STATUES

Blessed Mary's looking good in alabaster
As she prays to a Chinese bodhisattva
His face is serene, he radiates compassion
He meditates on beauty like it's going out of fashion

Donatella's little angel composes a tune
He's fanning his wings on this hot afternoon
The graceful arms of Shiva weave a mystical dance
He beats time on his hourglass as if he's in a trance

The old Tuscan lion has fallen from grace
It's in the tangle of his mane, it's in the scowl on his face
The young French warrior clasps his head in anguish
He's fallen on his sword, his army has been vanquished

The face of the Pharaoh wears no trace of a smile
He's an awful long way from the banks of the Nile
The Madonna and the Child appear at the window
They nod to the Pharaoh but they can't speak his lingo

Now the lady in the skeleton shoes flexes her toes
Where she found her feet nobody knows
She takes it in her stride as she polishes the marble
She makes a lot of sense but her message is garbled

Poor Aphrodite has really lost her head
Without her modesty she's one hell of a mess
Madame Juliette evades the clutches of Napoleon
Though she's aged pretty well, she really should have kept her clothes on

The proud Roman emperor, his nose is out of joint
He could go and get a facelift but he can't see the point
He sits on his pedestal looking resplendent
Trying to ignore the sleeping attendant

These busts and these figures
From kingdoms East and West
Telling a story that can only be guessed

THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION

The doors of perception
The staircases of experience
The labyrinth of memory
The hall of mirrors
Gateway to a secret passage
The antenna of the mind
The triage of the sense organs
The cut of the scalpel
The stroke of the paintbrush
The encryption of language
The cloak of metaphor
The arc light of consciousness
The murky sediment of the unconscious
The hazy fuzz of dream
The bold wonder of magic
The bright spark of the imagination
The dark womb of myth

OMNISCIENCE

As I slip through the hourglass
I know I can't take it with me
I feel like Great Alexander
At his funeral parade

I want to take it to the nth degree
I clutched at immortality
My hands are dangling from the hearse
For omniscience

The cards arrive every Christmas
But it's a dwindling collection
My friends are becoming forgetful
They've lost my latest address

All my books and my diaries
My encyclopaedic libraries
Are stacked up somewhere in a crate
For omniscience

Up in the attic
Down in the vaults
Muffled voices
Stifled words
What do you think you heard?

Now as history unravels
With a gathering momentum
I've forgotten what I came for
Can't remember why I'm here

I'm drowning in information
I'm starving for inspiration
Wisdom is elusive as the clouds

I'm jostling for position
I'm screaming out for recognition
That brush with stardom gave me a taste
For omniscience

BEST SONG EVER

Oh to write the greatest song ever
A song to make you laugh and make you cry
A song that could charm the birds off the trees
A song with its own philosophy
A song full of mystery, magic and enchantment
A song that leaves you wanting more
A song that would unite generations
And make parents and teenagers part company
A song that even small children would get
A catchy song
An earworm
A real grower
A song that sets your foot tapping
A song that hits you right in the guts
A song with an unexpected melody
A song with a sinuous counterpoint
A song with a gorgeous harmony
A song with a secret chord
A song with a sinuous bass line
A song with a funky rhythm
A song with ingenious rhyming couplets
A song with memorable lyrics
A song that can be interpreted in a hundred different ways
A song to be analysed by PhD students and music professors
A song that everyone wants as a desert island disc
An ancient song
A futuristic song
A song that you feel you've known all your life
A song that you can't believe didn't always exist
A song they'll still be singing in a hundred years time
A song you wish you'd written yourself
A song both reassuringly familiar and exhilaratingly strange
A song that you can strum on a guitar
A song that you can bang out on the piano
A song for a garage band
A song for a string quartet
A song for full orchestra
A song that can be sung acapella
A song for friends
A song for lovers
A song for seekers
A song for travellers
A song for worshippers
A song for the bereaved
A song for only the lonely
A song for refugees
A song for those far from home
A song for late-night drunken revellers
A song for Sinatra
A song for Arethra
A song for Pavarotti
A song for Callas
A song for a diva
A song for a troubador
A song with no regrets
A song to hum in the shower
A song to whistle while you work
A song to belt out in karaoke
A song for a party
A song for a festival
A song to soothe
A song to dance to in the rain
A song for a Saturday night and a Sunday morning
A song to conceive to
A song to inspire a revolution
A song you want played at your wedding
A song to bid you farewell at your funeral
A cathartic song
A spiritual song
An energising song
A ubiquitous song
A universal song
A song to live by
A song to drink in
And a song to go

INTERLOPER

My files are corrupted
My systems are kaput
My session's interrupted
Strange business is afoot

There's an interloper somewhere here
There's an interloper somewhere near

My data was encrypted
But the spooks have cracked the code
My folders have been sifted
My secrets have been sold

There's an interloper somewhere here
There's an interloper somewhere near

SEAHORSE

I've been treading water
For far too long
My desperate inertia
Was way too strong

Now momentum's building like a boulder
Down the slope I watch it rolling
Since you floated gently over

I heard your silent whisper
I heard your wordless call
I saw the empty fixture
Upon the garden wall

I nailed your colours to my mast
I left you stranded and downcast
In all the confusion
As the thunder crashed

And as the waves come rolling in
As the surf it pounds my skin
You stay as constant as the Pole Star

You float there motionless
Your style is effortless
Your patience is limitless
Your compassion is bottomless

MAIN SPOT

ATM

These beautiful pictures glued to the wood
The root of all evil has come to no good
It's like a religion, we surrender ourselves
And bow down to worship at the altar of wealth

But they hide behind pay walls and the odds are all rigged
The anonymous donors, the secretive bids

In God we trust

Life on a promise makes slaves of us all
A convenient marriage, a painful divorce

The trees are all burning but we can't see the wood
The smoke and the mirrors have fooled us real good

In God we trust

You can spend it like water never quenching your thirst
You can hoard it like treasure but you will always be cursed

My interest is waning, my fortunes have slumped
My schemes are all failing, my investors have jumped

I'm going to set up my easel, I'm going to carve out a niche
I'm going to paint a blank canvas with my own masterpiece

In Art I trust