it sits on my shoulder
the benevolent devil
and says please can you do what i ask

and when the storm comes in
when everyone takes to the covers
they have to be mindful of the task


just around the corner
the malevolent angel
insisted on taking it all for granted

and when the storm came in
that found them scrambling for answers
they probably should have been less than enchanted


if not justly annoyed
for the sake of the trees
beacuse at least the devil
said please

if i was that way inclined
if i was addicted to chocolate
it wouldn't seem strange
if i went out and bought it
there's no infidelity
even though i sought it

it doesn't have feelings
i guess that's the point
there isn't a mars bar
i'd go out and anoint
or a particular favourite
i'd rather appoint

but it's easy to choose
a muse that's consistent
that makes you get high
that makes me persistent
goes out to assure me
it's never too distant

when i say that i love you
and i'm deeply committed
and then comment on something
that someone else tweeted
don't judge me for something
i haven't admitted

if it wants to be secret
it's already lied
yet love is a language
you don't need to hide
like the milk in the fridge
that already died

not looking for reason
to go and betray you
i don't have a need
to turn us into issue
quite simply, what i know
i'm committed to you

as arrogant as it seems
and i'm pretty **** sure
that of everyone on earth
that shares my tenure
the trust i distill
is always this pure

and despite the fact
that i might get excited
or another recipient
tells you that she liked it
this is all that i have
and right now you're invited

the sophiatown i live in:
is a place i call home
is where i come to from work
is a place riddled with crime
is where i'm proud to be from
is a place being renovated
is where i'm not far from means
is a place that gets frustrated
by the westbury fiends

the sophiatown i read about:
is a place void of silence
is where bra hugh got his trumpet
is a place full of vibrance
is where miriam caught hold of it
is a place that was razed
is where a new place was born
is a place that couldn't be fazed
by the lines that were drawn

the sophiatown i love:
is a place that i live in
is where i've chosen to stay
is a place that i read about
is where that won't go away
is a place that's still here
is where apartheid escaped
is a place made austere
by the forces it shaped

the sophiatown that inspires me:*
is very triumphant
is very intact
so what was your reason
for doing that

chaos
is always there
because it's looking for a reason
to become known.

calm
is always there
because it escaped the chaos
and now it's known.

guilt
is always there
because it makes you assume things
when you should have known.

love
is always there
because it takes the things we feel
and makes them known.

comfort is a state of mind
the rest of it we'll leave behind.

it takes a nanosecond to say something you didn't mean
(because you were thinking about something else)
and the rest of the week to fix.

it takes years to build up a modicum of trust
(because you were thinking about someone else)
to see you wander off those tracks.

it takes a while to figure out a man's capability
(because you were thinking about something else)
but it isn't always about the ***.

it takes a little bit of serendipity
(because you were thinking about someone else)
to see you shine beneath those cracks.

it's not just putting up with it
it's so much more than getting into it
agree, or disagree?

but to take a view on anything
you need to put your mind to it
accept, or reject?

go out of your way to make up your mind
i'm not getting paid for that
worth it, or turf it?

we may never mean to cause offence
but we always have to choose a side
hypocrite, or critic?

for me i find it hard to be
two different people simultaneously
missed, or dissed?

in a universe of opportunity
different people need to co-exist
chosen, or frozen?

the fact that you're on time and i'm not
doesn't mean our time's the same
zealous, or jealous?

just because we have our different ways
it's not an excuse to insinuate
grateful, or hateful?

because stereotyping different people
ends up an indictment on oneself
choose it, or lose it?

and when we call each other names
that we may or may not understand
childish, or selfish?


