Fireships
1992

I Will Find You

We are written in the star-crossed sky,
the spirit music reminds you...
you can run and hide, but surely by and by
I will seek, I will search, I will find you.

Far away, in another life
you say you're going to find your freedom...
don't run away to another life.

Don't be afraid, there's no dark unknown,
no shadow stalking behind you...
don't be afraid,
when you're lost and most alone
I will seek, I will search, I will find you.

Far away, in another life
things might not be so very different...
don't run away to another life.

Trapped like a rabbit by the future glare,
onrushing headlights that blind you,
a frightened runaway,
at least you know I care,
I will seek, I will search, I will find you.

Curtains

So Tommy rubs his stubble
as if to check his face is there
and Sylvia combs her hair
just like nothing really happened
they'll carry on as before...
but this thing won't work, will it, any more.
And though the bags are packed
ready for the road
the curtains and the bedroom door
stay closed.
For Sylvia and Tommy
there's nowhere left to hide...
they've been running for years
to find some kind of thrill
to take away the emptiness
that they both feel inside.

Making the fictional
out of the matter of fact;
masquerade the picture
but now the frame's all cracked.

For Sylvia and Tommy
there's nothing left to try
they've been running for years
to find some kind of life
that offers an excitement
that the rest of us pass by.

So Tommy woke that morning
with a headfull of rocks
and Sylvia was in shock.
This story they'd been faking
was frozen on their lips
and falling through the brush of fingertips
and though the bags are packed
ready for the road
the curtains and the bedroom door
stay closed.

For Sylvia and Tommy
there's nowhere left to go
they've been running away so long
there's just no strength to carry on
they can't get back to what they knew
a life abandoned once and long ago.

His Best Girl

Fast forward on the handycam video;
top that tan up, glowing U/V on the sunbed...
at the health farm you'll be
guarding his investment well.

Keep your head down, baby,
keep your wits about you now
and you will always be his,
and you will always be his best girl.

Beads and bangles, it's too late
to claim your independence now:
your rings and baubles are
the marks of his possession.
Keep your hair on, baby,
keep your counsel to yourself.
Keep your hair on, baby,
keep your wits about you now
and you will always be his...
but will you always be his best girl?

Foot down in the GTi Cabriolet,
his new friend's young enough
to be your daughter...
Foot down in the GTi Cabriolet.

And you will always be his,
but will you always be his best girl?

Oasis

I swear on the Bible,
swear on the sacred and profane
I think I'm drowning in the vortex
your eyes contain.
Your secret face,
show me your secret face.

With stars and moonlight for shelter,
your breathing close in my ear,
the wind is whispering a mystery
for me to hear:
your secret name.

Tell me your secret name,
oasis in a desert world,
tell me your secret name.

Let me drink from the well of secrets,
pluck the fruit from the tree
and feel your secret world envelop me.

Your secret face,
show me your secret face.

Show me your secret face,
naked as the sun,
silent as the stars,
secret oasis in a desert world.

Incomplete Surrender

Roll on the feminine side,
the lion lies down with the lamb.
Beneath the male surface,
the chaos merchant, we're all half-human:
understand only love's not blind,
only love surrenders up the heart.

The woman's heavy with the future,
with intuition unallowed;
behind the smirk of the macho man
is the quivering lip of the little boy.
Put it all in place, I can almost taste it,
so I surrender up my heart.

I want nothing more than to be
one for once, to feel you one with me;
no finer mystery, no mystery when we start
to surrender up our hearts.

Sweetheart,
I want nothing more than to be
one for once, to feel you once with me;
There's no mystery, no mystery when we start
to surrender up our hearts.

Where's the bridge to take us
across the sexual divide?
What arc of heaven makes us complete,
makes the planets clash and the stars collide?
With emotions bare we were both alive
for a second there
and we both surrendered up our hearts.

Fireships

Here's the Armada of Souls,
here's the flotilla from God knows when;
from gopher-wood to the last of the ironclads
in common concert they send up the flares.
While we turn and turn around
the rocket hits the roof...
we never think that we'll get burned,
we're fireproof, we think we're fireproof.

Keep a stiff upper lip, the band play on
through the raising of the toast;
the captain's steady at attention on the bridge
it's surface matters
that appear to matter most.
We watch the galleons run aground,
still we stand aloof;
we never think that we'll get burned,
we think we're fireproof.

We think we're fireproof,
we never think that we'll get burned;
We sail on fireships,
we never think, so we'll get burned.

Straight for the eye of the hurricane,
down to the last eye tooth
we never think that we'll get burned,
we think we're fireproof.

Here's the Armada of light,
here's the flotilla, for heaven's sake...
We're sailing under a flag of convenience,
casting our messages in bottles in our wake.
So we turn and turn around
the rocket hits the roof...
we never think that we'll get burned,
we think we're fireproof.

We never think that we'll get burned,
we think we're fireproof.

Given Time

Best foot forward, face the day
as the moment slips away
like a whisper on the wind;
the tide turns as it breaks...
Given time
we lead the lives we make.

The curve that we trace in time
a shape of our own design.

Say it's over when it's done
did you learn to touch someone?
Long ago and far away,
voices linger on...
long ago, just yesterday,
caught in the clay of material need.
Given time
we make the lives we lead.

Given time
we make the lives we leave.

Reprise

Reprise,
reprise.

If he got to do it all again
would he do it over and over?
In reprise, reprieve?

But will she always be his?

Gaia

Butterflies stir a breeze
and the ripples flow unceasingly:
far away the cyclones swirl.
It's a whole, connected world.
Oh, Gaia!

Wipe those tears from your tired eyes:
every breath you take a sacred sigh.

Butterflies on the wheel
making order out of chaos
and each ripple in the air
turns the motor everywhere.

Cry those tears, then dry those tired eyes:
every breath you take keeps you alive.

Butterflies as we are
freeze in flight beneath the starry sky
but the ghosts fly on and on...
in this sense we all belong,
oh, Gaia!

And the sum of all the arts
is the all-forgiving heart
of Gaia.

Oh, Gaia!