Cutting Glass

All along the paths of stone
That bruise and hurt our feet
There are none who would throw us a bone
Among those we meet

So many so the wild dog howls
Up from the depths of hell's bowels
Its been rejects of them that prowls
All along the jetty

Sometimes out on the lake at night
The wild wolves roam,
Their homes out of sight
All alone their eyes are bright
Out on the lake tonight

Sometimes out in the deepest forest
Tigers roar, warthogs forage
But it is all in jest
Of every last homage
To Budapest
Or the road once promised

Sometimes in the dreaming spires
I catch a glimpse of burning fires
Spiraling up into the sky
Like tears streaming down from the Sun's eye

Sometimes I feel the hilt dig in my side
Sometimes it is a thorn
Sometimes a spike, mostly
It is the sword thrust from love
That makes me cry

Why do you always move the stairs
From the steeple?
Why always move the chairs
For all the musical people?
Why when nobody cares
Do the wolves show their wares
And sell their teeth?

Why in the crooked house
Where snow white sleeps
Does the wicked witch creep
and always preach?
About how trolls should not be trusted
And how Goldilocks is crossing
Over another bridge
Then she tires of her stroll
And reaches for the porridge in the fridge

And why is puss in boots stuck in
The smartest suits when you
Feel he is a Spanish kitty
Meant for ally-cat pursuits

There can be no let up for
The open can of worms
That Cinderella is left to hold
After the cigarette factory burns

She should have worked in a glass works
And held onto a zoo of animals
Instead she lent towards the prince
Who was consumed with financial windfalls
And sucked into Pumpkin growing
On the slopes of Kilimanjaro

Day at the Lake

We walked by the reeds

And we read by the rocks

We saw by the seas

By the cold water were shocked

Sat and we pondered

We pondered and sat

And the things that we wondered

Stood up or laid flat

I have spent my life waiting

waiting, waiting for you

Now down at the lake

I see a reflection of somebody

new

I am no longer the man I used to be

In the water I didn’t see anybody

I knew

Down at the lake, I waited, waited for you

Waited for you to rise from the water

Like Guinevere, like Excalibur

Like a sword somebody

threw

Now by the lake you can cut me

Cut me with your double-edged blade

One side for things I’ve said the other

For things I left unsaid

Down at the lake, you drew me

Like an artist’s portrait

Sometimes it was a caricature

Like a cartoon that somebody

drew

Now with your pen you kill me

You take away my soul when you make

That picture of that time when you saw me

Sitting down at the lake

Polished Diamonds

She's polished in the art of what she wants
What she wants

And she always, always gets what she wants
What she wants
What she wants

She's nobody's fool, she's nobody's fool
She is nobody's fool
But you know she's old school
You know that she's old school

She is diamonds in the shaft of a mine
She is diamonds in the shaft of a mine
You might find them, but she's always on the line
She's always on the line
Always on the line

Singing Canary, singing out from your cage
Singing Canary, singing out from your cage
Makes you think she should be on stage

Polished diamonds in the hands of the thief
Polished diamonds in the hands of the thief
Fall like sand when you know your time is brief
You know your time is so brief

She comes alive when she's staring out from the shore
She comes alive when she's staring out from the shore
Always thinking that there must be something more
There must be something more

Polished diamonds, shining in her teeth
Polished diamonds, shining in her teeth
When she smiles you know there's an end
To all your grief
When she smiles, there's an end to all your grief

The River of Fortune

I sat by the buckets of sand all around

Brought up from the river

Placed on the bank

I was waiting with my buckets of sand all around

Waiting to build a new temple in thanks

Well it was only a river

A river of fortune

It was only a river to me

It was only a river,

Just a river of fortune

And I followed the river

That flowed into the sea

Well I walked up the mountains

To find its old source and

I searched for the gold at the end of the rainbow

And I followed the river, the river of fortune

I followed the river that flowed

Into the sea

Well I cleared all the tables

Threw white and sable

Flags over the things that were never meant to be

And the river took them all

All my possessions

And they carried them out and into the sea

It was only a river, a river of fortune

Only a river to me

It was only a river, just a small river

But I followed the river down into the sea

Well I fished on its banks

And cried and gave thanks

And it answered my prayers sometimes

And it gave back in barrels

When I sang of its carols

Oh the river of fortune

For the bold and the free

It was only a river, a river of fortune

Only a river to me

Only a river, just a small river

And I followed the river that went down to the sea

Sun on the Parliament

The sun on the parliament

The shining white government

Cleaner than clean, holier than thou

Looking backwards or looking forwards

Holding on to something I can’t see anyhow

Where are the dreams that I once mastered

Where is my shipmate to stand in her bow?

It came like a triffid out of the blue

It shot like an arrow or a bullet that flew

And there was no stopping the love in the morning

There was no cropping the growth that was new

For we all fall down, when we sneeze

We all come down with that flu

Love is as catching as a fire in thatching

And its impossible to put out what has grew

Finally, there came a question

It was asked of our lives if true

Or if false it meant we must return to our boarding

on the chicken wire fence where we crew

Seven days a week

Context> Isis defeated in Syria,
A factory has been burning for half a week
They've just discovered how to scan a baby's heart while its in the womb


Well it burned from Monday to Wednesday
But on Sunday was when the fire went out

The factory burned, burned, burned
From Monday to Wednesday
It burned down the chambers of the heart
An the cathedral bells there
Rang in the boiling air
And what can be a greater organ than
The human heart?

Well the organs blew their pipes
And the strings strummed their pangs
And the choirs of the angels
Sang their hymns

But the church still burned
In the ferocious desert wind
That fanned the flames higher
Through the knave

An incendiary bomb went off
And melted the lead roof
And it dripped on the stone slabs
And the pews
The font filled up with ashes
Where the babies cried their lashes
And the mothers lent against the pillars
With tear soaked eyes

And the church of the sacred Heart burned on through the night
It burned as the planes dropped their bombs
And it burned from Monday all through to Wednesday

On Thursday the fire crews came in to save the pews
And they doused the crucifixes in water
On Friday the mothers carried crosses and saved their daughters
And on Saturday all the fathers saved all their sons
So by Sunday the water ran down all the church walls
And the flood came in until the fire in its heart was gone

Falling into the hands of trust

All of my yesterdays are as a nothing
And  all of my tomorrows are dust
The wind blows a gentle breeze of understanding
And I fall once again in your trust

I fall again like the night from the sky
As certain as a pure ray of sun
I fall again like a prisoner held captive
Under the aim of your gun

And the mountains still last in the distance
Despite all our human affairs
They will pass and out smart us
And endure beyond the years of our care

But how can I just a man
Hope to leave a trace in the sand?
When the tide will come in
And wash away my footprints
As if I never did stand

And how can you, just a woman
Hope to command the wind
When you may for short time direct her
But in the end she'll make up her own mind