not even stardust

in all the sayings about magic power
we never learn just how to manage it
it's all left to the mage in the high tower
who laughs at us for our sheer lack of wit
who knows what secret rituals at night
have summoned demons elementals sprites
the strength's in the expression of the rite
when beings come in asymmetric flights
and then i wake and think and shake my head
the entities all recede to emptiness
i sit up smiling on the side of my bed
then rise to wash and clean and dress
dragons and wizards all have it seems
might only in the vagaries of dreams

point to point navigation

the fragments come together with a thud
the body's whole again in an eyeblink
vanished are the giant pools of blood
and the implosion causes death to shrink
back into a corner almost with a moan
not daring to come out while the sun shines
the former victim stands up with a groan
and walks out backwards as the hinges whine
we run films backwards hoping the effect
will help us understand the way things are
the reverse movements allow us to dissect
things that would otherwise our senses jar
the story's ancient we know and swiftly told
for nothing is the same to young and old

a feather drops

who tells the secrets may not be a spy
the watcher in the attic is a bird
the little fib turns out not to be a lie
the logic of the matter turns absurd
what if the house was made of air not wood
the road of dreams and not of tarmac
it is the wolf who hides beneath the hood
but he just wants to talk not to attack
the tale's disturbed by a distinct account
we thought we knew it but now we are lost
the price we paid is now the wrong amount
and we are now responsible for the cost
the clock runs on the power of coiling springs
the bird upon the hour comes out and sings

a bright epiphany

we don't expect the truth to come out straight
it only does after we've caused some pain
right here reality has to bear so much freight
we're constantly alarmed at that much strain
the shape of things that are is now unclear
what is to come we cannot really know
the past unlooked at tends to disappear
experience does not teach us how to grow
instead we come upon the long grey beach
the breakers coming in from far away
the sea beyond extending from our reach
the sun behind us making it clear day
what now is true was yesterday a lie
but still we marvel at so blue a sky

no emperor but hope

we've heard the rumours that all others hear
the time has come to make a choice and stand
while on the screen they analyze the year

the things that others think we hold most dear
will not matter if they impede our hand
we've heard the rumours that all others hear

a moment to shake our heads so that they clear
and then we move to liberate the land
while on the screen they analyze the year

what moved away we now find standing near
what once excited now seems plain and bland
we've heard the rumours that all others hear

the machine stalled but now it's in high gear
the tide is coming in along the strand
while on the screen they analyze the year

but what of those who chose to guard the rear
they too will march to the music of the band
we've heard the rumous that all others hear
while on the screen they analyze the year

marching down the year

the stories of dead gods now have no weight
the strength of infant mithras does not matter
we think today only of an abstract fate
all talk of gods is naught but idle chatter
yet once women and men were caught in fear
at names that now we do not recognise
nyame himself might make shift to appear
and terror fill his startled creatures' eyes
but now we've got no god but savage reason
who tells us what we are and does not lie
who does not charge with heresy nor treason
but simply stares us down straight in the eye
the season that we face is the year's turning
and for dead gods we find we have no yearning

a flash of wing

no more memory
fleeting sight of joyous bird
in late afternoon

as night comes on us
colours of silence proclaim
another meaning

in the noisy night
we expect no plain answer
only the magic