Bits and pieces on my mind

Revisting:

the songs woven into my brain under the dust of many years and putting them back where I can see them

from grandad:

• The Skye Boat Song (and inevitably the dream of Scottish nationalism)
• I Belong to Glasgow
• Ma Cabane au Canada
• Beautiful Dreamer
• My Old Man Says Follow the Van
• Hashivenu
• The Well Below the Valley
• I Painted Uh
• that one about Jerusalem that's in Russian and is now only a trickle of music

from endless car rides through the wiggles of road, from assemblies and services:

• Regina Angelorum! (seriously please ora pro nobis)
• Golden Slumbers
• Lying Eyes
• he chastens and hastens his will to make known, right?
• I'm Just a Poor Wayfaring Stranger
• chunks of Porgy and Bess
• Non Nobis Te Deum
• Dou Robyn
• Alice's Restaurant
  

my ears
and my voice
were built and trained
to hear and sing
only
songs about
fear so crippling it makes you cower
ecstatic relief in moments of reprieve
loss of home, hearth, country, self
remembering wars centuries gone but still stinging
of next year in another city
and a dirty ditty or two

THANK GOD I DISCOVERED ELECTRO

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A and B are standing at a bus stop. A is homeless and looking for something to eat.

A: rata-tat-tat i fumble my bumble
have you got a penny to spare
so i can buy a new shiny bangle
and each one'll be part of a pair

B: can't you ask someone else?
i'm concerned about the tingle in the ether
i'm worried about my quickening pulse
things aren't getting any easier

A: we've all got problems
but you've get less than me
your glittery eyes speak volumes
about a house where they serve a lot of tea

B: tea and coin will be forgotten
don't you smell it in the air?
these warm days tell me something is comin
for both of us things will not look so fair

A: quoth she! quoth she!

B: disbelieve me if you want
there's no stock for me in your faith

A: quoth she! quoth she!
ring out the bells, we got a seer on our hands!

B: wait and see, the sky will press down on our heads and squash us all. no matter the coins in our pockets, we will all be crushed indiscriminately between earth and air. we cannot leave this lump of rock.

A: that may be, but i'd like to see the sky float away into nothing just to prove you wrong.