Tell me your secrets old man in this life
Did you bleed your dreams till they broke you free from struggle and strife
Did you roam the earth with winged feathers on your back
In the lilac rushes steal those gold chestnut crushes you've been keeping tight until they slacked
Who gave you those laughing lines etched into your weathered face
And that glint and hint of mischief in those ice blue eyes of late
Are your bear claw mittens softer than they look
Did they trace the laughing lines with soft caresses and butterfly kisses around a cheeky nook
You've been wandering the paths around the tracks  for far too long
So old man have you seen enough to scream your song
Into the distant skies
To flee your cares into wandering flights of fancy
To sing on until the crescent moon goes elsewhere with all it's own romancing

Why can't I bleed this pain I feel
It emanates from my pores
It should look something fierce
Or at least it should look a bit real
But it's gone hiding behind all the ***** and the sleeps and the work
That force the weeks to sink like a stone in my mind
Buried beneath all the filth I convince myself is only a good time
But any fool knows when the bats come the butterflies die
And when the rain comes it's the sky that looks like a fool to cry

I'd say you couldn't handle
Another person's angle
Your minds too small
To have any room for doubt

I'd tell ya in the morning
I'd be gone before the dawn hit
You wouldn't get the chance
To sigh a whisper
Let alone cry out

You tell me that you're leaving
I say Ill start believing
When those days spill into years
And the horizon's clear from tears

You're the one who begged the truth
Now you're dumbfounded by the ruthlessness
I feared you wouldn't take too kindly too
And despite my kind intentions
In this headlock of contention
It just so figures Id be the one to end up with a missing tooth

Toss that question to the masses
Like a feather with that carefree hand of yours
It falls on me like a ton of rocks and calls to me from those dark crevasses

Well son you better speak your mind now
Or pass the baton to the next below
Hear your heart thump with the thrill of it
Know no joy till you feel youve got this lit

You ask me what I wanna be
You call to me and say just one not three
You need me to draw a line in that changing sand
You want something real you can understand
You want me to guide you through my fate while I hold your hand
Well I won't be falling to your demands

I'll let you in on a will of mine
A wish I know befalls mankind
I wanna be that elusive bird
I wanna be someone someone else has heard
I can do it in one but it'll take all three
Because, you see
I wanna be someone everyone else wants to be

In the shadows of the darkest night I feel your call I hear your voice inside me
beckoning me to hold ya
and I need to know if you are real or just that whispered creature on the breeze of something in my dreams or in between this life and something other
Other than your own or something someone else would call a space unknown

But if you are that real and magic creature
with something borrowed on your silver tongue for sweeter thrills and lilac spills
I wanna spin your yarn around my bubble
cover me up with your endless trouble
all your giggles and your wit
Shine on shine on
through the dimness of that opaque world they call a life of strife
Carry on carry on
through the cages of my minds eye and the secrets that had burdened my own kind I say
Come on come on
You're the cause for all my upturned glances and the worst of all I cannot fight your trances oh
Wild one wild one
oh I give in so take me to your world of coloured dreams
Take me now I'm bursting at the seams
Float on down and take me higher
Golden shackles couldn't hold me
anymore anymore
cause I give in

You came on strong and sweet
You felt almost unique
And left me wanting for more

Then these walls they went up
How do I get them to stop
How do I get them to fall
When I can't even get them to stall

You said you would wait
And I clung to the bait
Even though I'd seen this line before

Then the lighting drew away
From the thunder that had strayed
And the gap that remained
Filled a silence
That said it all

They call it arrogance and vanity and selfish wisps of wants so fair and strange

They try to shake it from its life of mirth and try to cramp it's style until the dirt begins it's clawing pull against the grain

They want it steady in that mainstream flow and throw away the chance to reach the real

They hold and keep it close but don't conceive the thought their tightened grip will only make it loose

They want the here and now and in the current sweep away the past and all that lasts

They are the beacon for our mortal souls to shine a little brighter on our own without the horde of dark

They are the faceless we cannot fathom being without and without them we would surely know ourselves without the shadow of their doubt

