Beautiful People

'There's an island I know
They get a little rain
Then it snows
But the feeling seems to flow
It's a place that I call home
We get the music, get the market on the weekend
People don't seem to play pretend
Snow capped mountain looking over my shoulder
The summer seems to get much shorter and colder.


But there's beautiful people
And familiar faces
That's where I want to be
When the cold world races
The people I link with
The friends that I drink with
When the sky is falling down
It's my family I want to be with
The beautiful people.

There's a pub on the corner
You can drink in the street
Philosophy on the lawn
You can wear bare feet
If you stay out late
There's no pollution in the sky
So you can see the stars

Yeah we got problems
A few greedy men
Making decisions with
A cheque book and pen
The paper says
Nobody's cutting the trees
Seems funny to me
When the paper's made
Out of trees.

But there's beautiful people...


-song by Adam Cousens, Beautiful People. (C) 2009

Part of your world

'Bright young women
Ready to stand

Ready to know
What the people know

Ask them my questions
And get some answers

When's it my turn?
Wouldn't I love?

Love to explore
That shore up above

Wandering free

Wish I could be
Part of your world'

~Ariel, 1989. (C) Disney
Part of that world, by Jodi Benson
The Little Mermaid, illustration by Edmund Dulac

Juliet

'I can't do the talk 
like they talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song
like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything
but I'd do anything for you
I can't do anything
except be in love with you

And all I do is miss you
and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat
and bad company
All I do is kiss you
through the bars of a rhyme
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you
any time'

Lyrics by Mark Knopfler

Hidden theatre

Behind closed doors
Concertos applaud
Vacant space
Unadorned
With gazing eyes
Wondrous smiles
Shoulder shrug
Of thrilling chills
Why keep such love
Of life's liszt
Behind closed doors
When all ears could feel
This beauty
The Hedberg, Conservatorium of Music, Tasmania.

These days

Even today
I smile again
A knowing one
How on earth
Can we truly know
Anything at all?
We can

On the odd day
I stumble and fall
Grasping for
Something solid
Committing to
Falling ungracefully
Hoping that days
Like today
Will come again
Tomorrow

If all the days
Were even
How would I know
How glorious it is
To rise above
The odds

Strange days

How I marvel when 
Horror and strife
Make ordinary turbulence
Seem trifling

How one image 
in the wilderness
Ignite a longing
Lifelong

To be inspired
To be present
In the last days
In the silence

Is an aspiration
Over which we have
No accord
Though truly

Authenticity
Girded by love
Will always be a
Heavy weight

I bear it 
With a smile
A laugh, song
Stride in step
Love thee well
Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania, Australia

Sound tracks

Taking in all surroundings
Tracks on repeat no match
Choosing songs for new life
Old one despatched

Morning wake up call
Lunch time serenade
Evening retreat
Love crush parade

Can you have too much
Of a good thing?
I'd like to try
Reality sinking in

Stockholm's cold
So's my toes
A fire is stoked inside
Where wind can't blow

What's in a name?
Call me what you will
Mother no longer
Babes named me, Lili

A sweet song
Their voices chime
Familiar tunes
Family tones

Voices leave tracks
Erasing time
Cover over old lines
Glorious overgrowth

Women swoon
Swinging low
Crooning over
Heartfelt show

Spurning strife
Tunes tall tower
Mire a moat
Pale in power

Building castles
In my mind
No need for search
Songs always find

Love's soundtrack
In my life

The Sound of Silence

How can it be?
That silence can change
From champion heavyweight
To a breath waylaid?

When a flurry
Of digi-noises invade
Our inner ears
On daily basis

Silence means
Solitude
Isolation
Reflection
Rejection

Empty soundscape
Says none
Alive or near

Stillness
Has its moments
By a brook
In a book nook

Anticipating
Laughter and tears
Felt so hard
No sound escapes

If brainwaves were
Attuned to instruments
Symphonies played
Between my ears

On royal highs
And splendid lows
Ticking monotones
Of my years

Silent support act
To showcase the star
Like imagining someone
Playing guitar

While Billie brazenly
Sings the Blues
For me