Take a breath
Close your eyes
And enter

Past Lilly cups, daffodils
I have waited so long next to melted clocks
Dreams wither so quickly
But the showers save a withering rose

Do not wade away, do not sail away
My dear never to freeze, my flame is here

Rest in my meadows
Ride my rivers and roads
And find warmth in my sun’s glow

Light a flame in the night
And feel my presence

Smell my roses
And taste my golden apples

Spend Eternity here
Love will never wither
Never from your thoughts,
Never you away from me

You are a castaway
Without age,
Rich of my gifts
But what makes you long

The elms and the violets across the bay
The warmer sun and lighter clouds

I wanted to be the sparrow and you spring
But ah spring leaves the sparrow
And you leave my isle to another

Everyday I see you
And I wither
Until I am frail and barren

But you one day long for me
And sail across
But dear I am shivering among the stars

There they sat
Dear children of love
Silent but passionate, forbidden but free
Like the way rain nourishes the grass
Their love began as a drizzle but metamorphosed into a storm inside their hearts
A united flame

Her garden was a home to their love
In the night they became one
A midsummer’s night
Surrounded by roses and flames
These protected them
From the soldiers

Their love had no condition
But to the soldiers
Love was alien
The counting of bills
On the top of the pyramid of power
Their only preoccupation

These children held out for so long
So pure, so beautiful, so young, so pious

But the soldiers entered one day
The night can only stay so long
The summer only so much longer
The roses wilted and colour left them
The flame burned out
It was time, that fought with love

They looked to each as they were dragged away

A time where love was misunderstood

Here I walk, a wanderer without hope
Their love was anachronistic
A little piece of heaven in hell
A love bound by hearts
Not by lips
Or deep pockets

In another time
A love such as theirs will unfold
But our eyes may never catch a glimpse

Come my dearest
Through their garden
Pull the sun over the moon
Plant roses
Bring back mother spring
And light their flame
Look above
And you will see two stars shivering
So close to another as if a fire is between them

Into Morena enter men of virtue and sinners alike
Up the hill to his highness, below the aristocrats and beneath them the artists
Pay scant attention to the slums and they go about their ways

Up, crowned by fig trees he lived
And he desired even a grander palace
In a land of the impoverished and suffering
A great drought came and never left

Imagine an audition
Arrived the king of power, the moneymen and the primadonna drunk with fame
Artists, writers, musicians, those who bolstered creativity, came
And after came pilgrims of love and those who lit flames of lust
The mourners journeyed from the sea of tears
And the drunkard and the crazy came

As the audition began a scrawny boy arrived
And he tried to stop the audition with all his vigour
He was asked his name and he screamed instead “Empathy”
His words fell on deaf ears and he was thrown to the curb

The king and the star became cast as a couple and the moneymen his trusted advisors
Until where the drunkard and the crazy became understudies for the mourned

Now leave this image and enter the Palace of Morena
The king looks into the mirror
All he sees is his blue eyes and blond hair

But in the shanties they look out the window
Hunger and thirst in the air, in the water and in their blood
But the boy helps his ailing grandmother and orphaned sister

The fire of revolt is in their blood but the doves are still flying
And they live in their misery until
Their corpses lie in nameless graves
But ah, “The death of a body is but a change of clothing in the sparrow-like journey of the soul, just as the tree loses her leaves in the winter frost and is rejuvenated with mother spring”.

A.J.

It was spring when you crossed my threshold
In our spring
You weaved me garlands of kisses
And I lit flames of lust
Your eyes brought me to your isle
I felt your warm curved hips
And cool narrow legs
And stroked the deer next to them,
I smelled the rose between your breasts
And embraced you

Summer came and went
We waded in the river
We were acquainted with each other’s
We were friends at day
Crazed animals at night
It was our night, for us lovers
Walk free, walk long

The autumn chill entered your heart
And I lifted the anchor
But your smile brought me back

I climbed the highest peak in the name of love
I screamed to you at the zenith
You ran up and with the sunrise
A passion unfolded, a panther and a deer
But by sunset we were unknowns

Several weeks went by in the spell
But the winter storm chased the autumn out
And lit out the fire in the pit

