All the jibs in all the land
The cut of yours is best.
One day I chose a jib for me
And yours outshone the rest.
You said that I could borrow it
If in a bad jib rut,
And I could sail around the world
All jibby in my cut.

~~~

I woke to the world asleep,
The treetops on the ground,
And hearts filled with sea,
And raw rawness for sound.

(Could you make it go away?
Could you make it vanish?)

Why did we turn our backs for a single moment
When we know by now we can vanish
In the blink of an eye?
In the blink of an eye.

Make it go away.
Make it vanish.
Please make it go away.
Make it vanish.

Never meant to be,
The flash of eye is haunting,
There's groaning in the sea
And every wave is daunting.
They never will agree;
It's lovers they are taunting.

You lied and lied and lied and lied and lied and lied and lied and lied and lied.

And you said, 'Step down from the edge, my dear,
Too close to the edge, I fear.'

They're cutting all the roses down.
Darling, hold on tight, hold on tight.
And Lyssa dances through the town...
Darling, hold on tight, hold on tight.

You don't stand for me,
And I can stand ground.
The song I fired was sweet
And all the notes fell down.
Here, take my hand...
We're lifting with the sound.

We sang and sang and sang and sang and sang and sang and sang and sang and sang...

And I said, 'Step down from the ledge, my dear,
Too close to the edge, I fear.'

They're cutting all the roses down.
Darling, hold on tight, hold on tight.
And Lyssa dances through the town...
Darling, hold on tight, hold on tight.

when there is nothing left
when leaves scatter freely through my limbs
when the ground rolls back and forth
and bobs me out and out further
to a sky that frees and cripples
only then do I discover an inner underworld
I never thought possible

Here I am:

The person after a book,

After a storm,

After you.

Here I am.

Open your eyes to our stories,
Open your eyes to our seas,
Open your eyes to our glories,
Do not fold from me.

You broke into water,
You broke into sound,
You broke into my footsteps
And scattered all around.

Open your arms to those who'll hold you,
Open your arms to arms closed tight,
Open your arms to those who told you
You will be alright.

You will be alright.

People knock bells into silence
And knock bells out of me.

The taste of things to come

works through the space of light,

gently presses the edge of calm,

of delight,

of healing,

until the everyness of stone,

the fullness of sea,

flows from our throats

and floods our hearts

---

We hope,
Not always hopefully.
We hope
To find the first glint of gold
Has brought along a love to wear,
Unexpectedly.

Here on the cloud
Comes the heart they borrowed some time ago,
And were promising to return.

And there, hidden in bird song,
Is every word that lingered, and lingered, til morning.

Then magically, I'll turn to raindrops,
And pattering gently, I will sleep on your shoulder til morning.

We hope,
We hope,
And we listen.

From the painter
To the painted.
The colours are lined up, but only leave stains on the side.
You, the prisoner.
You, the warden.
Praying on 'almost' is keeping us unified.

Soaked to the skin as your pride hits the ground,
Shaking your shoulders with every sound.
But it's only courage calling,
And every nerve wants me to run out of its arms.

How many long years
Holding onto your senses?
And hooked on the stories from windows against copper skies.
Kick the cup of hatred
Into the corner,
For in the soft light, I can see hope in your eyes.

And under the dust there are chords from before,
And under my fingers the melody's raw.
It's courage that keeps calling,
And every nerve wants me to run into your arms.

For late, in the small hours,
An open-topped bus grumbled to a halt
Along my road.
Grumbled me to the window.

And out stepped a rolling man,
Head to toe in bright orange,
With a bowler hat to match,
Who waved his hands with stories
To the driver
Before taking a bow and swaying left to right
Round the corner.

It struck me;
The excitable giggle bubbling,
Tickling my chest,
That I had a secret:
I, alone, had a a beautiful gem
Of happiness.

And, too, how alone my treasure sits.
For who would and could
Share my silly, see-saw joy.

Not one other soul
Would sleep with bright orange smiles.

Why would you bother?
Why would you cut so low?
Expressions fracture,
The breaths arpeggio.
All for your nothing...
Your heavy fall shapes my everything.

What's the attraction?
Your tricky undertow's
A cruel distraction
From rocking too and fro.
And when the dreams come
You must stumble, tumble from yellow skies.


Sky shuddered and the world came down,
And I'm still here.


Speak to the child,
And hold him in your arms,
Be reconciled.
And as forgiveness calms
Your weary wary,
You will float, float from yellow skies.

