one touch of fire

 this is the moment when i know mistake
the voice i hear most loudly is my own
so many ghosts now crowd around the lake

you see the wind will make the branches shake
and hear just how the forest comes to moan
this is the moment when i know mistake

on ears and minds the same words come to break
and winds and whirlwinds long ago were sown
so many ghosts now crowd around the lake

at such a second the eye grows opaque
and the cold ear can't register a groan
this is the moment when i know mistake

the clarity of light no one could fake
at such a time as this when it is shown
this is the moment when i know mistake

the fact of life is there is no retake
the pieces scatter once the bomb has blown
this is the moment when i know mistake
so many ghosts now crowd around the lake

not speech nor silence

this brings the thing down level with most shock
you find the answer not in the best way
but dancing through the light of brighter day

not every key will fit into this lock
and rules are made for those who do not stray
this brings the thing down level with most shock

i speak to those who cannot help but mock
that they will find the shaping of this clay
is not the simplest sort of human play
this brings the thing down level with most shock

art deco

 

you see no symbols written in the air
but those who rule us say what they observe
and you are never given chance to swerve
and must say that you too can see them there
a single voice a single oath to swear
that is the thing that will a foe unnerve
and so we face the mystery with verve
drawing a line across the vacant sphere
divine some system and you get the sense
of who the agents are of this control
not just the faces staring from the sky
whose images might be a great pretense
but the fine figures of the dawn patrol
who do not slacken and who cannot lie