I called out to you in the vast expanse
Where were you when I needed you most
Were you in his arms, lips in lock
I was true but life gets the better of us all

I tossed her robes onto our bed
Hoping we can once again sleep together

Eventually I put those thoughts to rest and
I climbed into our bed for eternal rest

Through orange orchards they trotted
Through clear streams we waded
It was the summer of our life
Even in the winter storm
The summer of allure, of camaraderie
But it lacked something,
It provided our basic needs, food and water
And with Serenity and Friendship
It gave us breath and a heart beat
But the soul shivered

Up on a plateau
100 steps
Lay a stream

He ran to quench the thirst of his soul
Drinking from the stream

The water gave life
It gave us bold shadows and vivid reflections
Without it our eyes would not wet, our body would not shake

Are we not human?
Can we not bleed like Jesus?
We still love as we did, we still hate
The body hasn’t changed
But only the mind
We feel fear and sadness differently
But our sweat, blood and tears the same

It fuelled not only the bulbs but also the roots
The eyes saw the water enter the lips
But the heart into the soul

A vast sea of tears and a drop of blood
Poses guilt on the seas
Or when in the heart of the night
A little light brings back day

The water reminded him of his youth
But age takes all
His body began to lack splendour and strength
Looks, Wealth are horses but Integrity, Grit a dog rubbing your legs

Then came a deluge
And vast floods
And the island where the man, his dog and horses
Came a pack of wolves and a clan of serpents
The beauty left with the horses in the deep of the night
But the dog stood beside him, a warrior
Attacking the wolves but he fell at their mercy
His carcass fell into a pool of blood but he became one with his master

His master gained his inner flame
The wolves surrounded him
Moving ever so close, waiting to pounce
The end in the skies
He defends himself and sets death upon the pack

He reaches the serpent’s lair
And one by one death becomes them
But alas one serpent hidden upon rocks
Strikes from behind with a mortal blow

The man reaches back clutching the serpent’s neck
Knowing the path is at its end
Compassionate overtakes him and he sets him free
He walks into the water and disappears under the waves.

The soul in his body has awoken
He remembered the master and his dog
And how even in a sea of people one can shudder alone on an island
He bades farewell and begins the journey home

Our wires have been tweaked and twisted
To put lust over love

In dingy homes, foggy skies
Do we play with lust
Alone or with another

Lust is so often practiced
But love universally suppressed

Lust is readily available
A star in the countryside
But love is rare
Polaris shivering alone amid city lights

Lust is a faction of our mind
Readily available, carnations at a florist,

We are window watching
After some time in the bed
Wasted by dangerous obsessions

Through the window we see
Our families, friends, and acquaintances
The unknown belongs in cities

We were brave and cowardly, blissful and morose, fearless and fearful

We were like city dwellers, as all our brothers and sisters
Except we appear beautiful
But inside is nothing but hatred

Outside the village we see horses
White as mother’s milk, the milk of kindness

Through verdant valleys and snow capped peaks they travel
At dusk they arrive here
As they travel through our homes, shops, gardens

Those who are bound through lust, two board a horse
And so do we

Travelling west from Aurea
The day bows to night’s realm

We begin to experience something
Never felt in our hearts
Like the first snowfall

Lovers rule the night
Not bound by society
Free, wild

Light fights night
But on the plains it is dark, it is peaceful

As the night grows old the sun rises
And the horses leave us in a village quite like ours

Several more times we take the horses
But the horses leave one last time
And with them she leaves

It was an era of fantasy
Cotton candy clouds
Floating over the rainbow
But then the rain hit the trenches
A mass murder
Missionaries of Christ

The war ended the fantasy
Forbidden fruit tasted
Realists who worked to live
Forgetting fables for cabaret

Those kids now adults
A lost generation
Lost in art and culture

Then came a map
Four men around surrounding it
Moving boundaries to and fro

Then came the music
50’s were jazz
60’s were cleansing and morose
70’s had us on the dance floor
Until “I will Survive”
Then came music from the bayou
And synths and beats

But now, 2 decades
Nothing but ear-candy
Not giving any water to the soul
Or food to the mind
Selling out is pop’s adage