and here's the thing:

it might be worth being benevolent
and help each other through whatever strife
no matter how big or how small

but i guess to be truly tolerant
you should probably live the kind of life
that doesn't need to be tolerated at all

if there's one thing that i really hate
it's being told what to do

when i can love and frankly tolerate
the things life puts me through

but times are wrought with greed
i just don't see the need

and what i thought was easy
comes right back out to tease me


i'd rather wait and anticipate
choose darkness over blue

cry shame on those who try to take
from others what's not due

but there within my head
i've ventured all that's said

i wish that i had found
the silence that's abound


the knowledge of who's right or wrong
is a blemish from the past

it's my need to comfortably belong
to a space that wants to last

and just when i get home
the sight of polished chrome

bends me to my knees
gives in to the disease


it's there within my head
and gets ridiculed instead

there's a kind of calm that happens
before you say okay
a calmness that allows me
to carry on this way
and carry on i will
it's all want to do
i love the way you tolerate
the things i share with you

and therin lies a small reward
that fills me to the brim
to be a part of what you see
to go out on a limb
and carry you i will
it's all i'll ever do
i love the way you celebrate
the wings i share with you

it's not alive
it isn't scared
it wasn't what
you thought it was

it isn't right
it can't be wrong
it keeps you up
it makes you strong

it makes you rich
it makes you cry
it mends the stitch
it plays along

it grinds it's teeth
it doesn't care
it hides beneath
it tends to glare

it stays in tune
it keeps in time
it guards the moon
it's in its prime

it knows no end
it has no start
it's arms subtend
your shallow heart

it disappears
it bears the scars
it isn't what
you thought it was

yes i didn't mean it
yes i didn't mind
yes you get to keep it
yes, it was a find

yes i want the best for us
yes i think we're there
yes i am leviticus
yes, i'm going to dare

nothing seems so far away
nothing is what i feel
nothing bleeds and starts to fray
nothing, it will heal

yes i think i need some sleep
yes you beat me to it
yes i'm feeling pretty cheap
yes, you got me through it

nothing stabs a price to that
nothing i'll accept
nothing trades in *** for tat
nothing, except

yes

i really don't know what it is i need to unsay.

i really hope it doesn't hurt our lives in any way.

i really wish that freedom was equally applied.

i really want to change the past
and redirect the future
and not be blamed
or pushed into a corner
or made to feel
like i'm a waste of time
or that i fit some crime

i really want to know the difference between allowed and okay.

i really wish that everything else would go away.

god knows i've tried.

it's stupidly unfair to think
that mine's a saturated shade of pink
while yours takes on a different hue
that oscillates from green to blue

i try to sucker up each day
prepare for whatever it throws my way
it helps me calculate the cost
of the ground you thought i lost

it's got this sentimental worth
like this, and everything i've kept since birth
i'd rather not waste any more time
i hope to be your paradigm

and then we'll paint a sunset scene
the sun, the sea, and everything in between
the trouble that i put you through
the beauty that i see in you

it doesn't need to make a sound
it's everything and nothing
the groupies might still hang around
if it affords you something

in everything it sees no end
it smothers like a virus
it makes it easy to pretend
that no-one's going to find us

in nothing it's a sea of space
it's never been before
it makes no effort to replace
the pain that you once saw

and inbetween
the clouds beneath
it takes it's charge
and grits it's teeth
it knows no time
it lies awake
and stares


it doesn't want to hang around
it's more than you'd imagine
it doesn't want to make a sound
just gives things room to happen

if nothing else it's like a sail
that moves against the water
it doesn't have the means to fail
but cowers in the corner

yet everything's a state of mind
it could change like the weather
it never meant to be unkind
it never will forget her

and in amongst
the stars above
it holds it's light
like lawyers might
and makes it's mark
because in the dark
there's silence

i just can't say it

i know you're right
you know it hurts
i don't want to lock you up
in the same prison i'm in

but then again

you know i'm right
i know it hurts
you didn't want to lock me up
in this thing that i'm in

so i won't talk
if you don't talk
and we'll pretend it never happened

and i'll wake up
and you'll wake up
and do it all over again

i shouldn't play
this game you play
it always ends up just the same

but you have that trust
and i love that trust
for that i'll take the blame

because you are
what you are
and it's all the same

nothing
is what it is
so please stop asking

something
is what it should be
and not this dark thing

everything
is what i want
so i'll keep on shining

fascinating
to see it glow
to see it glimmering

emancipating
it starts out small
but ends up blinding

anticipating
because i never know
when the cracks start to show
and i shout and i swear
and i don't even care
and i try not to dare
and i battle and stare
we're an excellent pair
we've got so much to share
but it's way out there
and it's wrong to compare
that just wouldn't be fair
there's no reason to go
because you never know
what might be waiting

