yeah thats me
alone in this house full of childrens voices
i pass the winter at my window
i watch the world go by
no one sees me
no one hears me
i light my fire and watch the flames
many years ago……ah! whats the use…
i walk down by the shore of the deserted sea at dawn
i am utterly alone
as alone as birth and death
as alone as the earth itself spinning through nights and days
a planet would you believe…..?!
a baby planet crawling with its living things
i remember how god planted a garden eastward in eden
west of the land of nod
i remember that garden had roses and shiny black panthers
and it had buttercups and herons and cranes
it had warm lovely cuddly lions and snow white lambs
it had fruit in the trees
the morning sun poured down
angels surrounded me then
half invisible
they spoke inside my mind in music and words
they gave me their gift of song just to converse
they sang
oh dont walk there you man
where thorns are sharp
and snakes are quick
(another took up the song)
follow us along these verdant lanes
for the garden is large
you could become lost!
(and then another began)
oh sweet blackberries
oh sweet oranges
sleep in the shade
you man who needs to rest
(and then all of them)
man with your soul
soul with your man
oh your father really loves you
so follow us
to arbours cool
to blissful bowers
to sacred groves…
i’m struggling to remember the rest
when i remember that i’m wandering along
on this cold july morning by this greying sea
is that really me
that old straggler almost alone
i say almost
because there is a one legged gull
hopefully hopping along alongside me
wondering when i will put out something she can eat
is this then my dawn companion in the autumn of my life?
the sea is supernally still
a fog emerges silvering everything
the gull and i stay close together
she’s a beautiful bird
oh i grow quite fond of her inside this fog
by the stillest sea
the quiescent sea
we stand there gull and i
me on my 2 legs
gull on her one
once i was your wife she said
you were the king of the gulls
and i, seastarling, your wife
i turn around to look at the gull
but she has gone
i hear her voice somewhere in the air
now i have no leg
and you have no wings…..
at the sound of her tiny voice
the ocean began to gently move again
as if freeing itself from a trance
tell me about eden says the sea
and it extends a foamy hand for me to shake
eden ….eden…oh ha ha i say
no seriously…says the sea
ok i say
eden …hmmmm…let me see i said
the 4 rivers
pison
gihon
hiddekel
why i knew those rivers! says the sea
euphrates…i continue
but tell me of that garden says the sea
adding sadly…i never see any gardens, you know
oh the garden the garden i say
but my memories have withered within their storage
the outside has somehow wormed its way within
my memories of eden have faded or dwindled down to nothing
go on says the impatient sea becoming bigger
white caps appeared and rollers rolled onto the beach
what about those trees ?it said, becoming angry…
the trees were …um…large…and..uh…
what? snorted the sea now an ocean again
what? said the grunting and rollicking ocean
as it clashed all its tiny shells together
the trees were…the trees were…
i begin to stutter but i’m drowned out by the sea
which is better than being drowned in by the sea
go home the pacific hisses as it chased me up the beach
i walk along the empty streets
as it was before the houses were even built
a tangle of undergrowth
the murmur of birdsong
the soft sun bashfully peeps over the horizon
the soft sound of zebra hooves
the smell of roses and frangipani
the smell of lilac and honeysuckle
the orange blossoms
the peacocks and the fawns
the stallions on the lawns
eden eden eden
thats more like it says the sea
thats more like my kind of eden he says
your kind of eden? i say
only i dont actually say it
i write it
i write it down
here