiannon

My beautiful child

Named after a song

In times so wild

Dance in the meadows

And sing by the stream

Here in my heart

Where you’ve always been

 

In this room full of wonder

Your shadow still slips

Like a memory of something so fine

I can still hear your laughter rolling like thunder

And feel your heart beating next to mine

 

Rhiannon, Rhiannon

My beautiful child

Named after a song

In times so wild

Dance in the meadows

And sing by the stream

Here in my heart

Where you’ve always been

 

In this world full of grace

Your truth is an arrow

Like a memory of what used to be

I can still feel the touch of your hand on my face

And sense your spirit in the raging sea

 

Rhiannon, Rhiannon

My beautiful child

Named after a song

In times so wild

Dance in the meadows

And sing by the stream

Here in my heart

Where you’ve always been

Precious memories of my beautiful daughters Rhia and Shannon captured in this single YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/gd21-pF0GtI

 

Songs and Poems of Love (2013-2015)

Songs and Poems of Love (2013-2015)

By Nic Outterside

I have always felt huge outpourings of love for my fellow human beings. Too often my love has been misplaced or miscarried, but that doesn’t mean it was not true.

Because love is always true.

So here is a collection of songs and poems of love and unrequited love for friends, soul mates, partners and lovers and my dear children.

I think they capture many moods and hope you enjoy some of them.

 

 

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

 

 

First Born

You were my first born

My blue-eyed son

A lifetime ago

Where are you now?

You were my true north

Son of my right hand

A lifetime ago

Where are you now?

You were my first joy

Son of the South

A lifetime ago

Where are you now?

You were my own pride

Youngest of Jacob

A lifetime ago

Where are you now?

You were my rock

Son of my sorrow

A lifetime ago

Where are you now?

You were my future

Love of my soul

A lifetime ago

Where are you now?

How did I wrong you?

Brave son of my loins

A lifetime ago

Where are you now?

You daddy is calling

Cross the green pasture

A lifetime ago

Where are you now?

So come home quickly

Time it has passed

A lifetime ago

Where are you now?

 

 

Darling Great Queen

Blonde and blue-eyed

My darling great queen

Your gentleness

Shines out before you

I made a life promise

The day you were born

That never could I

Dare to leave you

 

Clever and caring

My darling great queen

Your gentleness

Shines out before you

I watched as you grew

And started at school

I never thought once

I would lose you

 

Learning and loving

My darling great queen

Your gentleness

Shines out before you

Ten years now have passed

My heart beats too fast

To think of that life

Gone without you

 

Searching and seeking

My darling great queen

Your gentleness

Shines out before you

A grey life lived on the rim

Because my love never dims

A broken heart reaches

Northwards to you

 

 

Time is an Ocean

Windward…

The spring day dawned warm

Wrapped in riggings of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Into my strong arms you were born

Wrapped in sheets of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

I cuddled your tiny body close

Wrapped in a spinnaker of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

My promise to you was bonded

Wrapped in a stay sail of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

I watched you grow in beauty

Wrapped in a helm of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Your first word was ‘daddy’

Wrapped in a lateen of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

We watched you laugh and play

Wrapped a genoa of love

Hope bloomed eternal

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Leeward…

You were snatched from my arms

Wrapped in a beam of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

Tears flowed and lies were told

Wrapped in shrouds of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

They blew out my candle

Wrapped in a foremast of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

They could not blow out the fire

Wrapped in a main sail of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Cos then the flame began to catch

Wrapped in a halyard of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

The wind whispers words of truth

Wrapped in a luff of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

Now you must sail your way home

Wrapped in a lashing of love

My hope never dimmed

On an ocean of time

All those years ago

 

 

Don’t Look Away

Sionnan I love you dearly

Don’t look away

I never left you

Sionnan I long to see you

Don’t look away

I am still waiting

Sionnan I long to hear you

Don’t look away

I still need you

Sionnan I long to hold you

Don’t look away

I am not leaving

Sionnan I long to kiss you

Don’t look away

I am not running

Sionnan I long to sense you

Don’t look away

I am still pleading

Sionnan I will not leave you

Don’t look away

This is your father

 

 

Shannon

Your blue eyes linger

With your impish grin

Your dark hair wavers

The joy that’s within

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

You play in the meadow

With sun in your hair

You shout at your sister

With barely a care

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

Your voice resonates

In the caverns of my mind

Your tears wash away

What was left behind

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

You run over the sand

Your buckets to fill

We sit and watch blithely

From the side of the hill

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

We walk the old wall

Along by the farm

You scream with laughter

Safe in my arm

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

At the end of this song

 

Now 11 years have passed

The memories remain

It’s time to come home

It’s the end of the game

5,000 days is too long my daughter

Much too long

So please come home

It’s the end of the song

 

 

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.

