‘White Irises’ Lyrics

But when it came to holding fast
All my heaped days as water went,
High in swirling dreams I stood,
With vain hands clutched the slipping past
Of straws and faces on the flood.
Till single among stones I saw
The white, the ragged irises,
Cold on a sky of petals dead,
Their young cheeks roughened in the wind,
Boys.white-surpliced boys
Cold boys of spring, the irises
With parted lips stood chanting there,
The green flood restive to their knees,
Rain powdered on their hair
And I who sought for heart’s farewell,
In dusk of spring, have brought you these –
The choir singing in a spell,
The white, the ragged irises.

Over their feet the spring tide bore
High bellows flecked with daisied foam.
I saw the wind, a swimmer, pass
From grey-girt isles of cloud, his home,
And mount the blue stockades of trees.
O then a singing on the air,
Caught and flung back and held again,
Curled in the rosy shells of rain
And pressed against earth’s listening ear
Took up the triumph-strain.
Cold boys of spring, the irises
With parted lips stood chanting there,
The green flood restive to their knees,
Rain powdered on their hair.
Until a red moon dipped shoulder-high,
A lantern swinging from the pole
Of some old fisher of the sky
In starry waters of the soul.
And I who sought for heart’s farewell,
In dusk of spring, have brought you these –
Irises white irises.

‘Two Lovers’ Lyrics

Close under here I watched two lovers once
Should have been a sin from what you say
I’d come to the beach to look for prawns
But the tide was out so I strolled away
And climbed the dunes to lie here warm face down
Watching the swimmers by the jetty-posts
Wrinkling like the bright blue wrinkling bay

Close under here I watched two lovers once
They were pale thin people, not often clear of town
Any fool could see they had to kiss
But your pet dunce didn’t quite know
Men count on more than that
And so they lay, and so just lay, patterning the sand.

And when they’d gone I went down
To the hollow place where they had been
But I never meant to tell the rest , or you, what I had seen

Elastic snapped when he jerked off her hat
I heard them arguing about the frock
But he thought she was bread
He thought that she was bread

Close under here I watched two lovers once
They were pale thin people, not often clear of town
Any fool could see that they had to kiss
I wished her legs were brown, oh I wished her legs were brown
And mostly , then, stared at the dawdling sea
Hoping Perry would row me some day in his boat
But not all the time, not all the time

And when they’d gone I went down
To the hollow place where they had been
But I never meant to tell the rest , or you, what I had seen
Though that night when I came in late for tea
I hoped you’d see the sandgrains on my coat
Close under here I watched two lovers once

‘Rhyme Of The Dead Self’ Lyrics

Tonight I have taken all that I was
and strangled him that lily-white lad
I have choked him with these hands,
Choked him with these claws
Catching him as he lay a-dreaming in his bed
A-dreaming in his bed

He is dead pale youth and shall not rise
on the third day or any other day
sloughed like a snakeskin there he lies
and shall not trouble me again for aye
He is dead pale youth and shall not rise
on the third day or any other day
sloughed like a snakeskin there he lies
and shall not trouble me again for aye

Then chuckling I dragged out his foolish brains
that were full of pretty love-tales heigho the holly
and yes I emptied them holus bolus to the drains
those dreams of love oh what ruinous folly
What ruinous folly

He is dead pale youth and shall not rise
on the third day or any other day
sloughed like a snakeskin there he lies
and shall not trouble me again for aye

La la la la la la la

‘Senex’ Lyrics

Go away,young girl, and leave me
To my bitter senescence.
I’m tired of being a battery
Feeding your incandescence.

Go away, with your cool young eyes
That consider me with amusement –
An old fool is an old fool
And not a thing for abasement.

Enough that I spent long nights
Cursing the source of my weakness –
The spreading gold on your shoulders,
Your butter-milk sleekness.

Go, for what happened between us
Flared up and was soon over.
I’ll go to my empty apartment
And you to your lover.

Enough that I inwardly rage
While you stand there all unfeeling,
A slow smile touching your lips
As you stare from me to the ceiling.

Go, for what happened between us
Flared up and was soon over.
I’ll go to my empty apartment
And you to your lover
You to your lover
You to your lover