Elephant Talk

Shame

(to David Bowie's "Fame")

Shame (shame)
Whips the wind, takes things over
Shame (shame)
Words let loose, full on throttle
Shame (shame)
Shout it out, “They’re not model”
Shame

Shame
Expose the vain
And light the flame
And hope for change to make someone
Tame

Shame (shame)
Is it right to be ungentle?
Shame (shame)
Is this raging transcendental?
Shame (shame)
Is there need to be parental?
Shame

Shame
Nine to five
A choice to chide
So get in line to rage at the
Slime

(Who can pass the test
who can pass?
To a ‘t’, to a ‘t’?
To agree with flame
Holy aim
Simple game
Easy maim)

See a silly blunder
Let’s assess the mess
Shame, shame, shame, shame
Who believes in thunder
To try and cool the fool?
Shame

Shame
Bully is who?
Bully are we?
Got to punch, inflict lots of
Pain
Shame

Shame

Scalpel

I had a chance to make it all right

I see my blood on the paper

And the small drops, still moist to the touch

They were writ internally, tearing at my skin

Eviscerating me

Till my heart fell on the page

A life beating, pulsing through the words

All the cutting words, the ones sharp and loud

They don’t whimper or murmur

They howl with light and grit and red meat

A scream giving birth to a child that was there

All along

But spoke quietly all along

Blood, so much blood and bleeding and pouring

On the page, the child wanders

Circulating through the black and white

The red stains mark the way

Not travelled, not seen, not anything

The signs of regret

A moment or two uncaptured

But a moment that was willing

To be touched



Yet I walked away

Faith is This

(to More Than This by Roxy Music)

A personal favorite from Roxy Music. The original is a lament that there's no afterlife ("More than this, you know there's nothing..."). My faith gives me a different answer. So here's my answer to the original lyric.

If eyes see, we are fine
It’s our own way of growing
Touching brings more to light
There’s no strain in our knowing

What’s seen is a friend
Tangibly learning
But unseen turns the tide
There’s hope, I’m affirming

Faith is this
I know there is something
Faith is this
More than one scene
Faith is this
There is something

Life is short, just a while
Less is known where we’re going
Deep in soil, dark as night
We all pray for some knowing

We cling to the world
We seek the certain
There’s a sweet by and by
Much more past the curtain

Faith is this
My hope, there is something
Faith is this
Dark has lost sting
Faith is this
Yes, there is something.

Ripples, I Think

I skipped a stone
Across the lake
I did not see
The path it take
Or maybe it's the
Path it took
Well, either way
I didn't look.

Till Three

We talked for a while

It spoke sweet, complicated truths

I nodded and sipped, tempted to toss the garnish in a bin

Then

It asked politely

“Where do you want to be?

Free?

Maybe you should just…”

Well, you know me

I listened to it talk and talk

I nodded and sipped, tempted by its fruit

As the evening crawled into bed I looked at my stretched out form

Under the bedroom fan and a single lamplight

“Free?”

I heard it talk but the words were all faded

I faded

The wine talking

Till three