timing
is what it is
it's everything

i totally get it now
to succeed you've got to be liked
to be liked you've got to be seen
to be seen you've got to do good, plant a seed, like a **** it'll grow like a wild virus

but up there in my head
i can't figure out
what it means
to succeed
to begin with
(figure that one out)
and then you'll be seen
and then you'll be liked
and then you would have already succeeded

flinched and scared are words, it seems
   that separates light from bright
   that separates real from feel
   that separates dark from stark
   that separates lame from shame

pinched and dared are words, it seems
   that separates make from break
   that separates lose from choose
   that separates fast from last
   that separates rage from age

clinched and flared are words, it seems
   they're worlds apart
   where do i start
   i clinch, you're scared
   i flinch, you're scared
   i pinch, you're scared

yet all this time i was scared
  and it showed

nothing is above what we think
because the perception of reality
is what's thought

nothing is above what we own
because the perception of success
is what's bought

nothing is above what we find
because the perception of fortune
is what's caught

nothing is above what we see
because the perception of distance
is what's short

nothing is above what we want
because the perception of desire
is what's rought

nothing is above what we are
because the perception of selfless
is what's taught

nothing is above my intention
because your perception
of what it is that i do
doesn't make sense to me at all

a shape with three sides is a triangle
a useful way to represent the plane
geometrically, at least, besides

a lie is method of deceipt
but transistors can decide
based on where they feel the heat
that strange silicon carbide
makes circuitry complete

a puzzle is a truth that you untangle
a useful way to escape the mundane
a triangle is a shape with three sides
yours, mine, and the truth

life is too short to give a **** about a country when cats that aren't yours come and **** in your house.

life is too short to give a **** about impression when the art you provide is offensive to most.

life is too short to give a **** about indifference when commerce makes ******* of practical need.

life is too short to give a **** about regret when regret is the debt that you stepped in, you wept yet you kept it aside and it crept, then it slept, then you swept it away, the intrepid, tepid, jelly-like method that weathers fake smiles like the wear in your tires, and claws its way through what you see as desire, then tears it all down when its aimed at yourself before putting you up on the furtherest shelf, and then blaming you, shaming you, changing the way that you saw what you thought that you ought, what you sought, what you bought, why you fought; its the same: you're distraught because any way you look at it, life is just too ******* short.

seas of sometimes amidst winds of want
which would you choose?
years of yearning surround cans that can't
and scripted praise meets cryptic prose
like measured fame meets metered foam
safe, as safe is, as safe does
takes that quiet into its loneliness
and waits

the face of fiction shakes more from most
what did you choose?
flirting fantasies can damage dreams
where beaten fruit finds sweetened juice
and sudden breath finds sunken dirt
wish, as wish wants, as wish wants to be
loves that surprise so unconditionally
and waits

and we wait

between the blue and pink, i think
the brown and green will sink
and in this loneliness i hope
you choke
you choke
you choke on your ambition
like it wants to be
the world to see
the fading of our history
drives home
drives home
drives home and parks the car beneath
the tree
the sea
i hope

if ever i take shelter there's a
chance i might forget her
an illuminating light
its right
its right
its right to think that i'm afraid
its normal to be foolish
and see your mind as selfish
as what mine would like to wish
but then there's you
there's me
there's everything that we could be
the tree
the sea
i hope

i wish that i was nine years younger
back then i could have stopped that train
my soul is made of grief and hunger

since then i've gone and made a blunder
and it happens again and again
i wish that i was nine years younger

my son fills me with so much wonder
a reflection from a window pane
my soul is made of grief and hunger

outside i hear a roaring thunder
frustration that i can't explain
i wish that i was nine years younger

i'm trying hard to not go under
i'm in no position to complain
my soul is made of grief and hunger

the square root of a complex number
the direction of a weather vane
i wish that i was nine years younger
my soul is made of grief and hunger