y

Look out, little furry folk!
He's the all night working cat
Eats but one in every ten
Leaves the others on the mat

And the mouse police never sleeps
Waiting by the cellar door
Window box town crier
Birth and death registrar

With claws that rake a furrow red
Licensed to multilate
From warm milk on a lazy day
To dawn patrol on hungry hate

No, the mouse police never sleeps
Climbing on the ivy
Windy roof top weathercock
Warm blooded night on a cold tile



Acres wild

(Anderson)

I'll make love to you
In all good places
Under black mountains
In open spaces

By deep brown rivers
That slither darkly
Through far marches
Where the blue hare races

Come with me to the Winged Isle
Northern father's western child
Where the dance of ages is playing still
Through far marches of acres wild

I'll make love to you
In narrow side streets
With shuttered windows
And crumbling chimneys

Come with me to the weary town
Discos silent under tiles
That slide from rooftops, scatter softly
On concrete marches of acres wild

By red bricks pointed
With cement fingers
Flaking damply
From sagging shoulders

Run with me to the Winged Isle
Northern father's western child
Where the dance of ages is playing still
Through far marches of acres wild



No lullaby

(Anderson)

Keep your eyes open and prick up your ears
Rehearse your loudest cry
There's folk out there who would do you harm
So I'll sing you no lullaby

There's a lock on the window, there's a chain on the door
And a big dog in the hall
But there's dragons and beasties out there in the night
To snatch you if you fall

So come out fighting with your rattle in hand
Thrust and parry
Light a match to catch the devil's eye
Bring a cross of fire to the fight

And let no sleep bring false relief
From the tension of the fray
Come wake the dead with the scream of life
Do battle with ghosts at play

Gather your toys at the call to arms
And swing your big bear down
Upon our necks when we come to set
You sleeping safe and sound

It's as well we tell no lie
To chase the face that cries
And little birds can't fly
So keep an open eye

It's as well we tell no lie
So I'll sing you no lullaby



Moths

(Anderson)

Oh, the leaded window opened
To move the dancing candle flame
And the first moths of summer
Suicidal came, suicidal came

And a new breeze chattered
In its may bud tenderness
Sending water lillies sailing
As she turned to get undressed

And the long night awakened
And we soared on powdered wings
Circling our tomorrows
In the wary month of spring

Chasing shadows, slipping
In a magic lantern slide
Creatures of the candle
On a night light ride

Oh, dipping and weaving
Flutter through the golden needle's eye
In our haystack madness
Butterfly stroking on a spring tide high

On a spring tide high

Life's too long as the Lemming said
As the candle burned and the moths were wed
And we'll all burn together as the wick grows higher
But before the candle's dead...

Oh, the leaded window opened
To move the dancing candle flame
And the first moths of summer
Suicidal came, oh, suicidal came

To join in the worship
Of the light that never dies
In a moment's reflection
Of two moths spinning in her eyes



Journeyman

(Anderson)

Spine tingling railway sleepers
Sleepy houses lying four square and firm
Orange beams divide the darkness
Rumbling fit to turn the waking worm

Sliding through victorian tunnels
Where green moss oozes from the pores
Dull echoes from the wet embankments
Battlefield allotments, fresh open sores

In late night commuter madness
Double locked black briefcase on the floor
Like a faithful dog with master
Sleeping in the draught beside the carriage door

To each journeyman his own homecoming
Cold supper nearing with each station stop
Frosty flakes on empty platforms
Fireside slippers waiting, flip, flop!

Journeyman night tripping on the late fantasic
Too late to stop for tea at Gerard's Cross
And hear the soft shoes on the footbridge shuffle
As the wheels turn biting on the midnight frost

On the late commuter special
Carriage lights that flicker, fade and die
Howling into hollow blackness
Dusky diesel shudders in full cry

Down redundant morning papers
Abandon crosswords with a cough
Stationmaster in his wisdom
Told the guard to turn the heating off

Journeyman night tripping on the late fantasic
Too late to stop for tea at Gerard's Cross
And hear the soft shoes on the footbridge shuffle
As the wheels turn biting on the midnight frost



Rover

(Anderson)

