She sent her children off to church
While she slept with the next-door neighbour
The old man didn’t mind, of course
She was doing him a favour

And he said:
“Those kids could use the fear of God
And a taste of earthly labour
And as for romance, my dear
I’m more content with work and beer
That bloke can have you
He can have you all to himself”

Suddenly she loved him
“******* and lies,” she swore
She had looked into the future
Then she slammed the door and swore some more

And she said:
“When all is always dead and gone
Forgive, forget, relabel
You know you’re boring me to tears
Regrets, denial, fears and anger
But it’s complicated
And I don’t have a time machine”

So in the end they worked it out
But what about remainders?
We are baptised in all their fears
Regrets, denial, tears and anger
And then forsaken
As the past becomes a part of us

I’ll say grace
I’ll lay to waste
All this distaste
All this distance

I will embrace
Vermilion haze
With no pretence
With no defence

I’ll say grace
Today replace
Undue sorrow
With tomorrow

I will embrace
A million ways
With no promise
Or borrowed solace
 
In the silence of a prayer
I hear the din of all despair
And wonder
When the solace calls my name
I hear the droning of malaise
And wander
In the silence when I pray
I hear the hum of every day
I wonder

I’ll say grace
My fate erased
I will not submit
To the makeshift

I will embrace
The silver maze
I am enlightened
In this silent solace

There’s a creek with a swing
And rocks for climbing
That turns a man into a boy
The creek is born
From a waterfall
That fills a young girl with joy

He watches her wade
In the pool in the shade
A beauty no one could conceive
And this place is so real
So perfect it feels
That they each never want to leave

Beyond the thrall
Of the waterfall
The creek from the ether transcends
It twists and it turns
Like his touch on hers
And it seems to go on without end

He offers his hand
To help her ascend
She accepts without making a choice
And they follow the stream
In a faraway dream
Far enough from real life’s aching voice

Back home, flesh and bone
The lonely unknown
And a love that is doomed not to be
But they still hear the call
Of the waterfall
In the ether and in their dreams

He woke with a dream in his head
And dreamer’s intent
Got a taste of the pace in the world
And doubled his step

He shared that old dream with the world
But no one there cared
He thought about the weight in the world
Saw the time and fell back to bed (with his dreams)

Wanted to be heard so he sang along
He sang an old song so he might belong
When the world didn’t care what he’d sing
He tore out his hair and started to scream

And he screamed:
“I’m too young to die
But I won’t always be
I tried so hard to comply
Now I’m not even me”

And he screamed:
“I’m too sad to cry
I’m a bird lost at sea
Today makes me so afraid of tonight
What does anything mean?”

And he screamed and he screamed
As if the world knew

Safe and sound
That town is drowned

You’re safe and sound
A king decrowned
You can’t stay

But you’re safe and sound
You’re lost and found
Come what may

You’re safe and sound
That town is drowned
Walk away

Throw it away
All your backyard dreams
Are miscreations
Laughing in your face
While you wait
Through unwelcome change
Untrue elation
And chance appreciation

It already came

In a simpler time
I watched a raging fire
As it swallowed every home
All except my own

With the passing years
New houses appeared
While mine began to fade
Crumble and decay

Today I returned
To the street that burned
One empty block lay bare
Where my home used to stand

I felt suddenly compelled
To rebuild what time had felled
A house of stone and clay
That time could not erase

I came home alone
To a house I didn’t know
I touched the wooden walls
The space felt cold and small
It smelled of childhood
And I thought of firewood