Lying on my bed
I was reading French
With the light too bright
for my senses
From this hiding place,
life was way too much
It was loud and rough
round the edges
So I faced the wall
when an old man called
Out of dreams that I would
die there
But a sight unseen,
you were pulling strings
And you had a different idea
I was like a child,
I was light as straw
When my father lifted
me up there
Took me to a place
where they checked my body
My soul was floating in thin air
I clung to the bed,
and I clung to the past
And I clung to the welcome
darkness
But at the end of the night
There’s a green green light
It’s the quiet before the
madness
There was a girl that sang
like the chime of a bell
She put out her arm
And she touched me
when I was in hell
Someone sang a song
and I sang along
Cause I knew the words
from my childhood
Intellect, ambition
they fell away
They locked me up
for my own good
But I didn’t mind
cause the silence was kind
And you spoke to me in
whispers
There was the
sound of the wind
in the cold cold dawn
And the quiet hum of
business
Let me dangle a while in this
waiting room
I don’t need to go
I don’t need to know
what you’re doing
Lying on my side you were
half awake and your face
Was tired and crumpled
If I had a camera
I’d snap you now
Cos there’s beauty
in every stumble
We are out of practice
we’re out of sight
On the edge of nobody’s
empire
If we live by books
and we live by hope
Does that make us targets
for gunfire?
Now I look at you
you’re a mother of two
You’re a quiet revolution
Marching with the crowd
singing dirty and loud
For the people’s
emancipation
Did I do ok,
did I pave the way?
Was I strong when you
were wanting?
I was tied to the yoke
with a decent bloke
Who was stern but never
daunting
And he told me to push
and he made me feel well
And he told me to leave
that vision of hell
to the dying
