Brought on one long journey,
The time,
The love,
The balance of we two.
The adventure came by it's own invitation.

Marched by burnt forest,
Blackened trees of the Bois de Rio,
The halls of Kings.

In private places are found the silent nights
when we feared the adventure would swallow us whole.
In private places we hid beneath the covers
as another child was born and we felt the responsibility,
Whole and hard,
Like porridge in our stomachs,
Heavy,
Warm

The Touch of Skin

Morning essence and shimmering pathways
Light the road to that existence
The realm where all is complete
The orchard of both beginning and end
Here, as we touch on occasion,
And glimpse the fruit of tomorrow
The yearning rests unknowing
Fulfilling that potential.

It is not that passion for life can never be fulfilled
And nor that total love cannot be realized.
Yet I would not try to reach it
For fear that in the grasping it would disappear
It will find us in the end of its own accord
By some word, some glance, some smile
In the meanwhile let our caresses be the joy of that Mystery
The touch of skin.

I will not gratify you in some moment of weakness
Nor will I shame you in your desire
Too precious is that moment of consummation
Too complete is its value
Let our passion be as the love of gods
Pure and untold virtue of the universe
I will not satisfy you in the fire of a moment
But in the light of years

the hippie haven concept hides
hypocrites, harlots and has-beens
stale dreams for a quite demise
tiny minds leading the blind
who will tell them they made a mistake?
who is going to say its been left too late?
no-one will hear

tears on the side of cheeky freedom
sneers at the brides sneaky impregnation
and the liberation of three score and
six, seven, eight, nine and ten
oh dears, that mighty rise
the technological sky's the limit.

a war bore the brunt of a generation's virtue
no truth left to deny
surreptitious spying behind enemy lines
and at the end of the line
fears
they feared the "reds"
never having to live with The Bomb in their heads
they denied their children childhood beds
to "live while you can" and sleep in
do they plan yet another "war to end wars"?

in the rubble came the mistake
"grab what you can"
"you get what you take"
an ideal to appeal to the freedom of youth
but the truth was entirely different
let them be what they will

The Tollmans Fee

It's sad to think that she will never understand
as she strolls through the gossamer of her
self-created
indignantly real land.
To look in her eyes you would never know
how much Sunday school instruction
held fast her soul.

The mild introduction
of politely offensive conduct
to her personality
made her feel whole
at one with the abused and abusive world
Now don't say that you never met her
sorts of payment made by endless others
on our behalf

It's goodbye now to all the hows
the wheres and the what-fors
the times of day
the breakfast dining ways
go forward now
until the time arrives
in that same moment
to stop

I smile
sigh
As on tip-toe she runs silently by
Closing her eyes
and believing by that process
that I do not see her

It's sad to think that she will never understand
as she stolls through the gossamer of her
self-created
indignantly real land
and stops to pay the Tollman
on our behalf.

It was in the way she said it
with certainty
but as though she thought she ought to have doubt
"I think", she said "I think I ..."
Too afraid to know too much in such a time of learning
"I think ..." she said, meaning more
Poor innocent allowed only within consent of other's thoughts
Taught to them
How could she say?
surrounded by days with Pavlovian type dogs
How could she
even if she wanted to be ...
true.
"I think ..." she says.

I too knew too soon
we all have to dance to some other's tune
of how we ought to be
See, I knew how they thought I should be
What a pity I was never what my mother expected of me
But I nor she ever could be.

I honestly thought ...
There! You see!
I too say and said in darker days ...
I think.

But what the girl has now to say
as she prays that she's a woman
is no more than you or I had to say
in our younger days of faulty faultless understanding
planning our future tutored us ...
I think.

On The Way To Enlightenment

I tried very hard to be nice
As I stood in line at Baden's paradise
And I crossed my legs as they sermonized
On the way to enlightenment.
But I shit my pants at cub scout camp
On the way to enlightenment. 

I was told how lucky I am to be alive
Of all the boys killed and the men who died
Of the wars they fought so that I might survive
On the way to enlightenment.
I felt as guilty as hell to be alive
On the way to enlightenment.

I saw my mother choke on a bar of soap
As my father forced it down her throat
Divorce, it seemed, was her only hope
On the way to enlightenment.
Happiness was a childhood joke
On the way to enlightenment.

I saw my grandfather die as he lay on the ground
The victim of neglect and a family breakdown
He lost his life, and I my paper round
On the way to enlightenment.
I blame myself for the way he was found
On the way to enlightenment.

I loved Sharon Butt, she never loved me
We shared our first contraceptive comedy
I discovered that a woman contains more than a moments ecstacy
On the way to enlightenment.
Many more things didn't seem that clear to me
On the way to enlightenment.

My father explained that wisdom came in a child's attack
That a little girl's laugh meant more than a single hand's clap
That not even a god could do better than that
On the way to enlightenment.
I discovered my father was a paedophiliac
On the way to enlightenment.

And when at last I understood the Messiah's call
I had tea with the vicar at the local church hall
Where I heard Christ had died after all
On the way to enlightenment.
An unconfirmed report implied he was Peter's tool
On the way to enlightenment.

I broke every commandment of every faith
I am guilty of all those things my mother says
And I'm not proud of the things I did
On the way to enlightenment
Errors self made are the hardest to forgive
On the way to enlightenment.

And so I stood at the gates of society
Where the pair ran forth with hipocrasy
And the blood ran cold with beach hut philosophy
On the way to enlightenment.
I was alone as far as I could see
On the way to enlightenment.

The truth, I found, the modern world fears
The eyes are blinded by sight and wisdom deafens the ears
The only voice in accord crossed three thousand years
On the way to enlightenment.
No one said I should shed any tears
On the way to enlightenment.

Now as a priest of lay I stand to witness the death of an age
As the poet within pursues the folly of the silent page
I ask forgiveness of that ancient sage
On the way to enlightenment.
Allow others to burn in the fires of rage
On the way to enlightenment.

A child's heart is a pure thing
And I may yet learn from the songs I sing
I do find joy in everything
On the way to enlightenment.
I discovered that none of these things mean anything
On the way to enlightenment.

Celestial Child

They danced in the light of the bright new mornings even in the darkest days
As each year passes they dream of things their father shall never live to grasp
Brothers and sisters
Each moment of the day to day wandering is left with single jewels of happiness
Soft sadness humbles each of us in unimportant things
Though she sings while others cry
Even as a father works
In silent images children pause each moment of that wandering
Celestial child
fragile
dependent
wild bright eyes of the stars
she cries while others sing.
There is nothing a father has that cannot be given
There is no shy place to hide away from the memories
the essence
the beauty
You are your father's meaning
The whole reason for being
There is nothing else.