She was a raggered haggered cat
Who caught them thistles in the air
And she gave all that she got
To cause a ruckus and a scare
But when she cottoned on to Elvis' stick
With his velvet thickened hair
She grabbed more than she should've caught
In one fell swoop and snare
Lost all flavour with that candied name
Tossed her future with her flare
Now just a glorified rat
A scandal for all who care
She skirts around the lights and hides where others might
But wouldn't dare

So baby I don't really know your name
But lately I've been seeing you all of the time
So could you please tell me
If you've noticed me at all
Cause I'd like to know you
Just a little bit more

So tell me go ahead and tell it to me straight
I'm open to the possibilities we make
in this world
And I'd like to see something through
And I'd like to see it through with you

So don't be shy I'm terrified
And I'm here on a limb
Hoping that you'll save me from a life I've given in to
lately

Oh please come save me honey
Won't you come save me
from myself

You've been working so hard for it
Aching for the path that you hope will be on your side
This time
And you know that you're giving
All you've got and you're living
Like you're not
So give
Go on give in
This time

Say you wanted a different kind of life
Inspite of all of your trying
I know you have been lying
To yourself
For the longest winding mile
So go give in
This time

For the dream it is fading
In the scene if your own making
And you hope you'll wake soon
This time

But your eyes are wide open
And your heart has shut tight
And you know that you're choking
On the part that takes flight
From this life
You hardly recognise anymore

So go ahead close your eyes
Dream instead of those lies
You tell yourself late at night
In the guise you'll get through your woes
That beckon you to come hide

Or this time give some meaning
To the world you'll end up leaving
Without you
Without ever having known you
By its side

Darlin you're a dreamer
And a fool I've come to know
It's written in the pools of rain
That we're destined for the stars to fall
So sway a while with me
Just wait
And you will see the whale of time
Slow us down
And spin us round and round
That heady bend
Spin us like a top
And for a while the world
Revolves around the swirl we've spun
We're spiders spinning in the mist
Our cobwebs are all made to see
Our demons are all made to flee
So spin for me a while
My darlin dreamer of the night
Bash away those darkened corners
Of my wandering battered mind
Sing the songs that you know well
Will make me squeal with young delight

They say I see things different
To the way they see the truth
They brandish me unruly, unkempt
And for kicks toss in uncouth
They tell me if I keep my ways
Hell, Id be playing just to lose

But I say I am no gambler
And I swear I'm not a liar
And I scream I'm not on trial here
So go ahead and cast your noose

You're a bigot and a fraud
And a sadist and a fiend
You wanna see me squirm and squeal
Just to prove you can be mean

But I got something more than you, you know
More than you will ever have
It's knowledge I may go down this time
But I'll be going down
With the upper hand

For those who think the troubles thin
Along the path and up that *****
He who holds the tethered rope
Is he who'll be the first to throw
Caution to the fickle wind
Heartbreak wrapped in a cloak of sin
All of it a whim on the hallowed sky
Divine oh it may be
We'll only ever know
Alone
No one to share what we ourselves are destined for

Maybe I'm too young to know
Or too young to think I know it all
Perhaps too old to give in and care
But tonight I see the fallen stir
Willing itself to curse defeat and accept a final dare
Willing itself to even out a rotten score

Pretty in the sight of you
Sweetness in sun
Those darkened corners where ghosts are scattered no longer lie in wait of an awakened fate
You've promised to hold me close and tight
Forever you said
Closer still you've come to the forever I feared would ****** away in the blink I hadn't seen coming
Forever you said
Doll face kisses and lillypad glances
I chose that moment to believe
I chose that moment to forget
Sweetened kisses and lillybin misses
Honey you're a glow worm
In the sway of the heat you're that cool and calm gem
In the dusk before I sleep you may be the one I'd wanna play for keeps

I just wanna go to sleep one night

Dream of the pretty places that youre meant to you see in this life

Oh I just wanna close my eyes

And hold them tight

Bat away all those weary demons keeping me up with their troubled fights

But my body it feels restless in the wake and the whale of the time that I try to find the why and who and the only lonely care in that line of mine that keeps on marching to the beat of the pulse that kicks in and sways away from those shackles, those troubled shackles of another lonely day...

