Echoes And Empty Rooms

Do you call it call it making peace,
Or do you call it surrender?
When you let go of something you swore
Always to remember
Men speak of light and fire
Like jailors clutching lanterns
Looking into every cell
Into darkness shouting answers

“But why do you care,
Why do you care?” she says.
“Truth is an echo from an empty room.”

I hate the peace I need
I hate it like a cancer
They say wither into truth
I move madly like a dancer
Up and down these corridors
Do my footsteps reach your ears?
Does that sound, does that sound
Sound like victory or failure?

And, “Why do you care,
Why do you care?” she says.
“Truth is an echo from an empty room.”

Desert Tribe

We are of a desert kind
Born to roam but never find
Promised land or peace of mind

But you know my number
You know my number
It’s still the same

Waiting by a well so dry
Empty as the desert (sky)
Far from other passers by

Living on locusts, living on honey
Living like Cain

Eyes on horizons
That we know we will never reach
Cause we can never leave

Look back to the ancient scribes
(We were there when they wrote our name)
The lord of lonely shepherd tribes
(We’re alone but we are the same)
Forgotten men who lived and died
(Too much time, too much empty space)

And you know my number
You know my number

Yestergraves

Bye bye now
Bad old days
My, my how
I tend to overstay

You of a million blank eyes
You with no voice for replies

I’m well aware the dead won’t be raised
By some clever turn of phrase
I’ve laid too many wreaths
On that grave
Yestergraves

Now is now is what I fell into
Now is gonna see me through to
Now again
Here is where I get my fix
Here is at my fingertips

You tie the days into a noose
Who’s gonna come and cut you loose?
We live in the life that we choose not
Yesterday

But I wish you so much luck
When the jaws of the trap have shut
And you find your leg is stuck in
Yesterday’s
Yestergraves

Impossible Things

Like an old dog
Without new tricks
I have tried to learn
But the lessons won’t stick
And the ice in my glass
Rings like bells from the past
And the sweet sound brings
Back impossible things

I still walk this earth
With my feet on the ground
But I start to float away
When I hear that sound

If I heeded the call
Would you break my fall?
If I thought that I had wings
For impossible things

Oh my love, this world will teach
Us not to touch what’s out of reach
Let’s get too high, let’s dig too deep
It’s what I really need

I’m a hopeless case
Like the human race
I just hope and pray
You can love me that way
It’s a poor man that clings
To the safety life brings
And my soul will always sing
For impossible things

Flower On The Vine

My house is old, it’s crumbling down
My world is in decline
The weeds grow high
They choke out the life
Of flowers on the vine
Please grow once more
Reveal what’s mine
Reveal what lies behind
Oh, bless my eyes
Unfold again
Sweet flower on the vine

I’m half alive
Or maybe dead
Murdered by whisky and wine
Show me again
How all things go
And return upon one vine
My love, my love
I miss you so
I watch for the slightest sign
I could wait forever
Just to see you one more time

But nothing I do can make you show
Cause I can’t rain or shine
I sing my songs to draw you out
And I pray that I’m not blind
So show yourself
Reveal what’s mine
Reveal what lies behind
And I will go on singing
Oh, blossom divine
And I will go on singing
Sweet flower on the vine

Amateur Astronomer

Thank you for asking
I was just basking
In a faraway glow
Despite the predictions
I’m in stable condition
Wouldn’t you know
The milky way matches
The view from my mattress

So I’ve decided to stay put
And you will find me underfoot
Lying down here in the gutter
Look-look-looking at the stars

The drink makes me thirsty
For life’s little mercies
Rain on my tongue
Perfume in my whisky
Means fortune has kissed me

So by all means step over me
Just be sure to tread quite carefully
I made my bed in the gutter
Where I could see the stars
Lying down here in the gutter
Look-look-looking at the stars

D.U.I

My body aches
And longs to make
The same mistake
And give into
The pull of you
And everything that will ensue

We are the only ones who know
The way it feels to give into it, lose control

The way is neither
Here nor there
We know we’re lost
And we don’t care

Direction has no meaning here
Just close your eyes,
The road ahead is clear

On Again, Off Again

I keep stopping by for more
I sit begging at your doorway
Rattle my cup, are you up?
Take some pity on the poor

I am your favorite substitute
But in the morning I get the boot
Never arrange to change
The point is moot

I bring my bags but don’t unpack
Cause you will need the bedroom back
On again, off again

We don’t allow ourselves
To hope for something else
To ask for something more
No, we both know the score
We live in interludes
Nothing misconstrued
Disappointment would be rude

We keep the memories alive
So they’ll be waiting when I arrive again
Fan the old flame in our name
Then get back to our lives

Suspended animation
Until the next occasion
On again, off again

We’re never carried away
Never think beyond today
For a day or two at most
You play the kindest host
No foolish wishin’
Beyond this intermission
To ask for more would spoil the mood

On again, off again

Afterparty

3am – the lights came on again
To glare the truth from which we hide
“Where can we go?” I asked my newfound friend
“The afterparty,” she replied
And so along I went
Although that was not what I meant

World of man
Worth a handful of sand
Love me, hold me
Woman love your man

Oh, how long can it last?
About as long as the fog of my breath on this glass
Where do I go, where do I stand?
When all the world is built on sand

4am – the pavement bends away
We may never find that door
It’s not about arriving anyway
It’s not a place we’re looking for
I’ll walk with you wherever
If the road goes on forever

World of man
Just some castles of sand
Love me, hold me
Woman love your man

Evil Twin

Can it be true?
Where there was one of me now there are two
Just like the others you thought you knew who
Split down the middle and changed into
Someone completely new

You never look in your mirror
You never see him get nearer
But if you look in your mirror
Look closely for your twin

(He’s kith and kin
The trouble you’re in
When hope is pinned
On my evil twin)

It’s my double causing so much trouble
Undermining my best-laid plans
From hidden spaces, he keeps trading places
Be sure you’re talking to the real man

You never look in your mirror
When the picture is clearer
Next time you look in your mirror
Look closely for your twin

Club Stairs

I don’t know why I come here
Expecting some new end
Out of an endless cycle
Eternal optimism or
I just like illusion more

I don’t know why I come here
(I go walking the walls of this city every night)
The entrance seems so faraway
(Til I wind up here waiting for something to happen)

Somewhere upon a distant door
The golden angels wrote my name

Up at the club
The world is waiting
Down on the stairs I go dreaming
At the top of these long stairs
Do you think they might be there?
In the club when we get there
I will look, I’ll go dreaming

Blank Spaces On The Map

Such a long, long night
And the birds sing for first light
Bedroom clock just ticking away
So impatient to start the day

I was the caretaker of this place
On the edge of visible space

I tended the gardens
The walls that I built
Just vanished around me
I think of it still

Maybe I could find my way back
Off the well-worn, beaten track
Disappear down some hidden lane
Lose my way back to you again

A dream just woke me from
A state so numb
I thought I had succumb
To life here in a world much worse
This parallel universe

So long, so long
I won’t be gone for long
I’ve gone, I’ve gone
I’m home away from home

So long, oh-oh,
I won’t be gone for long
I’m gone, I’m gone
I might be gone a while

We could get lost again
We should get lost again