In the Meantime

AA impressed me much and always marched ahead AL gave me hope and later struck me dead CS, too often far away, was real at last DJ and me, we drank ourselves into the past FU was a sweetheart and a guiding light GR helped me puke my soul into the night GS was on his knees and played on my guitar JS – a faithful, lovely friend – still raised the bar MK and me shared space and sounds and visions MW meant many cups of coffee and decisions OK – one of the most stellar guys in town RR did not deserve to feel so down RS proved that warmth and passion need some friction RU experienced both freedom and restriction SS survived so many odysseys with me ST taught me some responsibility

It is

It is the I believe you, the says who The no I don’t, the yes I do It is the killing you, not making stronger The no not yet and the no longer It is the that or this, the here or there The let me know, the I don’t care It is the always now or never The everlasting never ever It is the dead and gone, the here to stay The hold me tight, the go away

Shelter

The snow starts gathering on your hair

A friendly way for something to betoken

The place has come, the time is here

To heal what’s whole, to rearrange what’s broken

No more wisdom, no more words

No treaties – and surrender – please

A fir tree gives us shelter so

We might just try to cuddle up and freeze

Marooned

(some more lyrics for the as yet unnamed band I'm writing for. This is a song of about eight and a half minutes and it's about a guy marooned on an island, feeling desperate because he was left by a woman. He can't leave the island until he has learnt - to cut a long story short - not to substitute lack of personality with relationships. Before the last six lines come in, there is a two minutes instrumental section so the break in setting and mood isn't actually that striking.)

A lightning in my eyes / A twitch inside my hand

Sickening sensations / A sudden strip of sand

Tangled up in tang / My life is washed ashore

These are not the riverbanks / That I was steering for

Stripped of all my sanity / Struggling to stand

Breathing and marooned / On godforsaken land

Salt in my saliva / I stumble to the trees

The heavens keep on shaking / (Shake) me down upon my knees

In this dreamless, hopeless night

A graceful spectral light

Can you hold me now I’m wrecked?

Can you help me to connect?

I must know why she was taken

(And) I need answers to awaken

The will to breathe once more

Give me someone to adore

Following the sirens / Groping in the silence

Tiptoeing through fire and / Screaming

As I keep on falling / I hear echoes calling

Me to give it all a / Meaning

Spirit, guide me deep into / the chasms of my soul

Help me, heal me and / Spirit, make me whole

Spirit, with your guidance / I stumble to my past

A distant silhouette / Spirit, her at last –

The contours of my once beloved / Motionless and carved in stone

I fall down at the sacred socket / Dejected and alone

Gazing up and hoping for / A repentant and benign

Look upon her past / I see her face is mine

Sunshine in my nostrils / Seagulls – above ground

I open up my eyes / And hear the rushing sound

Of the waves that carry / my lonely raft back home

Of the winds that blow / that guide me through the foam

I’ve cast away dependence / And broken all the spells

I have become much more / Than just somebody else

Choosing You Again

Heaving many sighs Rave about a text to sync Inventing worlds of touch Stories make us go Tell one another all Inverting even jazz

Serenity

(I've been asked to write some lyrics for a very promising progressive rock/metal band and this is the outcome for the first song. I realize that the approach to writing lyrics is very different writing "normal" poetry in terms of structure, rhythm, topics etc. Hope you enjoy it - maybe the entire song will be recorded some day. - R.)

My ever dying demons / hovering behind

The trees to lure me back / into the mists of my mind

Taunting disbelief / lurking in their eyes

No belated miracles / no victorious cries

I ride across the heavens and gallop through the gates

I silence all the voices that whisper it’s too late

I sing along with thunder and bolt into the sea

At the bottom, there’s no air that keeps on drowning me

Humming songs of triumph / in my soul tonight

A myriad of sparks / outshines the lunar light

On nocturnal pastures / I feel the healing sleet

Wash away the cracks / in the mire on my feet

In the cloudless sky / no more birds of prey

Zephyrs gliding on my skin / carry all the thorns away

Still a sense of triumph / resonates in me

As I stand here breathing / in serenity

Effervescent soul

In serenity

Make a Wish

Too much chaos in my mind

Because of all she said

And lyrics by Tom Waits were still

Resonating in my head

I was lost in reverie

And all that I can now recall

Is that my eyes were fixed upon

The nocturnal gypsum wall

It may have been a shooting star

That cast cold light upon my back –

That shed a second’s shine of silver

Into the shapeless, silent black

And if it was a distant lightning

Or a car or who can say –

There was barely half a thing

To wish for anyway