~~~


Come listen...

https://soundcloud.com/wingless-night/yellow-skies

A flickering sign appeared
In the shape of a jagged boy,
Who raised his arms high and said,
"Rain will fall.
Rain will fall."
And we'll be free.

Danced in the dust 'til night came.
Clouds chalked and choked our feet,
Until we swallowed the dying sun...
Sets in me.
Sets in me.
And we were free.

Be the dawn,
The eyes of the birds,
Be their morning hymns.
And from the aspen,
Purest gold,
Give the breeze your wings.

Let me be water,
And feel with flowing arms,
Seeking the corners
And falling, falling.

And evermore I'll float,
There I will linger,
There I'll find stillness.

I'll only keep moments
And a calm heart.
No one could hold me down;
Slip through a tangled hand.

And I will sing their songs:
The voice of the coral,
The melody of the sands.


Be.
Beautifully dawning.



The words of a dreamer,
The messenger of the sea.

You are all angles:
You leave the door open,
Steal every horizon,
Break every bend.
So be the thief,
Be the angel.
Listen,
Listen.

Keep one eye open:
The armies on your sleeve,
For just a little time,
Are standing by me,
And daring,
Daring.
Listen,
Listen.

We face the choirs
Of innocent liars.
All the cobbled words
Turn to dust.
But we see them,
We see them
Floating carelessly,
Playing with fire.

We'll meet landscapes golden,
Gently folding round,
Halving,
Hiding lifetimes.
Draw the wheat around.
Sing me to sleep...

Sunlight,
Through green and blue,
Haloed round you.
"Here, the divine."

Whisper into fire
Gently,
Burning sound -
Silence.
All the words jealous under my tongue,
Craving sleep.

Drifting
Through green and blue,
I find you.
"Here, the divine."

She stood beneath the breaking sky
And held every cloud in her hand.
Sang each a lullaby
And laid them to rest in the sand.

But tide waits for no one.
Tide waits for no one.

All the same, day after day,
The prowlers who preach to the sun,
Keeping some lonely at bay
And blind to all that they've done.

Tide waits for no one.
Tide waits for no one.

Clouds rise round the devil,
As he sits by the deep blue sea.
Cries as the waves lap his feet,
And each tear belongs to me.

Tide waits for no one.
Tide waits for no one.

The day within left lightning on your skin,
Did you cross the salt line?
Did you let the promise in?

Booms and bells,
And hand in hand to carousels.
And you made do with silence.

It's all you know, Little Indigo.
Time, take it gently.

Be still, unwind, the stars have intertwined,
And they carry all the echoes the well-wishers declined.

The glare, fanfare, and dances through the midnight air,
And you made do with silence.

Just let it show, Little Indigo,
And take it gently.



https://soundcloud.com/wingless-night/indigo

I will ask to fold down,
Sleep between your pleaful hands,
And rise up on the notes of psalms
To rest again on tender lands.

~

https://soundcloud.com/wingless-night/tender-lands

Three golden apples
And she chased every one.
Raised by Henry and Daisy and Maisy...
And searching for the sun.
And when wise counsel came to me,
"Don't do it, don't do it! Never tie."
The same as you in top hat and tails
As the addled world flashed by.

And we are turned to lions, lions,
Through every evasive moonshine,
Through every ****** up bloodline,
Through every love divine.

Could we worship her right now?
Could she bring back your arms to me, for me?
And I would praise the dove, the swan, the myrtle tree.
I would board your ship
Hand you my spears and cut my hair,
And tend to every battle scar
If you saved me from this mountain air.

And we are turned to lions, lions,
Through every evasive moonshine,
Through every ****** up bloodline,
Through every love divine.

Three golden apples
And she chased every one:
Little Atalanta
Still searching for the sun.

I stood at the edge of the dawn, by the sea,
The place where the gull turns and leans over me,
And under the cream, the gold and the grey
A hand took mine with no more to say.

I'll lay at the shore, the mouth of the sea,
And the waves, as they swell, pour their soul into me,
All the life that they give, the hope that they share...
Just walk to the edge: You'll find me there.

So we search the horizon, we search in the skies,
We search in the words of the gull as he cries,
But no answer comes from the sea or the sand.
The answer lays here in the palm of my hand.