 

 

Stolen Moments

Torch song

You touch me like the wind

Sad vignette

It has a tale to tell

Cast iron ballad

You are my planet wave

Sweet goddess

Your light it shows the way

Dylan’s night

The air it is so cold

Willow’s end

Struggling to the ledge

Dark beauty

Is buried in your past

Sweet goddess

Your light it shows the way

Dear Hazel

One lost moment of bliss

Easy breath

The phantoms of my youth

Forever young

A heart so full of joy

Sweet goddess

Your light it shows the way

Suicide Road

Now a song of freedom

Fallen angel

Rests under your wing

Frozen lake

Beautiful beyond words

Sweet goddess

Your light it shows the way

Turning tide

I love you more than blood

Our tune

We play it on this Earth

Breaking waves

The torch is lit again

Sweet goddess

Your light it shows the way

 

 

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

 

 

A New Clear Star

I was driving my son to school one day

When I spotted six wild deer

Skipping ‘cross the meadow, in the mist they were so clear

In the hexagram of my senses

They were the strings of my guitar

Oh Nathan, you are my new clear star

 

From the day that you arrived kicking

You were a bundle so very small

Now 13 years have passed and you’ve grown so tall

My life has become a film score

Of adventures from afar

Oh Nathan, you are my new clear star

 

People’ll tell you where they’ve gone

They’ll tell you where to go

But till you get there yourself you’ll never really know

Where some have found their paradise

Others just go too far

Oh Nathan, you are my new clear star

 

You’ve kicked your way to glory

With determination and some skill

You’re the mirror of my childhood, still with time to kill

At school you are a scholar

The payment for my scar

Oh Nathan, you are my new clear star

 

As the future burns so bright

The deer have now skipped away

The mist envelops the road ahead, turning light to grey

I think of all the things I’ve done

And how we’ve come so far

Oh Nathan, you are my new clear star

 

 

Inter Stella Overdrive

A piper at the gates of dawn

Told me today a new star had been born

From the cosmos of darkening life

Your reality cuts like a sharpened knife

A 9/11 baby cast from my planetary shell

An echo from when the twin towers fell

You are alive, alive, alive

Rock on my Inter Stella Overdrive

 

 

Rhiannon

In this garden of weeds

Your flower still blooms

Like a memory of a time gone by

I can still hear your voice hang in the trees

And see your face in the clouds in the sky

 

Rhiannon, Rhiannon

My beautiful child

Named after a song

In times so wild

Dance in the meadows

And sing by the stream

Here in my heart

Where you’ve always been

 

In this room full of wonder

Your shadow still slips

Like a memory of something so fine

I can still hear your laughter rolling like thunder

And feel your heart beating next to mine

 

Rhiannon, Rhiannon

My beautiful child

Named after a song

In times so wild

Dance in the meadows

And sing by the stream

Here in my heart

Where you’ve always been

 

In this world full of grace

Your truth is an arrow

Like a memory of what used to be

I can still feel the touch of your hand on my face

And sense your spirit in the raging sea

 

Rhiannon, Rhiannon

My beautiful child

Named after a song

In times so wild

Dance in the meadows

And sing by the stream

Here in my heart

Where you’ve always been

 

 

Nothing is Sacred

The essence of love holds fast

When all about it crumbles

Runners racing to be last

In life’s oldest fought battle.

Scurrying to their mansions

To watch the tempest below

But nothing there is sacred

As they yield unto the foe.

 

But only my love holds fast

In an everlasting confusion

Bridging future with the past

Until only the good survive

And bleed upon the Earth

Where there only is one victor

But no-one shows his head

And drown their fear in laughter.

 

 

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

 

 

Siren

Salt spray

The crashing waves

The sound of thunder

Can you hear it?

The ocean so deep

Your eyes shine

Your face, your smile

A vision shared to keep

I’ll keep it with mine

The siren of my dreams

I can never forget you

Old bathetic fool

I know that fate is cruel

I ought to forget it

Yes, I know it’s true

I’ve seen what love can do

But I don’t regret it

My voice chokes

I can no longer sing

I love you… but

I can see what’s happening

I must now admit it

Unrequited love

A tsunami from above

I have to accept that

Now within your coral sea

You swim so deep

And don’t need me

We’re both safer without it

Is that really the case?

