<Hunter not the hunted>

Only
There's a lamp that burns
In a room up high
There's a face that turns
From side to side
And I know that you will come to me
If I wait here patiently
Like a fly on the wall.

Bury me, bury me
In the cotton folds
And the sea of your hair
Bury me
When the window flashes black
And the crack that opens up
beneath me
Bury me
In the cotton folds and the sea
of your hair
And the music of the town
That starts to circle round
Tulips....bury me

And your figure turns
down the spiral stairs
Past the ancient faces
Ever watching there
And a hot wind blows
Through churches gold
Glass coloured beads
I can see the straight
Hear the sound of your feet
Oh come to me
Silver aquamarine.

Cover me, cover me
In the desert's cold
Night star splintered air
Come to me
Like a snake now like a cat
You come closer through the slack
Umbilical streets
The cotton folds and the sea
of your hair
Undercurrents turning round
Pull me up, set me down
In bedrock...come to me.


Hunter not the hunted
The cast wind blows through me cold
Breathing deep deep down pike fishing
Grabbing out his hands full
Eels writhing
One day spoonbills did stoop down
their beaks
To the black sweet star swaying water
Fine dreams
Seeing him there with his coat hung
on the tail
By the door swinging open
And there they stand still boy girl
In the morning firelight
Washing their hands in the snow.

Here the lapwings go

Owls hoot their bone flutes
Inland smoke rise
Heron slouched in the slit
Where lies the femmen and their wives
With pot shards and scythes dissolving
My hands in the silky mud feeling
God holds me above the water
Hears my garbled words.

But I know where all the birds hide
Their eggs speckled and warm
Glowing in the dawn
Hearts whirrng against my palm
Sharp innocent eyes.

And on the wind my boat rises

Sturgeon crease the water's skin
Around beside in front of him
Rowing out, drifting out
Watch my figure burn.



Burn down this town
Two women walking down the path
On the outskirts of town
People shouting out
She says she'd like to burn this place
to the ground
And the older women bows her head
And starts to laugh

Burn down this town
Burn down this town

Paper thrown through windows in
the street.
Falls like sonw or blossom in the wind
She reaches out her hand and links it
Through the other women's arm
And at last she knows
They'll never return.

Men walk through them with their
eyes to the ground
Some look at them some turn the other way
Rainbow over the hill
Godless music squalls
Like wind-chimes' bitter calls
Like screams.

Burn down this town
Burn down this town

She wears a blue dress
She wears black beads
Her head is turning west.

Burn down this town
Burn down this town.


Bloodline
Down on the banks of the living stream
Not so far from our home
You never know what's waiting there.
So better not go alone
Come with me my little one
And see how time unfolds
Hear the reeds sing in the wind
All our stories unfold.

Down on the banks of the living stream
Oh take your time to get in
A lover's knot and glint of gold
A cold hand on your skin
Wave goodbye my pretty one
Our time will come again
We'll change the path the song we sing
But our blood stays the same.

Waiting for me by the prison door
Your footsteps in the snow.
Vapour trails in a cloudless sky
The nameless towns below
Shake your head my lovely one
I'll meet you on the road
Where the reeds sing in the wind
And no one else ever goes.


My face is here in the wild fire
My face is here in the wildfire
Myself alone breathing in the night wind

My face is here where the moonlight wanders
And the periwinkle grows
I can hear the rooks in their light sleep crow

My face is here in the stone wave
Hidden in the ditches and the holloways
With the pebbles beneath my feet
Shining softly like dying stars
And the dogs bark far from here

My face is here in the maelstrom
My fossil bones juting out into the night air
And the insects, sacred
whirling through my green black life-riddled hair

My head blows in the wake of plunder obscene
A ghost wildness of pollen and seeds.


Black handled knife
speak to me

He walks slow
Through fields that breathe
Summer gone.
A boy with a knife in his hand
Make me a day that I can be heard

By a pool underneath
The green willow trees
He dives and swims
To the deep
To the deep.


The Woman on the estuary
There is a woman that I love
Who lives in a house on the estuary
The house is on its own
Surrounded by spindly trees
I see her kneeling down
In a garden running wild
With strawberries and many kinds of weeds
Bring it up to me
Bring it up now shining to me

The herring fleet glides
Beneath the empty sky.