I'll lay at the shore, the mouth of the sea,
And the waves, as they swell, pour their heart into me,
The light that they bring, the love that they share...
I promise you this: You'll find me there.

"Have some faith..."
No lotuses on your screen;
Some girl from a magazine.
They call her Kayla, babe, what do you think now?
"Rest your head."
James tells me that it breeds sin.
What leather-bound bubble he lives in;
Just full of excuses  - big books have their uses...

Won't you see snowflakes are heavy with shame,
They fall to the ground to blend in with the rain.

Appetence, tell me, now when was it born?
The same day the beautiful rose got her thorn.
(You'll see in the end that Black Beauty won't bend).
Boreas, those blue eyes don't go unseen,
But for all that scrubbing, some stains won't come clean.
And Kayla discovers you can't eat the covers

Won't you see snowflakes are heavy with shame,
They fall to the ground to blend in with the rain.

So give up your ties to the ghost in the skies,
And sing not the song that brings tears to my eyes.
I'll take your blanket, just leave me the cold,
And you can keep warm with the lies that you told.

Won't you see snowflakes are heavy with shame,
They fall to the ground to blend in with the rain.

On the floor.
Don't look down.
You're changing flames to flowers
While we drown.

Your greatest crime?
Look inside:
You've gunned down every widow;
Warfare, war bride.

Love on a spoon,
Storm in my teacup
And smiles all round -
Unjust, unsound...

It's in your eyes,
And no amount of lies
Will hide you,
You beautiful casualty.

Made her sing,
Take your name.
Not so pretty on your come down, no?
Her loss, your game.
At the door,
Don't look back.
Changing pain to power, now.
Watch the crack.

Love in a glass,
Storm in my tea cup,
And cheers all round -
Unjust, unsound...

It's in your eyes,
And no amount of lies
Will hide you,
You beautiful casualty.

Talking's too easy and peppered with riddles.
She sits on the outside with you in her middle.
So many stories with souls on their faces;
The lies and the laces, the storm that she chases.

Would truth take her troubled hand?
Needy sits outside your door.
And everything's treasure 'til morning comes
And stolen once more.

She's misunderstood all gifts of renaissance,
Your quiet, your patience, your turbulence, Angel.
Bone-weary, let her rest in your pocket.
A brown-papered bandit, a love in your locket.

Would truth take her troubled hand?
Needy sits outside your door.
And everything's treasure 'til morning comes
And stolen once more.

What could she say?
Today is yesterday, and yesterday...
And quick hop the dappled lane,
Down, down the tired path again,
Through the dust, through the waters.

What would she do?
Today wears green, today wears blue.
And battered, tattered Crazy Kate
Lays sleeping at the garden gate,
In the dust, in the waters.

But there she stands tongue-tied, wide-eyed, head down.
There's a creeping chance he'll hold her hand.
We're made of goodbyes.

Cast aside;
Sweet Kate ran hard against the tide
And threw her heavy punches wide.
Calm, calm, a gentle voice replied,
From the cool, from the waters.

She said, what should we do?
The summer's me, and the winter's you.
Goodbye to green, goodbye to blue,
Goodbye, the waters.

But there he stands, tongue-tied, wide-eyed, head down.
There's a creeping chance she'll hold his hand.
We're made of goodbyes.

All the words are void for fractured eyes;
You don’t have to die to remember why you’re living.
Re-adjust your line.
Fortune’s autograph looping through the winter.

Here you go again,
Thinking that it matters.
Here you go again.

Hesitation cries for all he’s lost.
Gently waves a hand at sad imaginations.
A creaking, creased-up night.
Fold your blue around, stay hidden from his line of sight.

Here you go again,
Thinking that it matters.
Here you go again.

Many fell today for nothingness.
Many rose to find the sky a little wider.
I sent it just in time:
Looking upward now, you hear every vesper.

All that we are.
All we could be.
All that we are.

Was there a time before the skin fell off of courage,
And these dish rag hands?
Was there a time before
We made pastel pictures from every reprimand?
Brushed up well, Igloo Annie,
"Push came to shove"
Shove came to fall.

Breathing out balloons and blue bubbles;
Can't keep that girl high for long.

Wait for a green light,
Waited a lifetime now.
Wait to be Autumned away.

Once in a while
All the honest soldiers say what you mean to say.
The space in between you and your reflection
Seems too far away.
Oh, where's you voice gone, Annie?
The harder the road, the broader the smile.

