dawn breaking

we'll name the morning only if it fits
our sense of what a morning ought to be
the kind of light that we delight to see
the morning songsters' medley of their hits
we want a morning made of little bits
of all our pasts but will not pay the fee
since memory and beauty should be free
and that is what each conscious mind admits
we do not want a gaudy tropic show
the steady bluing of the cloudless sky
the shadows receding back into the walls
the eastern air filling with its great glow
we want those things and that is not a lie
we want the things our infant mind recalls

a tiny magic

we measure out our love in more than ells
the meaning of each moment tells us much
when we're apart we think only of touch
the distance is not truly that which tells
how much we yearn to hear the ending bells
a moment comes when we can reach and clutch
each other the time moves on so slowly such
is the reality and yet neither of us yells
in shock or anguish time will be enough
to bring us back together for each night
though morning sends out out to scramble
we know that while life's always tough
we have each other we can share the light
and go through life together at an amble

walking from malvern

there's nothing here to anger or to shock
we know the way we've walked along the road
we know each tree each shrub each rock
we carry on our shoulders the same load

each time we come and go along this way
to school or work and always with a goal
even when we are making holiday
we place ourselves within the proper role

the road's cut into the steep mountain side
we see its slash from far across the dale
we walk it every day with some luck we ride
we're always responsive to a friendly hail

the world we know is a far larger place
that what we find in this confining isle
our feet are set to a far faster pace
that what is locally the normal style

with all these folk we have our normal share
our steps are governed by a standard rule
we do not note the freshness of the air
all we can think about is work and school

the names of people fade from every mind
the shape of hills and houses is forgot
we've left the place and people all behind
in other kinds of places is our lot

to those who walk all distances are far
but weariness does not follow on the way
we watch the swifter passers in each car
they give us something to think or say

each landmark tells us something of the time
how fast we've come how far we have to go
we're young and heading rapidly to prime
but that is not a thing that we can know

to walk more slowly reading in the light
keeping the brain alive's a thorough plan
much much too quickly falls the tropic night
and reading's no fit task for a true man

much better not to think and just to do
what one is told just simply to survive
that's the way to get over and through
to keep the body healthy and alive

there are no walls but we are all confined
in fenced-in spaces with a fenced-in folk
we keep ourselves deliberately blind
to all that binds us to our chafing yoke

to come as we do round the last great hill
to see before us the sea in its length
sets forth to us the limits of each will
the boundaries of what is reached by strength

behind us over mountains comes the moon
rising in triumph as the sun has set
we look on southward at the small lagoon
home of a small atlantis full of regret

that soon our journey ends another mile
before we reach the driveway and the door
we'll dump our bags in an unseemly pile
eat our meals and dream much more

under the willows in the voicing dark
are ghosts and spirits and the blinking gleams
of fireflies in the distance dogs will bark
and all of this will blend into our dreams

the purpose is the matter

that gives us all the power to comprehend
our purposes is nothing but our desire
for what we want is what we name our end

it does us not a whit of good to fake or pretend
that we know what is what for we require
that gives us all the power to comprehend

we do not speak of evils since all that we intend
will not be played on trumpet or on lyre
for what we want is what we name our end

the nimble trees won't at our wishes bend
they'll seem to rise each moment ever higher
that gives us all the power to comprehend

the genius that sets forth the normal trend
that sends the signals forth along the wire
for what we want is what we name our end

do not i beg you chide nor rephrehend
do not condemn the laughter or the fire
that gives us all the power to comprehend
for what we want is what we name our end

sent out to all and sundry

i'm always the one in the right
what others have said are all lies
i know that you've got evil spies
who watch me throughout the night
your actions are driven by spite
integrity and rigour you despise
you're all out to seek my demise
it's you who have brought on the blight
now this is the way to assure
that nothing will ever be done
to set things correctly to rights
there's no one who can be secure
or sure of their place in the sun
when dealing with lunatic wights

listening to opera on the beeb

catch in the throat is a complete surprise
the singers grab me straight by the heart
i know that to them it's just another part
yet that is not what seems right or wise
seen through the characters' own eyes
i'm held in place just by the power of art
the music held me here from the start
and i've forgotten if time moves or flies
the story's so well known it doesn't count
just the freight of voices making song
in languages i've never thought to speak
sounds rise up the music seems to mount
not to the skies but to a place where strong
souls can be brought from darkness to the peak