as I dream of Eden scenes
and wake with unseen bounty
Spirit’s calling me
to raise these un-cogged bones

don’t build me a road
to walk where you lead
don’t offer salvation
that first makes me bleed

in these skewed and twisted times
in this world we build on stilts
stilted me seeks perfect you
fair notion in my head

this world will not come to your doorstep
the world will not bow down before you
the world is just there
and it mostly don’t care

there's a boy at the lost and found
wandering round
he cussed the man he looked up to
there's a boy at the lost and found

maybe in sickness they’d get a guitar
and tell me to wish upon stars
don’t get out of bed
don’t bother your head

when she had found some calm
she said she would return
but she did not return

passing through the station
I saw things made you cry
no luggage on no carousel
‘til it showed up in your eyes

I think I know which way to go
though there are snakes and ladders
so pray the dice will be quite nice
though it’s not six that matters

bumps and bruises fade away
blessing lessons always stay

now deeds I do can really screw

she’s nowhere to roost
though friends clamour near
but love ain’t got nothin’ on fear

it’s that time of year
resolve all your futures from here
but when the spring comes round
what matters what we fear?

fog is a magnet
in valleys of Black
curse all your demons
the devil bites back

nine to five, your evenings free
that’s the sum of your degree
that’s what folk expect of me
that don’t seem like destiny

wounded mind and eyes and limbs
condemned it seems to only hope
fret in rabid anger
upon this bed where angels came to play

in junk-yard shelters
in slums with that patchwork look
there are those who make our clothes
stopped, though they cannot stop

autumn seedlings knowing sun
know sadistic winter’s fun
seedlings though, buried deep
miss the sun for beauty sleep

chemical days cast their clouds
holding on with smokes alone
searching company for a bone
best friend bed

hey you
I’ve seen your face before
and seen it walk away
a thousand times before

met this girl with crystal eyes
said underneath her shirt
she’d found a precious ruby
in the chaos and the dirt

tried digging a hole in the ocean
so done with the game in the pond
tried building a tower of Babel
tried waving a magical wand

they could have told the People
just so that they’d know
today there’s gonna be a bomb
outside your bloody door

I find no rest in my external world
no surf among its rip-tides
or graces in supposed holy places

My life has been captured by soul’s Purgat’ry
Confused by the debris that’s strewn in her sea
The Future just mocks me, the Present’s despair
My Past’s webbed, deluded, my mind sags with care

some folk will love you
some will detest you
plenty just won’t give a damn
as you ride on the tides

I have known room 101
black holes sucking in the Sun
cess-pit oceans without shore
devils stalking creaking floors

if life was a game
I’d play my cards with precision
instead I often lay my hand
webbed by obscure tangents

why swans become mates
my cold heart can’t comprehend
and the willows weep

I’m servant and lord
of this body, my station
that gives me my life
but never vacation

we’re the playboy generation
chasing life with life
though we’ve been stoned
by stony bones

consider all the withered
where earth is bitter, strangled
the ragged shoots as rotten roots
just try to work the angle

every day I die a little
now each day I cry a little
for what cause heaven knows
but I must bend as cold winds blow

every day, a boxing ring
every day, I feel the blows
they say to take it on the chin
I add, to bend on steady toes

Fluff and Ted were there in the dark
when summer was cold
they said don’t grow old
and when each well was dry

with flickers of Christ
and gone beyond reason
soaring and drowning
seemed one in the feeling

each generation digs
for the one below
naturally, patches growing
into those of others

demons, demons everywhere
I don’t care
I swear
I swear

snowdrops push, no rush
the tumble-dryer’s humming
did you hear that lark?

1. all I have I shall supersede
in months ahead
but treat barriers proudly, stoically

I ran along a traveled road
a road a lot have worn
a tangled knot of hope and dream
but on it, I was torn

come on baby meet me
at the easy bar tonight
well keep on talking baby
we’ve time before tonight

you planted hell with Eden
strummin’ Petty, tender muse
your tested grace a candle
to the thick and misty blues

did Jesus ever have a pull?
I’m pretty sure he did
when he was just fourteen, fifteen
when he was just a kid

for those of us who wish to build
know what’s here was first pre-willed

and to all who wish to love

and after we’ve had Christmas time
share with me your Easter blood
it’s what I need to walk the line
between myself and brotherhood

give me a slot on a chat show
say I look good for my age
and I’ll tell you how all of it happened
my part in this world, on this stage

it’s less about fantastic things
and more about the little things
done under wonder’s spell

I downed my weary body
to drift into the night
then came a lull in thinking
I slipped the daily fight

I’m manic depressive
I’m up down infected
for each of my heavens
a hell came connected

a Friday night in Horse-shit town
the hour when the sun goes down
I walked among its peacock streets
that gobbled chaff as golden wheat

I recall the Berlin wall
I recall its wobble, fall
remember too the Provos’ war
the tricolours in ’94

World, I give you screaming fingers
fingers still that in you linger
buying stamps and posting letters
mainly faking my lack better

I’ve heard the acclamations
of bathers at my fountain
just struts of validation
that snap when straws surmount them

hi, this is Ciarán
please leave a message after the tone
right now, I’m elsewhere
and have been for quite some time

we humans differ from the animals
they tend to their needs
roll with the punches
we just tend to throw them

my car is getting a service
ran out of fags this evening
half-way down the stairs . . oh fuck

I have wrestled with sorrows
pried the coffins of a thousand vampires
to slay some dormant shame