You're a leftist and a Marxist and a socialist and you're right

There ain't no politics for real justice in this all condemning strife

So when the cause goes to war
And you're floored by the flaws
As the totalitarians scoff the Trotskyists
With their insufferable prejudice you abhor
Stand firm to the fore
And demand something more
Cause their aint no justice in this life
Till we all answer to those silenced
By the ringing of that call

Swell that breeze you breathe
A breathless sigh
It's in the nothingness
You see the clear
So remember please
Me
The one who couldn't turn
And had to stare
Me
The one who loved
With a wondering eye
Remember please
No fortune favoured fortitude
For want of a fervent future
We'd always leave behind
I loved you once
And every other time
Ill love you always
Even though you're no longer mine

Those beasts of the dark
They keep banging on my heart
Banging on my heart
Darling

Those beasts of the wild
They wanna bring me down child
Gonna bring me down
And then some

So I take a sip of gin
And a tiny dip in ***
And I wait for it to run
And I hope to hell it howls
To quiet down those mouths
That keep banging on my heart
That keep breaking through the dark
That keep breaking me apart
Darling

Quiet down darling
Quiet down
Quiet down darling
I see you oh so clearly
Now I've let you near me
What you gonna do
To my heart and soul
What you gonna do
If I gave you control
Darling

Darling
You're a beast of the dark
And you're never getting hold
Of this tired old heart
Darling

You're a savage and a fiend
Bitter and you're mean
Even though I'm keen
To see the havoc that you'll reap
You're never getting in
This foolish old heart
Darling

A gypsy boy he told a few
Silent runs in the midnight moon
His stealth and grace gave
Him a stool to boast that pride
And push past fools

But you're only a fool
Once or twice,
He would find out, to his demise
When he next rolled
That seductive dice, lost his swagger
To some rats he thought were mice
The end result
You guessed it
Right?

Circle upon circle
I wanna cut you down
And drink you whole
I wanna break your will
Take away control
So lose yourself to this moment son
Smile, enjoy this little time you've won me over
Just this once
Oh, you've claimed a little of my aching soul today
You say you're mine
And I am yours you're sure this time
But circle upon circle
You keep changing on me
These thoughts are hell bent on a flutter
Wanting to break
Carry themselves off into that far off breeze
You catch me in a moment
And your thoughts are trying to figure out mine
But my minds not with you
It's started floating on by
Circle upon circle
You're spinning me away
From this grounded lover
Who says all he wants is for me to stay
Circle can you slow your cycle down
For this soulful other
Stave off this dismal ***** to give us one more day

You shot me down
In the tall long grass
Where I played cops and robbers
Where I smoked with my brothers
Where I laid down my lover
You shot me down
And you ain't coming back

All I got left
I'll say to your boots
You better run, son

Cause my folks they'll be questioning
And my brothers,  they'll reign in a reckoning
As soon as my lady's warm tears subside
She'll be following those boots
Close behind

You better run, son
Your days are numbered
And soon you'll meet my days
Of none

Spare me your friendship
Spare me your alliance
I'm as sure of your hardship
As I'm sure I'm not dying
So wont you find a way
To make it right tonight
Won't you find a way
To fight the hurt inside

It's not the broken heart
That finds the comfort it should
It's not the fallen hard
That finds the heart to make it good
So don't you know what to do?
Cause if you do make your move

It's not the hilltop that beckons to the pilgrims below
Nor the wild skies that falter when the hail hardens to fall
It's not your cherished bud you used to know
Only a sweetened rose you provoked
To thorn you so

So tell me again of that very last straw
The one that brought the camel to his knees
That very last straw
Where you couldn't see the forest for them trees
That very last straw
That held all your sorrows and your crooked pleas
That took all your unspoken apologies
And got them lost in a balmy breeze
That very last straw
So overwhelming in the heat
Now so small and lonely
You wouldn't even see
That very last straw
Was it you or was it me?

i want to let you go

so i can ring my bell

who wouldnt settle for a life of lonely cattle

my bell

who wouldnt burden its own soul with even a spiders thread of strife and bitter woe

i want to let you go

so i can own my wrongs

so i can lose my pitiful pride

so i can choose to cast this ache into the cold night air

scream my truth

i didnt think i deserved a better kind of love

release this nothingness into the nothingness

forget the emptiness

i want to let you go

your fractured love

so begrudgingly bestowed

i want to ring my bell

to remember it doesnt matter where i come from

it only matters where i choose to go

James,
You've changed,
You're an inconsistent fool
And I am at my wits end
Of that sinkhole
You insist on calling a swimming pool
There is no shallow end
There is no cool relief
No getting out
Only your hard headed notions
You knock around
And swear belief
One day soon
That belief you kick around
Will drown your shouts out
And on that day
I won't be about