If you were in my place

You never would doubt it

The mermaid of my dreams

I’ll never forget you

Can you hear the siren screams?

I’m glad that I met you

Old bathetic fool

Who has broken every rule

I tried to resist it

Though it’s all in vain

I’d do it all again

I’d give my world to you

Just to relive one minute

By your side

I have to admit it

As I fall in love

Your presence I breathe for

And I am not mistaken

So I think of when

And turn to sleep again

A lot was meant

But nothing was taken

 

 

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

 

 

Empathy

Beauty is a painted veil

Its colours are skin deep

Love is just a holy grail

Fading grey while you’re asleep

 

Don’t look away, I’ve drained the cup

And life’s race is all but run

Thinking of you when the sun comes up

To finish where I begun

 

Magic sparkles in the night

And laughter fills your dream

Hope dances in the morning light

Drifting away on an urgent stream

 

Don’t look away, I’ve drained the cup

And life’s race is all but run

Thinking of you when the sun comes up

To finish where I begun

 

Life it seems to crawl away

Drowned by rivers of blindness

Curtains shutter the brand new day

Floating on a sea of kindness

 

Don’t look away, I’ve drained the cup

And life’s race is all but run

Thinking of you when the sun comes up

To finish where I begun

 

Time lingers on the ocean’s edge

To where the soft winds blow

High up to that golden ledge

Looking back on what was left below

 

Don’t look away, I’ve drained the cup

And life’s race is all but run

Thinking of you when the sun comes up

To finish where I begun

 

 

Water’s Edge

By the water’s edge

The light fades

On the reeds

The chords

And sounds pervade

Across one thousand miles

Your dark eyes smile

 

By the water’s edge

The music dances

Laughter chances

As the day advances

The stillness evades

Across one thousand miles

Your dark eyes smile

 

By the water’s edge

The ragged dream

The broken seam

And flowing stream

The fish cascade

Across one thousand miles

Your dark eyes smile

 

By the water’s edge

Your beauty sings

On coloured wings

The sunset brings

Songs are played

Across one thousand miles

Your dark eyes smile

 

By the water’s edge

My heart it beats

As my soul competes

The stillness creeps

Into the rustic shade

Across one thousand miles

Your dark eyes smile

 

 

H Bomb

Come and sit here, you said

With that sparkle in your smile

Listen to the music we play

And linger for a while

 

H Bomb, H Bomb

You fell from heaven

And gave me new clear vision

With a love that lasts forever

Burning deep in our soul fission

 

You played those notes real deep

With precision and chords so blue

You held the bass line down

To elicit your choral hue

 

H Bomb, H Bomb

You fell from heaven

And gave me new clear vision

With a love that lasts forever

Burning deep in our soul fission

 

Your hair it held no dread for me

As it danced in pink and green

Your dark eyes they pierce me still

To the place that is unseen

 

H Bomb, H Bomb

You fell from heaven

And gave me new clear vision

With a love that lasts forever

Burning deep in our soul fission

 

You sipped deep at mother’s ruin

And sang songs into the night

We burned the evening oil

And laughed together until light

 

H Bomb, H Bomb

You fell from heaven

And gave me new clear vision

With a love that lasts forever

Burning deep in our soul fission

 

You stood in grey beside me

On that fateful wedding day

You held my hand so tightly

And made my heart feel gay

 

H Bomb, H Bomb

You fell from heaven

And gave me new clear vision

With a love that lasts forever

Burning deep in our soul fission

 

Oh Helen you are my soul mate

Your love it makes me glad

I’ll always be here for you

The daughter I never had

 

H Bomb, H Bomb

You fell from heaven

And gave me new clear vision

With a love that lasts forever

Burning deep in our soul fission

 

 

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 a southern 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

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

True Love Never Dies

The sky dawns grey

The branches they sway

Your beauty it knows no bounds

Our eyes they still meet

And your lips taste sweet

The brute is running from the hounds

 

By rivers of blindness

My love is pure kindness

We’ll drink another cup when we meet

It’s the cutting of fences

To sharpen the senses

That linger in the fireball’s heat

 

So come with me quietly

Dance with me briskly

This time is for us both to share

This true love will never die

For the sky does not lie

The evil of man will be laid bare

 

So bang the drum slowly

And play the harp lowly

You know the song in my heart

In the turning of twilight

In the shadows of moonlight

You can show me a new place to start