I am redundant 
But is that all of me
Or is there more
More than the working man's wage 
More than this writing on a page 
There is a shore of great expanse 
Waiting inside 
A horizon that knows no bounds 
But stretches infinitely
All the way to the sun
And beyond 
And neither I nor you
Can be measured 
By what we do
But who we are 
Is something much vaster

You are ephemeral 
No matter how solid you seem
I reach out to take refuge 
And you fall away
As though you were never there 
But there is permanence
Hiding behind your lines 
The human spirit 
Is everlasting 
Beyond all measurement 
But it cannot be touched 
Only known 
From within

It is hidden in my words
And in the silent lines
Of the photographs I take 
Maybe you cannot see it
But I can
The hidden fear
The moment of nostalgia 
Where the beautiful 
In its fleetingness
Is almost unbearable
And the most of love 
Is recognised 
As temporary in its permanence

I want to protect the ones I love
But I don't know how
Time steals more and more of them every day
And I can't hold on
No matter how hard I try
It is stealing parts of me aswell 
Though I scarcely notice 
So young is the age of 25

But there is something not subject to decay
Some invisible essence within all of us
That lasts
Beyond the boundaries of the darkness
And the separation
That the veil drapes over us 
There is the eternal 
Within the form

The pure is endlessly true
And has an abundance of fragrance
It has the freedom of an uncut meadow
With wild flowers blossoming
Everywhere you look

I wish I was brave enough 
To speak my truth freely
And fairly to anyone and everyone
Instead I'm tied tight
Bound to the chains of my own fear 
Is there a reprieve? 
Is there any way to be brave
Other than to just be brave? 
To stand out
As awkwardly and brilliantly
As anyone can 
To risk derision and remarks
To risk reprove 
Just to speak aloud 
My own voice
To be free

There are agreements that are reached
When you become an adult
Agreements not to say something
Agreements to behave in a certain way
Whether it is natural to you or not 
Whether it is right in the moment or not 
The binds of these agreements are like coils round my body
They snare me til I can't move 
And my directions are directed 
By somebody else 

But there is freedom 
There is reality
The one all encompassing 
That knows no boundary 
And all limitations are a joke to it 
And just seeing you are caught 
Loosens the chains til they fall away 
Useless 
This is love 
The force that feeds the engine of creation

There are words I want to speak 
And yet something holds me back 
Fear or terror 
Of what I am not but could be 
In my worst nightmares
If I just let my heart go free
They say its your light that scares you the most
It is much easier to hide out 
In corners or crevices 
Than to proclaim my truth to the world 
It is much easier to skulk back alleys and hallways 
Growing certain of their ways 
Than to stand out in the magnificent open
Amid the trees and the brush 
And be unashamed 
Vulnerable 
And openhearted 
To the wide world

There is salvation 
Amidst all the crime 
And punishment 
There is beauty
There is heaven 
In this earthly realm 

You have an unspeakable beauty 
That I can never convey
When I'm talking to you 
It has the flavour of destiny 
Or time that's resting warm 
And I want to shout it from the rooftops
Or explain it to you in the most animated language 
But my words and gestures fall short 
As I try to capture the uncapturable 
All I can do is let it be 
And watch it unfold before me 
Gloriously

Its the kind of peace you can't talk about 
But its ever there 
Silent and listening 
Caring you could say
But utterly impartial 

Its the kind of love that takes an ocean to hold 
In depths that are unfathomable 
As you look out into the darkness of the universe
And realise its essence there 
Among the stars 

Its the kind of beauty that delves into your soul 
And comes out with the smell of cut grass 
And the colour of a butterfly
It is gentle and strong 
And unnameably serene

Who are you? 
The question baffles me
Because I can come up with no clear answer
You are an unending mystery
That I just vanish into 
The more I say about you 
The less I know 
But I know this much 
In your unquestionable familiarity 
You are a beautiful and benevolent presence in this universe
And I am drawn to you 
As the moon is drawn to the earth
By the irresistible force of gravity

I can't write about the absolute
Though it is there in everything I see 
Everything there is reflects it back at me 
In a brilliancy of colour
Or in muted tones 

But writing you, you see 
You are the most beautiful of them all 
And all my words fail 
And look pitiful on the page
Next to the infinite of you

But still I try
To delineate your shape 
Though it comes to little more 
Than faint etchings 
Black and white

I find it hard these days 
To keep a steady face
So knocked off my feet have I been 
And I have lost faith in what I believed in 
Found myself in a myriad of paths 
With no clear direction 
And I wonder "How can this be good?
How can this be grace?"
And I am learning that this
Even too
Is a gift from the universe 

The water wages war on the rocks by the shore
If you're looking for life could you wish for more 
Cause this day it seems to be endlessly strong 
And the sky has been blue for so very long 
Its all looking ancient through my eyes at least
And that horizon is a glorious feast 
The earth it is trembling with mountainous tones 
And I've realised a multitude of homes 
Cause everywhere I go I meet the same sight 
The endless of God beneath the sunlight 
And yes it is hard sometimes at the coast 
I can't hold in my hand the things I love the most 
But the pooling darkness as the night edges in 
Only convinces me more of what is within