Oh darlin
Spin with me for just a little while
Bend my ear with that charm
And sassy style
You wear with you so very well
For a little while
Mine a little while
Do that thing you do
To make me smile
To wile away the mile
We'll have a whale of a howl
Darlin
We'll fight the slow march of the midnight hour
Darlin
We'll tame that wild eyed owl
Darlin
In just a little while
Darlin
In just a while away
Darlin
We'll wile the wayward hour
Darlin
We'll wile the hour away

Oh Margaret, oh my
you're a dilly dally harlot
with a penchant for burlesque
and an infatuation for berets
yet all your fancy flairs
and token airs
haven't won you any graces
of which I am aware
so take your dilly dally dancing
your incessant romancing
and go project them elsewhere

farewell
to the innocent, the raconteurs, the glow worms
of yesterday's delights
you old fashioned charmer
swinging from that high rail
did you ever think of falling
did you ever think you could fall in love
with me
oh an ode to the one
i grew hastily fond of
oh to the trouble and strife
you were bound to bring
would i ever have given you back
a slippery handful of times
i have asked myself that
my dear oh dear darlin
the well has run dry
these tears that flowed freely
are now too keenly meant
for fears far more dearly spent

scorned, pitied and shunned you were
roughly cast aside
falling into the deep set hallows
of your woeful doe eyed mind
you can only fool a fool
till the joke spins around
and pins itself on you
so give in to your wants
as your dreams will surely follow,
filling all that's hollow
in your broken wasteful sorrow
you'll wave goodbye tomorrow
all that's rotten to the core
bat away that choking swallow
to arms of solace here at last
taking hold of your very essence
tossing out that shady mask
in the gag you'll see it clearly
that the gigs not over
till you hear that lady
so fool away little foal
you've only yourself to blame
schooled yet no scholar
you've only yourself to maim

So do you hear me
Knocking at your door
Screaming and wailing and crying myself hoarse
Oh I won't be following you
Down the river you'll drown in
Oh I won't be following you
Past those sinners you trespassed back there
You're no good for yourself
And as sure as hell
No good for anybody else
So go on and go
I've been getting a little tired of the same old thing
I suspect the same old things getting tired of me
So go on and go
Scrap your dreams of Albion
Fill your buckets with woe
Be me, help me to see
What you're missing
That glistening
Ray of dew drops
Only clear when the pill pops
Pops, you're still my one and only
Still my tops
Don't call the butcher hounds
Don't bring the cops
One more bop
One more and Ill be done
Just this last one and Ill be done
Just one time
With me, I beg you to come
But whether you fail or fly
I won't be here
I won't come
You're only the shell of the soul I once knew
Whether you fail or fly
To me you're never done
To me you're already gone

Those wolves when they cry
Bring the shepherds down hard
As the sun drifts away
You no longer feel it from afar
Oh keep your wits about you
Keep your fears at bay
This is no humdrum token
Nor a cloak you can rely on
To shield you from the gaze
Battle on lonely one
Burn brighter the further she flies away
Ever distant forever nearer
You're never as close to catching it as when you're so
Far away
And when that fear grips my heart
And sings soldiers from the sky
It's not good enough
That you have it a good enough ****** try
You were meant to aim for the mile high
Go for the landslide
Instead you waited and hesitated
Without a second glance
Your silvery laughter saw its chance
To up and pass you by

I say I got to leave now
And you say so long
So long
So long now
To this place I called home
For so long
So long now,
So long I say
To this place that I
That I
That I have called home
For so long
For so long, so long
So long I say
I say so long so long
To this place that I have called home
For so long I say
So long so long
I say so long so long
So long I say
I say so long
For now

