Mr Trebus

I didn't know, I told my friends
I only saw the odds and ends
Littered over his garden.
I didn't know, I couldn't see
The person that he used to be
Before his confusion.
We used to call the council too
They'd charge him for the work, it's true
...though he hated them.

The blow fly problem abated for a little while.
The rats had nowhere to hide until he provided more
accommodation.

I couldn't see, I told my friends
A garden full of odds and ends
Obliterated the man.
I couldn't know, I didn't see
He once was just like you and me
Before his confusion.
The council took his stuff away
It took them more than half a day
To move it.

We asked what he could possible want with second-hand
garlic presses
and a pair of boy's shorts.

I didn't care, I told my friends
How many men the council sends
It will not solve it.
They'd need to know, they'd need to see
The solution's clear enough to me
He needs to go into an institution.
The council tried to talk him round
They never gained an inch of ground
He was intractable.

The junk helped him live his life
Old air conditioners and wood for healing was an
unusual approach....

I didn't see, I told my friends
I hated all the odds and ends
Gathered with love.
I wouldn't know, I wouldn't see
He needed care from you and me
To cure his confusion.
The council only saw the crap
Only television saw the chap
Under the junk.

Even then, the hurts in his life were only diagnosable
Using the encrustation outside.

FB 2005

****

Raining

It's raining tonight
Smearing the light down the window
as though the paint hasn't dried on the night

It's raining... 
Is it raining where you are?
I can feel the rain wet upon my face...

Many miles apart
You are in your eyrie alone and asleep,
I am imagining you there, me there, us together, tonight

It's raining...
Is it raining where you are?
I am hearing the rain, in my heart

The moon, the same moon
Stares down at me, and watches over you
I will take comfort from the silver moonlight falling on us both

It's raining...
Is it raining where you are?
I'm seeing the rain illuminated by the moon, sparkling underfoot

Lonely, I'm lonely
Sitting here, awake, alone... longing.
I am imagining me there, you here, us together always

It's raining...
Is it raining where you are?
I love the smell of rain in the grass at night

Can I take the step toward you,
Out into the night?
Can I take the step to another life
That may mend or break my heart?
Can I take you from your life, 
make you step lightly into mine?
Can I live without you still?

It's raining...
Is it raining where you are?
I can taste the rain tears, salt upon my tongue....

****

Spirits rising

They left expecting ordinary days
Instead found they were going on a different sort of journey
They left their cups of coffee and unpaid bills
Stepped out of their homes and away from their lives
And can't return

Instead their souls set free today,
In darkness and confusion,
In smoke and pain,
Soared away from their broken bodies
Into a life beyond

Light a candle for their friends
and their families.
Light a candle for their children...
Their wives and mothers...
Husbands and fathers...
Light a candle for the loss

But their souls were set free today
Into a life beyond

The people in real need of light,
Of prayers and illumination
Set those bombs

****

heart song

if i could write my heart out loud
i'd colour all my words with you
if i could only capture this
i'd seal it up inside a kiss

if you could love me half as much
as i'd love you, forgetting fear
we'd live in poverty and bliss
and i'd forget to go to work....

***

Inside me

Weeping for stars in the
Smallness of living, I 
Want to be sky-bound
And light up the night.
Show me a man,
be he dead, be he living
Who couldn't aspire to the ends of the sky.

Small though he seems
In perspectives of moonlight,
Inside he just knows 
That his soul longs for space...
But his greatness, unbounded
Serves only to show him 
That no-one around him
Can perceive his plight.

Inside I have songs,
I  have books, I have beauty,
Inside are components
For epics and dance.
If only my maker had
Made me a key to
Unlock the creations 
Locked up in my mind.

***

Roman Soldier

Dead and gone
Dead and gone
Proud, Tall
But dead and gone,
Young, strong but
Buried now,
Long ago his
Furrowed brow,
Strained with toil
And worry now,
He's dead and gone
Dead and gone.

***

Insomnia

It can't get any darker tonight.
Before the dawn draws thinly over 
Skies of deepest blue,
It can't get any darker tonight.
Sunrise may plunge fingers
Singing into darkne