I've known you in my hard times
You've been by my side
You've always been the one 
To keep hope alive
And I look at your face
And I see only light 
You are in my house 
With me tonight 
And the things that you say
Are delightful and true 
Everyone should know
The wonder of you

What does the weather bring me today?
There is no way of knowing 
I watch the clouds roll in and try to forecast 
The future
But it is impossible 
Even the people on the television get it wrong
Or those who tell the times from the leaves or trees 
They may have a degree of certainty
But miss the intricacies of a summer  
With its rain and impact 
Spread amongst the  sunshine

Cry away your happiness
Wave goodbye to yesterday
Spend a lifetime in the moment
Learn to forget the things you say

Waiting for an impossibility 
Trying to find your lost
Discovering depths that are irrelevant 
Ignoring the inevitable at a cost

Mumbled feelings that have no meaning
A maze that has no end
Cut through the hedges 
Sometimes not healing is your mend

Searching for your answer
When really you can't be solved 
A problem without a cause
A life stuck on pause

There are days that you can never quite catch
They just seem to get away from you
And the more you try the further they go 
The're the kind of days the sun sets in a blaze of glory
With the sky roaring red 
And purpled hues are shading in the clouds 
And you close your door with a hint of hesitation 
Because you want just one more look 
Of an everlasting heaven

Its the place from which the light emanates
The pure, perfect, pristine unknown
And nothing touches this place
No sadness, no grief
And I think it may be the end to all man made pain 
And are these just others words 
Listening in on from books and videos
Or are they my own
Born into a New Earth

I heard a woman say "Shame can't survive being spoken"
And I wonder if that's true
I wonder about the courage it takes to speak the truth
When the truth isn't what most people want to hear
Its what they fear
And quick fixes and bandages are all well and good
And needed too
But do they make for lasting healing
Because that is what I want
An end to the wound
The wound that is in the soul of humanity

Cause I have seen a place
A place called freedom 

I can hear the cries of those who need
What is it they need and why can't I fix it? 
Maybe a simple word would do 
But how do you choose it? 
How is anything chosen and how do you make anything better? 
Saying "I understand" when you really don't
Or you do but feeling it isn't the same as understanding
You just want words, you just want communication
Cause maybe nobody has talked to them that day
Or maybe they have, but in harsh words only
And this isn't about being a hero
Its just about being human and realising 
That we all go through it, one way or another
And maybe saying something is better than saying nothing

It was a scary time 
I can barely speak it 
The days planned out the night
And all extended, in an endless continuum, before me
Like a horse, who is running a race
Yet is still miles and miles from the finish line
And has no legs for it
So instead lays down on the cool, grassy ground
Eager for rest
And relaxation you could say
And the man atop shouts aloud
But it is no matter

The days in the daylight
Follow me around
Now that the darkness is done

It has had it's time 
And time and a half it was 
But now it has been and gone

And I can barely breathe
With excitement or trepidation
Or maybe both

The days in the daylight 
Sing to me
Like some forgotten dream of tomorrow

Like time, unused, just waiting to be seen
In the haze of a foggy dew 
Or the field after the grass is cut

The days of daylight spread out the landscape beneath me
In bright color or foggy pastels
Depending on the evening

They are home to me
A home that will always be
Where the land meets the lake

You mean more than I can say, to me
Though I can't explain it in words
It's in the hidden silence of a moment
Or the barely spoken words of yesteryear
We are eternal, or forever, whichever word you prefer
Though I barely see you 
And we barely know each other anymore

But really, you know really, you don't need time to know someone
You only need that understanding
That's there when you look into each others eyes
And you know, know beyond knowing
That you are together
You are one
An offering is made
A hand held out 
Or a smile ensues
But really it's easy
Whichever way you look at it

The old gate sits atop the field
Surveying the mountain beneath it
Well really it's not a gate
And really it's not a mountain
But we called it that 
In our childhood days
So big it seemed
To our tiny eyes
And we would run and run
Til our legs gave out 
Or our lungs were aching
Playing games of imagination 
In the gardens of our minds

Now it is nigh on twenty years later
And we still live here
Here in the house on the hill 
With the landscape spread out like a dream below
And you are still close
Closer than close to me
You all are 
Here in our little family

Those inky black eyes, a passion intense
Those brutal battalions , break through your defense
The greed inside, the hunger for blood
Enthuses the evil, destroys all the good
A thirst for revenge for the deaths of your kind
Makes harder the struggle, it renders you blind
Animal instinct, impulsive and rash
He sees what he wants, he's ready to dash. 
By the blood of all nations, his skin has been stained
All around is destruction, desolation and pain
Piercing, searing, white daggers slice
A person lives, another dies, just the roll of the dice

The world may forget but it will think back
Adding more atrocities to a growing stack
When will it stop the answer is never
People can be cruel and will be forever
With no morals or creed some revel in sin
More terrifying than anything is the shark within.