In one fell swoop
You made everything right
In one fell swoop
You drove every hurt out
With one deep look, with one light touch
You took down everyone else
I had ever built up
Now all that's left is us
And I cannot believe my luck
You're my effervescent light
Extinguishing every past plight
You are stronger, dance better
Last longer, fly further
Kiss sweeter, sing brighter
You're a better lover, yet no fallen feather
Your gaze is deeper, your soul is richer
You're an avid listener, a better pleaser
You're no miser, nor a greaser
You're a wider reader and a soulful strummer
You're a drug I cannot decipher
You're a drug and all I wanna do is take you in
You're a drug and all I wanna do is take you higher

Whisper to me softly
Tell it to me straight
When the golden flakes, they break away
Those rainbow drizzles fade away
Into the hearth of our retreat
Can you still call yourself
A simple, humble man
Can you still face the consequence
You knew relied on fate
So breeze on by you gentle wind
Cast your oars aside
You're the travelling mans companion
A fortress of battalions
You're a shy and bashful champion
To ease a troubled mind

Can you believe me now
Do you see it clear
That the saints you hear
Are no longer near

Can you believe me now
That those sins out there
Will take you on your dare
And shake you full of fear

Can you believe me now
That the rain runs dry
Those trickles down your cheek
Weren't the ones that you cried

Can you believe me now
Or will you call me on a lie
Even if I crossed my heart
And hoped that I would die

You're a hard nailed woman
All those years etched into your face
No more qualms to erk your living
No more lies
You'll meet your saving grace

Lost your innocence
As soon as you greeted
Lost the will
To want it back
Now you sit here on a cool damp night
Waiting for a train to meet your track
And I wonder
What will become of you
This old woman
Eating someone else's trash

Did I stutter
Was I mumbling
The answer was no you ridiculous fool
Realise it was courage tact on to your strut
Saw it was a moment you caught onto
Now you're striking out and in an awkward rut
Just walk on by cute little pup
I want more than you're offering
The movies, the mornings, the talks and the tubs.

So you knew that is was wrong
And you did it anyway
Knew there'd be a price
You had no intent to pay
You scrubbed those hands of grime
And turned the other cheek
Thought you'd be rid of all of this
Within the coming week
But times been marching on
With this nipping at the heels
Would you still give anything
To relinquish all this guilt
Oh, ask your soul
To stop on by sometime
Oh, ask your soul
To justify your crime
Oh, ask your soul
To claim you back you're mine
But this old soul
Just spins around in rhyme
This old soul
Just keeps questioning you
Why

Everybody's searching for a little heaven
On this earth
Everybody's scrambling for a little quiet
A little piece
Of it all
Get a little taste
Without the consequence
Good lord
They all want that little bite on the side
Not giving one good *******
About the lessons their mama taught
Everybody wants a little slice
To roll that dice
Be the catcher in that rye
Before they claim it
They'll be *******
They'll all crumble
They'll learn the hard way
Why it just ain't right

You  said don't be afraid
Of those ghosts outside
I'll bend their will
I'll make them abide
But I'm not afraid of those ghosts out there
It's you beside me that instills this fear
I don't know that I believe in them
All I know is you're the truth right here
Their fallacy is token
So I beg them to come
All stitched up in mystery
One tug, I'll have them undone
I don't know that I will ever see them
But I see through you to your soul right now
I don't know that I believe in them
All that's clear is how I feel right here
I don't know that I will ever have them
But I don't wanna lose you to those ghosts out there.

Little lady river
My little whippoorwill
She fills our pails with plenty
She welcomes my paradise on in
Walk with me my darlin
I will be the one to catch you
To keep you from your  jaggered fall
Dance with me frail daffodil
I will let the buttermilk melt
I will crush all honey suckle
To let your laughing crackle rush on through
Spin with me a little
And you'll be dizzy for a little while
Until those watchful eyes begin their focus
On the importance they've been searching
On the truth they've found missing
No forgets,  yet no regrets
There's only the here
There's only you
Right now

