I keep chipping away at the stone
Working my fingers right down to the bone
And although its proudly displayed at the front of my home
I'm not entirely happy with the piece as a whole
Seems there's always imperfections to chisel away
But I've gotta be careful that I don't erase
Any indication that she ever possessed a face
There's just too many intricacies to appreciate
So I'll pack my tools
In the darkest corners of my room
And should she catch the eye
of some art collector passing by
no price would be discussed
only the requisite that he must
do his best to bend his tastes around her charms

Not done at all...

The walls of this house have crumbled so many times, but we just built it up again, and we've lost so many canaries down in the mines, and we've lost so many friends. All the fallen feathers swept under the rug, those sorry shaven children kept like lambs within a pen, there's countless shards of shattered metal buried beneath the mud, there's fierce energy coursing through you but one day it will be spent, and we can't locate that swollen city but I don't think anyone misses it, our hands are full with forecasting the coming weather, our wealth best invested in the brains of future professors, well keep our eyes kept focussed on the road, our heads never bowed low, putting our best into lugging the wagon that contains a young boy with eyes aglow, but lo and behold, hes a heavy load, and were falling like raindrops in the ocean or pennies in a well, i bought a single ticket for the carousel, to spin me round against my will, i dipped and rose to a simple tune til the horse it slowed and was finally still, and I was too tall to ride anymore, so I felt I should dismount and leave, and let another jump on and enjoy the ride that goes round and round and round and

where the sun rises they'll sit all morning
Where the sun sets they sit on their hands

Feathers and wires are collecting dust,
While she's twisting and turning beneath the sheets,
In a house of cloth a man treats a cut,
By burning some incense and caressing the skin
And this can't be written off as a
trick of the hand
It's an insult to even consider such things
His knowledge might as well be as old as planets, but this man's
ashes have been scattered on a westerly wind

and they land between the pews of a church in the projects
Where a special guest stands with a bald little girl
And the audience watch teary eyed, but he doesn't relent,
he keeps up his act as he screams to the skies
"Let this devil-bought sickness be gone from Gods child!"
so many prayers have been whispered on sleepless nights
her mother watches on with so much hope in her smile
That she coughs up a fortune and lets her daughter die

where the sun rises there's energy flowing
where the sun sets men formulate plans

Who can say what he glimpsed was a white sheet or spirit
Or if the crossroads we met at were already paved
If the ley lines over my skin were telling her secrets
It's as deep as a black hole and malleable as clay
So i place my faith in the narrow line of my vision
Accept what's above and behind me to be unexplained
Cause in truth its a tapestry intricately woven
And we'll unravel it to the end of our days

I remember stumbling over a trickling stream
in the clear water I caught a reflection of me
It crept and meandered and that was its lot
but it has carved its existence from the soil and rock
And maybe one day it will rage and roar
Provide hope for lost souls on its way to the shore
all the way to the shore

So in a word to the young, in mind or body
Don't despair when you find your head bowed in defeat
cause its bulbs that sear, rather than flicker and glow
that are the ones that fade most swimmingly

like a starling chick taking its first flight
From the break of day til the dead of night
Waiving calls for caution from its mother
And descending like a meteorite

Your world's as predictable as a spinning top
It goes past in a blur and it shakes and it drops
So don't wage that futile war against gravity
Give in, darling, enjoy falling with me
And we can lie together as adjoining pieces
Of this implausibe puzzle, leave it incomplete
We'll just sleep and eat
Yeah wouldn't that be sweet

But its always night on my ocean of dreams
And its in my nature to bow to the fear
I'll trust my moral compass, keep a stern head
Remember I can't sail starward but the illusion's still here

And ill brave to take my only choice
stick to the things that I enjoy
like the simple satisfaction of skimming a stone
Seeing how far out over the water it goes

The rainfall collects in the gutter
It's come all the way from the sea
In bed I'm dreaming of another
I awake to find you and I'm filled with relief
The slot machines been spinning all evening
He's got dollar signs burned in his eyes
Not sure if he's losing or winning
Just aware of the image of freedom held strong in his mind