Breathing in you and your double...
Can't keep that girl from her song

Wait for a green light,
Waited a lifetime now.
Wait to be Autumned away.

We'll pretend we hold the forest,
We'll stand regal like the pine,
We have tried to be good soldiers
Labouring under the sunshine.
And all the little notes will carry us,
Spare the bruises on our spine.

And what a thing to do forever.

Can you see the fire?
Can you hear its song?
Can you flicker in the secret breeze
Where the melodies belong?
And we, the voiceless,
Sang the loudest all along.

And what a thing to do forever.

Steal the canopies for shelter,
Weave the branches for a bed.
Lay your words upon the fallen leaves
Where they'll sleep once they've been said.
Read the stories of the quiet stars
In a deep blue overhead.

And what a thing to do forever.

In the half light,
In a mirror blue,
All the stones glow,
All the dreams see-through.
Trace the outline,
Watch the entwining hue.

I'll wait up all night,
I'll see the true flight wandering by,
I'll hear the twilight,
I'll touch the warm soil of July
Till sunrise calls.

When the storm comes,
When the tempers boom,
I will dance on
Through the air's perfume,
I will curl around
The blushing rose's bloom.

I'll wait up all night,
I'll see the true flight wandering by,
I'll hear the twilight,
I'll touch the warm soil of July,
Till sunrise calls.

We held our days like breath in water,
We were cold, we grew still.
Somewhere in sighs and scraps of paper,
We pulled the skies to the ground.

It's our tonight, it's our tomorrow,
We'll overwrite and underline.
You need a guide, I need a morning.
We lost our stride...

But when the day is done,
You'll always know.
We'll always know.

To shake the remnants of mistrust
And throw them to the wind,
To breathe inside the tangles, taste the dust,
Trace the words of silence,
Trace the lines and burns.

"And be awake, they're here!
I hear them coming.
Won't be afraid;
Stand beside me and take my hand.
We have forgiven what they can't forget."

We spun a bottle: truth or dare
And he watched me in the glow.
I told the truth of how I missed his everywhere,
Missed all I didn't know -
Digging wells after the fire.

"And be awake, they're here!
I hear them coming.
Won't be afraid;
Stand beside me and take my hand.
We have forgiven what they can't forget."

And all awhile, they pale to grey,
Twirl the fabric as they go.
We turned the tables and we turned away
To watch the moment grow.
We watched all our moments grow.

We have forgiven.

Tomorrow...
How you are changing...
The winter...
The words we are arranging.

All the beautiful broken,
Every silent reason.

It was good to leave it behind,
Can't tell you everything.
Rain upon rain upon rain
In the night as you sing your old songs,
By a dying candle.
Let me be a lantern,
Let me be the refrain.

We will make more time
To be undone,
To be undone and riven.

Be undone.

All the beautiful broken,
Every silent reason.

Why those eyes?
Why those eyes?
We long to find within the shore the skies.
Turn the air.
She left a thread, you'll find her there.
You'll find her there.

Chase a breeze for India,
Save a breeze for India
And waltz her name's melody in waves and shore.

Days half-blown.
Days have blown.
Is there a way to roll a frightened stone?
Found a tear -
It must be hers but she's not here.
She's not here.
Find her here.

Chase a breeze for India,
Save a breeze for India,
And waltz her name's melody in waves and shore.

In the turn of a rosebud,
In a bright melody, there is a door;
A room for your quiet,
Where only the boards tell the stories from before.
And in a barbed winter, warm portraits are hung.

Oh, let yourself be. Let yourself be.

The final leaf dances
On a bright morning, to the North wind's song.
The only true romance is here;
My only companion when the words have gone.
And do you remember sharing that gold?

Oh, let yourself be. Let yourself be.

I'd make you a letter;
A word for a river, a poem for a boat,
And wait to be draped in our cloak -
Away from the bank and into the smoke.
And when the moon whispers, you'll know that I'm home.

Oh, let yourself be. Let yourself be.

Anchor down,
Anchor down.
Let us leave on Friday;
Leave this town.

And what the sea wants, the sea shall have.

Neatly abandoned,
A thin green line below the sky.

Just give me rolling white,
Give me the roar and drenched faces,
Give me the roses,
Give me no horizon and a thousand miles.

And what the sea wants, the sea shall have.