There is a woman that I love
Who lives in a house on the estuary
The land it slopes away
The dilating sun
Her hands are open with wrinkled seeds
Long wings thresh in curves
Above the bracken sway
To the sea
Bring it up, bring it up to me
Bring it up now shining to me

The herring fleet glides
Beneath the morning sky.


What's lost finds
Francis Phillips
He stands back to the wall
Looking out across the twisted world
Towerbrocks rise
Up against the yellow sky
I'm looking out for you
I'm looking out for you
Sometimes
I'm running in my heavy boots
Down the rutted lanes of this town
Run run run my brother
Don't bother looking round.

Woman calls
In the garish night
Bullbous shadows
Dodging in and out
And in and out of sight
Closed doors
Feeling my way throuogh the dark
I'm looking out at you
His cropped head fist-like turns
I wonder where does it end?
My teeth dry with the inbreath
Turning streetlights an the tunnel view
Run run run my brother
I'm waiting here for you.


The Knave
When I came to your house
With the wind from the south
The daybreak's on the hill
Where I stood
The key turns
With a sound that you know by now
When I walked with you deep
In the wood
Through the trees
Your mirrors and your lies
Your hands beneath the desk
With your plans and your shillings
Coins have eyes.

Coins have eyes.

When I came to your house
There was no one about
So I went to your room
And I looked
The windows open wide
The moths around the flame
Seraphim, satin lute string
Coins have eyes
The clock turns
And I know that I must go now

I feel the rains slowly passing
Mixed feelings
I feel the rains slowly passing.


Whisky bride
Oh my whisky bride
You're beautiful as the day is long
You make me warm inside
And sometimes when I'm lying here with you
We could drink the light of the moon.

And then I'm standing here just watching you
My whisky bride
Leaning against the wall
Where the passion flowers climb
With a sunrise.

Oh my whisky bride
I think I know you but I don't
The atlas of your mind
Goes stretching out beyond me green and blue
Down avenues and highways
Secret doors hidden rooms

I know you'll follow me, I'll follow you
My whisky bride
I'll take you to the bridge
And out the other side
My whisky bride.


Rip ridge
The gate
Swings below
Daisies blow through my head
And the tide glimmers low
Grey as lead
Oh darling
Twist my heart like a blood flame
Oh darling
Peacocks turn in the noon shade.

And I'm ready here in the eye
Of the solent dancing
With its ghost ships and lies
Turning like a beast in its sleep
Effortless and free
But I'm already here in the eye
Of the solent dancing.

Peacocks turn in the noon shade,
Reaching out to touch
Flint rockhouse and your blood-warmth
The sound of your voice that plays
Silvering the hush between the waves
But I'm already here in the eye
Of the solent dancing.


Angel, Devil, Man and Beast
Angel, devil, man and beast
One by one you join the song
One by one you are released
Partners in truth deceit

I love you and your reckless ways
Your stammer and your hidden grace;

I went from your bed to another bed
Swallowed every word that I'd said
Tried hard not to speak your name
Never thought I'd feel the same
But I loved again
And again

I love you and your hazel eyes
Your laughter and your sharp white lies.

Who should I blame the most the least
Of angel, devil, man or beast?
I wasn't pushed I wasn't led
As I moved from bed to bed

I love you and your simple taste
Your passion and your sleeping face.


The floating man
She put on her shoes
And she closed the door
He strikes out in the dark falling
And the lamplight on her skin
Her pale eyes watching him.

Watching him fall

He dreams that he walks
Down a street where rain falls
And jackdaws settle on the chapel roof
With the sound of stones
And the sea voice breathing
Her face turns through the night to him
From the wind dried room within
The city walls crumbling.

Oh my floating man
Reach out your hand
My floating man.

And in a room where the moon is falling down
Across the sheets he sees her lying
And he wants to hold this love that burns
And let it go and watch it dying
The candle gutters dim
Her pale eyes watching him.

Watching him
Float float away
My floating man please stay
Reach out your arms my floating man.





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