Better Skies
Maybe somewhere there are better skies for us
Room to spread our wings and a fairer air
Sweet cool breeze and smell of the ocean
Broad horizons and endless summer nights
Sleeping under a billion pinpoints of light
Maybe somewhere there are better skies for us
Room to spread our wings and a fairer air
Sweet cool breeze and smell of the ocean
Broad horizons and endless summer nights
Sleeping under a billion pinpoints of light
Had a dream last night
made somebody cry
I don’t often dream
but last night I did
No lover refused
departed from me
and grieving passed by
his head in his hands
Shocked and bewildered
I could not decide
just what I had said
what crime I had done
In my dream last night
brought someone to tears
no concept of why
but last night I did
I want to lie with you in a green field
feel the cool grass against our necks
the soft breeze across the paddock
and the brush of your hand on mine
I want to walk with you on a quiet beach
smell the salt and the clean brine air
lay our warm blankets in the dunes
crack a flask of creamy hot chocolate
I want to sit with you in a forest clearing
let the pine needles fall through my fingers
watch you as you fill your sketchbook
breathe deep of the damp woody perfume
Here in this verdant pasture
deep rooted and age gnarled
yet somehow quite delicate
grey-brown and lichen cladYour branches have sheltered
so many playful innocent lambs
in their daffodils of spring
they have grown in your shadeAnd now in this your season
burst forth a cloud upon the land
a brilliant explosion of blossom
ten million butterflies of pink
Every morning ordinarily
I pull on a delicate robe
of finespun featherweight silk
and then go out in to the world
A hand-made outer garment
my facade of some normality
I work hard to keep opacity
but sometimes the light seeps through
Abandoned by modern aspirations
replaced by concrete and steel
warped and shrinking timbers
an amber chaff of peeling paintStill in place where it was discarded
vine-wrapped and faded away
empty window eyes and doorway mouth
cracked brick of a chimney askewOnce the vibrant happy homestead
the laughter of children now ghosts
green moss in contrast in a sea of grey
a cold and unsettling inertia
Twinkle on the harbour, stars…
a token in light for me to keep
burn brighter on this my final night
and stay here for me
until I return
You were so vivid on Saturday
I was listening to your song
the one about the space man
so strange and full of wonder
I’d been waiting for you for days
to hear what you had to tell me
this time could be the last
I hoped like crazy that it wasn’t
You sounded lively and electric
new things and places to explore
a jewelled skull on a faraway world
clear signal to the initiate one
Then you were gone on Sunday
I was listening to your song
the one which became a farewell
so quiet and yet full of wonder
Sometimes we get so caught up
in obsessing about people that we
forget to smell the flowers or
appreciate the sunrise
Human life can throw up so much
fodder for our outpourings
occasionally we need to dip
our feet in to a stream
Cast aside the drama of our
limited existence and remember
that there’s still a wondrous
world beyond the door
so don’t ignore it
Oh sweet butterfly
were you so tired
and did you know
that your faded wings
once simmering
once brilliant would
soon fall silent and still?
Oh mariposa
is that why you flew
so violently in to the
gathering clouds
your fragile body torn
and falling back to us
like terrible confetti?