But 2014 is different
Disco breathed again
And we were reminded
That music comes
From the strangest of places
In “Cities never seen on screens”
Just like in the 70’s when
3 birds visited us

I though I loved you
I crossed the seven seas
Just to see you

I thought I wanted you
I thought I needed you

I thought my heart lies with you
But my heart lies over the Pond

Not on the lit up streets of New York
Not on the Hollywood walk of Fame

It lies with my family
From the dust under the piano
From the elms in the yard
From the smiles of my parents
In that small country mansion

I thought I wanted you
I thought I needed you

I thought my heart was with you
But my heart lies over the Pond

I saw you
I thought your eyes were diamonds
But they didn’t shimmer

I thought you would hug me once
But you never did

I thought you would look at me
Not my wallet

I thought my heart was with you
But my heart lies over the Pond

You lured me
Onto that steamer of sorrow
Into those dim lit city streets

I thought you would love my heart
Not my wallet

You never loved me
Never kissed me
Never looked at me

When I started singing the Hometown blues you shed no tears
You couldn’t care less

I thought my heart was with you
But my heart lies over the Pond

You lured me like Medusa
Where to

I thought I wanted you
I thought I needed you

I thought love and money were different
I was wrong

I thought my heart was with you
But my heart lies over the Pond

She had it all
The sun shining on her
The stars above her
She had it all
The world at her feet
The Queen of soul

But then they came
They brought her away
From stardom
With meth and alcohol

They brought her from the sun
Onto this narrow path
Beside the sea of tears
It rained everyday
Of her tears

She tried her best to walk back
Towards the sun
But she couldn’t see it clearly

Every inch she took, she thought
It was towards the sun
Not it’s mirage

She had it all.
Glitz and Glamour
Fame and Money
But they took that all away and set her
On this path

The further she went the more they gave to her
She was happy then sad then upset
She was so far nobody saw her, her name forgotten

She walked until she could no more

She had it all.
Glitz and Glamour
Fame and Money
But they took that all away and set her
On this path
Until she could walk no more

They left her there all alone
Sobbing

She had it all.
Glitz and Glamour
Fame and Money
But they took that all away and set her
On this path
Until she could walk no more

She was a lost princess lured by so-called friends
Left alone on a dead end

The mirage was none other than a mirror
She saw herself
Her tears
Her tattered clothes
But she also saw the sun

She had it all.
Glitz and Glamour
Fame and Money
But they took that all away and set her
On this path
Until she could walk no more

But in that sun she was no more
There sung a new princess
Happy and naive as she had been
And then she saw the sunset
Her eyes closing
Her last words
The dark of the night
The end of her life

Alley Cats we are
Dirty ones at best
Prowling through the alleys
Like misfits walking head down
In the school corridors

La-bababadi, doubaduba di

We scratch and fight the purebreds
We muts always lose
But so do the misfits

Tsh-fish-fish-lish-wish

We try our best to reach the garbage can
We the attention seekers
But we always fail
We are left with no such food
Meow

We cats need our food
Like misfits need attention
But we like them fail
Failure, inevitable

We try our best to reach to the top
But they always push us down
They also try to speak up
But they are shut up by the jetsets
We are both misfits except we are just alley cats

Prowling through the streets for a piece of the prey
They searching for a voice
A voice free, one that ain’t abashed by anyone

Babadibababadi

Ma ma ma ma babadi

We alley cats belong nowhere but we try
Showing the rulers
Pushing ever so hard
Failing every time
But they don’t try
They keep shut,
They MUST SPEAK UP

We cats need our food
Like misfits need attention
But we like them fail
Failure, inevitable

When one fails
Try, try, try again

We push and shove
Vying for a piece of the prey
But they keep they’re lips tight shut

We cats need our food
Like misfits need attention
But we like them fail
Failure, inevitable

We go hungry all those nights
Our stomachs grumbling
They go silent
Silent for months
But then they like us become restless

We push and shove the white purebreds
And so do they, they speak, speak up
They talk and talk
And then smile and shake hands

We cats need our food
Like misfits need attention
But we like them try and fail
But in the end succeed