Found At Sea

“Lumieres”

Silver Light

And in broken nights
fumbling with sleep through silver light
the dream carriers have all gone
home for the night

so you wait
for a share of second sight

now was there any hope at all
for these sailors lost in the sea
you can’t pull them out
or known what was to be their plight

but there’s a hole
that refuses to be filled
by any vice
you throw it’s way
and so you wait
for some kind of light

Strangers in the backyard

On a sober winter morning when the water froze up in the pipes
and the smoke stacks above the town breathed their gas into the ice
he woke to find suitcases missing

Out into the street to find cats scratching in the place
of where his car had been the night before with his cigarettes on the dash
and he felt out in the mist while his breath hurt in his chest

and all the clocks had stopped
there was nothing behind or in front
that could give a clue as to what all
these strangers were doing in his backyard

So onwards in the sluggish dawn as branches fingered the sky
he walked in a thin overcoat looking out for some sign or clue
but the cops they just stared

So he left to find a place where he could just sort out all the mess from his head
searching in foam coffee cups and asking round for change for a payphone
but his friends were still in bed

but all that was left
was the ash on his hands
and the town it became nothing more
than a glimpse from a passing train

Stalling

Well the trees they’re bare
but the season’s stuck in reverse
you pretend to feel that summer’s heat
and all the while you’re pruning off the dead leaves
that spark is fading into black
while you blow on it
and gasp with the strain

and the dogs are set out in the rain
to find you
while the fog rolls in to cover
whats left behind
and they foam
while you stall
just off the coast

now all is paid and loaded up
but the coins just don’t want to leave your hand
and despite all the running
the streets are looking pretty much the same
will you grab that wheel and drive that rusted wreck
far into the sea

Could you be just a thread
on a curtain
that’s closing fast
now step out of that waltz you’ve fallen into
cause they’ll foam
while you stall just off the coast

Will you wonder

When all the traps are set
and the plans are made
with markings in chalk laid out in plain
and the fires are all lit
and the garrisons are held
and the key to that locket is thrown
now the winds coming up
and it’s licking at the gate
but you’re forgetting why it came

and will you wonder how long
and for what price
is this flame kept alight
now you’re roaming through backstreets
looking round corners
reaching dead ends
looking for time

and in the midst of the fiction
with maps held upside down
there were frozen hearts and steely remains
now there’s a light
hanging low off in the distance
over the cliffs through the trees

and there’s headlights showing you up against the stars now
but if you’re running you won’t get too far now

Firelight

And in the molten night as stars fell on our shoulders
and into our cups
we’lll brush them off
and think
if we all had second sight there wouldn’t
be any need for all
this censoring
of mouths of tongues and eyes

but there was an impression on my eyes
just like a spark trailing from a fire

now calling attention to things we lack
or haven’t found
there beyond the lights
and to capture this
and suspend it time and in space

but there was an impression on my eyes
just like a spark trailing from a fire
now its leaving as quickly as it came
just a temporary dance under a Melbourne sky

Leaving Ghosts

Now way out there beyond the lights
and the houses and the trees
in the inky black, the curtain night
I’d like to reside please

past the freeways and the city skies
pressing down I’ll go
far into the blackness of a silence
no one will ever know
and won’t you let me
just be at ease

and I’ll walk till’ all
the streetsigns disappear
out of reach of all
the ghosts traveling after me
I’ll just be

now away from all these strings that
used to tie me down
I’ll cut them like they
never really did belong
and won’t you let me
just be at ease

Salute the summer

So you’re welcome at the door
with glasses of content
that are almost full
and when the night kills
every question and it’s reduced
to what we already know

won’t it come around?
won’t it come to light
now there’s elephants in the room
they’re falling over everything
while silence turns to ice
we’ll raise our glasses up
to salute another time

Now giving small change
and exchanging currency
for all the words that fail
and now the air grows thick
and rain threatens from far off
places we don’t care to know

Fictions

Like a seagull in a field
you’re looking out
for familiar ground
something like a sea
and while everyone around
is busy looking out
you can only keep on
looking in

with a head full of storm
a sandpaper mouth
a fistful of thoughts
that are of no use to anyone at all

All the beggars in the street
you’re looking through their eyes
just to feel apart
or to feel something
and before light comes around
you dream in foreign tongues
always dreaming of somewhere else

and the city’s turning while you’re chasing shadows on a bridge
it’s just fiction now
and it’s moving on
out of sight

Rust and the sea

Casting too many shadows
while dancing round
the edges of what’s
kept under lock

saying it’s far better this way
and threatening far worse if ever
an inkling might
come crawling this way

out of time
with the dust and the photographs
slowly turning themselves
into rust
and content now
to let the murky tide
wash it’s course, just smother it
slowly fill in the holes

calling it past troubles and now
remembering’s a struggle
but do you sometimes still
smell salt on the air
and letting your mind wander
to that which there’s no returning
is it always what
might have become

slowly
slowly
slowly
fill in the holes

Spark

trying to find some kind of incident
or a stepping stone
to loosen the weight
on these wings that won’t take flight
on starry nights
in fields of black
now hidden from view
and you never fully realized
what would become of it

are you going to shake that soldered lock till it breaks
a raincoat that’s wearing thin and gathering weight
sidestepping that remaining spark

gears won’t change
they remain the same
locked in blood
and down by the lake
there was a trail of a star
hanging on like that spark
and watching from afar
as it boils and turns
from this