Oh bell tower drumming
right into my skull
I can hardly hear that gong
yet I know you quite well
Not yet the one who'll insight the fear
in my heart
Not yet the one who'll grow dear
to my flickering temper, that bittersweet ember
That sighs and that moans
Before the whistles and howls
I long to hear
Oh little bell tower sing
Belt away
For your call echoes long
And it snatches the night
And it catches a moment long gone
Oh little bell tower sing
You're our centre who calls us
Sent to remind us
To heed and to hide us
From the past that can claim us
And the ghosts, they will tame us
Oh little bell tower sing
To remind us the night is surely gone nigh
Lets surrender our wild distant cousins
Longing to touch that great vastness
Leaving behind them only remnants
Of a dreamy dust settled sigh

you asked me a question
wanting the answer too soon
to float from these lips
and settle gently down to calm this mood
instead it baffled my mind
as more questions tumbled in
toppling all lightness
into a heavy set dust
churning all certainty
to an unsettling humid mist
rising through that dependable air
I was left choking back tears I only saw coming
when I tried to blink them away

Tell me your secrets and tell me your lies
Tell me what keeps you up
All through the night
When you lie in your bed
And the still creeps in

What are your triggers, your quirks or your prose
Is the soul you carry round
Something you hold close
When all else you know
Slow..ly fades

Your sorrow is wasteful
It banks on your pride
An echo on the morrow
From a long distance jibe
It's the one who will break you
It's the one who'll expose that fake in you

So tell me so softly, whisper so sweet
In the light of the day
Does your darkness retreat
I hope it won't linger long
I hope it won't do you wrong
I hope you'll forgive me one... day

What do you say to the night so young
As his air of chivalry
Wraps you up in the husk of dusk
What do you say as he beckons you close
A stranger, yet a soul of an all too familiar kind
What do you say as the moment tugs away
A feather of pause calls out for a choice
What do you say as the darkness greets sin
Might you come out and play
Before the dawn breaks this spell
And the light settles in

They say time takes care of the burden of it all
I'm still waiting
Seems times gone sweet on settling that particular score

Oh she's a wanderer
She's a distiller of souls
You cannot catch her boy
She'll just continue to roam
For she was whisked away
Her mind you tried to hold like a tide
But then you glanced away
And she broke free from your bind

Oh hope, the hope you had
Oh grasp, the grasp you held
Oh life, the life you thought yours
The life you thought there
The life you thought you knew
Slipping and sliding
Life, that wriggly worm
Life, that trickery
It's spun up on you
Gone and done a complete turn

Oh, she's a wanderer
She's a tiller man's child
A mocking bird
Lone and gentle against that sycamore wild
Don't stall her boy
Don't shelter or cramp her style
For she'll fly away
No mockingbird stays still for any length of a while

Let it be, songbird
Let it be
He thought these words would make him feel free

But then she went ahead and listened
Now she's gone, long gone and a piece of hims just  missin, her

Let it be, songbird
Let it be
He thought these words would make her feel free

But then she had to leave
She couldn't bear it
Now he's lost her for good and unsure how he'll wear it

Let it be, songbird
Let it be
He thought these words would set them both free

But now all he feels is that crushing loss
Ever present to remind him
All he had is lost

Let it be, songbird
Let it be
Let it be, songbird
Let it be
Let it be, songbird
Let it be,
Let it be me

I can make it
This journey home
Rich red earth so grave
Solid, wholesome
Slippery shes salty to the grit
Gripping yet forever moving
Forever mine
Forever lost
Who chooses their path
Who can tell the fate they hold
Where does it lie, in the palm
The open palm
That outstretched arm
Begging you please feel alive
Or a closed heart
Like stone
Ember ring with light hope
Mistletoe giving way to feint woe
Giving way that grain
So rich so full so graceful she falls
Scattered in that changing breeze
Falls to flow with another
Pass us by youthful squire
Run once more
The grain with the masses
One flicker she turns
Then blown forever
Forever yours
Forever lost
Forever more she may have been yours
Shaking flicker, silver flutter
Forever yours whispers swept up with dust
Yours no longer
Gone, forever gone,
Forever only ever owned by it's own past

Over my dead body
She brushed the grit and grime
From her swollen hands

You're a lost cause little lonely boy
You ain't got nothing
If you got nothing left to lose
Nothing
If got nothing left to prove
If you're all out of moves
You're just a lonely boy
A lonely boy crying wolf

I've played with them
Them weary wolves
They'll sink those sharps in it
Get up on it
Pack of howls they are
No beatin
Wise as owls they are
Comes to eatin

So over my dead body
Little lonely boy
You play with bees you get stung
You play with them wolves
You wont dry out
You'll be strung up and hung