I'm lying at the foot of a towering coconut tree
its reaching for that golden disc and I'm sheltered by its leaves
And I can't even remember what it is I want

There's men farming deep in the ocean
Showing no respect for the dead
While windmills spin in synchronization
But there's no incentive in lining your pockets with air
As they tally the numbers keep growing
Til its impossible to keep up
It's the same with the ones that were owing
The scales are weighted, the system was created corrupt
There's logos pasted all over
our cities,
On every shop window and door
Soon there'll be no walls left to graffiti
And the streets marched in silence on route to the liquor stores

But i lie in the shade of the ever striving palms
Let the grove embrace me in its indifferent arms
And the detritus beneath me is giving me hope for our kind
Not swayed by the wind, nor longing for that golden light

Tasik.

Backing up while travellin

I pull my cart through the heart of the hills,
hawking fruit at the market
for as many hours as I will,
and when i have had enough
then I will pull my cart back home,
its not the high life that I've heard of
but its the highest that I've known,
and then ill sit,
and watch the tv for an hour or a minute,
or entertain the whippets with some stories of when I was just a kid.

now I'm not sure of the time
but when the sun sets to the west,
ill man the porch and watch the world go by
to ease some of the stress,
and then my daughter serves the dinner
to our growing family,
it warms my soul to see my great grandchildren
contented and healthy,
and then ill sleep,
and when the sun rises to the east,
ill again reap all of the rewards
of the day that I am so grateful to see,

and we'll wile away the day kicking balls and flying kites,
unable to distinguish mountains from skies

No Easy Road...

I was dreaming of soaring when I was sharply woken
by a low incessant rumble that had filled out the room
and as I stirred I realised that the window was shaking
from the shivers of discomfort that gripped at the moon.
Dressed, I headed out to find a riot in full swing;
had to pull my jumper up to keep from breathing the fumes.
From what I gathered it all started as lawful protesting –
a reaction to some changes they’d announced on the news.

So I’m told the police arrived with their intentions set -
some talk of order and then they set about throwing their weight -
they barked some commands at the people, tried to keep them in check,
but there’s only so much coercion a riled rabble will take.
When light returned front doors stayed closed and the streets lay wrecked,
the scene was haunting as the soundless morning after a quake.
Now I’ll be first to lay my sword down and I’ll never forget -
it can take seconds to destroy what took an age to create.

I proceeded on swift feet to get away from the brawl
and arrived upon the high street where the shop fronts glow bright.
Even though the street was empty there were eyes on the walls
and they all followed me intently ‘til I slipped out of sight.
Among entrancing displays I noticed someone had scrawled,
“Come on through our doors and you’ll be part of the hype!
We know the diamonds in our precious rings will serve to enthral
and if you’re hard up, that’s just fine, you can pay with your life.”

I walked on slightly perplexed but moreover uneased
and took the route on impulse to the bus station.
I’d a gut feeling that this wasn’t where I wanted to be,
so I picked a bus at random and I went to get on.
The driver stopped me at the door and demanded money,
but with my pockets lined with lint he said nothing could be done.
As the early morning rain came I retreated off the street
and in the doorway of a temple I waited for the sun.

There a boy with a curl either side of his head
warned, “be meek or you’ll burn in the fires of hell.”
I said “you circus tiger cub, you’re being pulled and not led.
I see Gehenna in your eyes and you’re not even twelve.
You don’t have to live in awe as your idols intend -
climb the ladder, put that heavy scroll back up on the shelf,
and maybe when you’re taller and you’re much better read
you can sift through that whole genre and decide for yourself.”

The words that left his father’s mouth, I couldn’t believe it,
and with his tone of voice rising I took off pretty fast.
I walked home with hands in pockets, soaked through, weighed down
with thoughts of that poor kid who had no questions to ask.
Back in my fortress I felt anxious and watched TV for a bit;
an inspirational speech about colour and caste.
I sat wrapped in a blanket as a man stood at the pulpit
shouting, “Thank God almighty,” but the moment has passed.