I chase your every footstep
And I follow every whim
When you call the tune I'm ready
To strike up the battle hymn

My lady of the meadows
My comber of the beach
You've thrown the stick for your dog's trick
But it's floating out of reach

The long road is a rainbow
And the pot of gold lies there
So slip the chain and I'm off again
You'll find me everywhere

'Cause I'm a rover

As the robin craves the summer
To hide his smock of red
I need the pillow of your hair
In which to hide my head

I'm simple in my sadness
Resourceful in remorse
Then I'm down straining at the lead
Holding on a windward course

The long road is a rainbow
And the pot of gold lies there
So slip the chain and I'm off again
You'll find me everywhere

'Cause I'm a rover

Strip me from the bundle
Of balloons at every fair
Colourful and carefree
Designed to make you stare

But I'm lost and I'm losing
The thread that holds me down
And I'm up, hot and rising
In the lights of every town

The long road is a rainbow
And the pot of gold lies there
So slip the chain and I'm off again
You'll find me everywhere

'Cause I'm a rover



One brown mouse

(Anderson)

Smile your little smile
Take some tea with me awhile
Brush away that black cloud from your shoulder

Twitch your whiskers
Feel that you're really real
Another tea time, another day older

Puff warm breath on your tiny hands
You wish you were a man
Who every day can turn another page

Behind your glass you sit and look
At my ever-open book
One brown mouse sitting in a cage

Do you wonder if I really care for you?
Am I just the company you keep?
Which one of us exercises on the old treadmill?
Who hides his head, pretending to sleep?

Smile your little smile
Take some tea with me awhile
Brush away that black cloud from your shoulder

Twitch your whiskers
Feel that you're really real
Another tea time, another day older

Smile your little smile
Take some tea with me awhile
And every day we'll turn another page

Behind our glass we'll sit and look
At our ever-open book
One brown mouse sitting in a cage

One brown mouse sitting in a cage
One brown mouse sitting in a cage



Heavy horses

(Anderson)

Iron clad feather feet pounding the dust
An october's day, towards evening
Sweat embossed veins standing proud to the plough
Salt on a deep chest seasoning

Last of the line at an honest day's toil
Turning the deep sod under
Flint at the fetlock, chasing the bone
Flies at the nostrils plunder

The Suffolk, the Clydesdale, the Percheron Vie
With the Shire on his feathers floating
Hauling soft timber into the dust
To bed on a warm straw coating

Heavy horses
Move the land under me
Behind the plough gliding
Slipping and sliding free

Now you're down to the few
And there's no work to do
The tractor's on its way...

Let me find you a filly for your proud stallion seed
To keep the old line going
And we'll stand you abreast at the back of the wood
Behind the young trees growing

To hide you from eyes that mock at your girth
And your eighteen hands at the shoulder
And one day when the oil barons have all dripped dry
And the nights are seen to draw colder

They'll beg for your strength, your gentle power
Your noble grace and your bearing
And you'll strain once again to the sound of the gulls
In the wake of the deep plough, sharing

Heavy horses
Move the land under me
Behind the plough gliding
Slipping and sliding free

Now you're down to the few
And there's no work to do
The tractor's on its way...

Standing like tanks on the brow of the hill
Up into the cold wind facing
In stiff battle harness, chained to the world
Against the low sun racing

Bring me a wheel of oaken wood
A rein of polished leather
A heavy horse and a tumbling sky
Brewing heavy weather

Bring a song for the evening
Clean brass to flash the dawn
Across these acres glistening
Like dew on a carpet lawn

In these dark towns folk lie sleeping
As the heavy horses thunder by
To wake the dying city
With the living horseman's cry

At once the old hands quicken
Bring pick and wisp and curry comb
Thrill to the sound of all
The heavy horses coming home

Iron clad feather feet pounding the dust
An october's day, towards evening
Sweat embossed veins standing proud to the plough
Salt on a deep chest seasoning

Bring me a wheel of oaken wood
A rein of polished leather
A heavy horse and a tumbling sky
Brewing heavy weather

Heavy horses
Move the land under me
Behind the plough gliding
Slipping and sliding free

Now you're down to the few
And there's no work to do
The tractor's on its way...



Weathercock

(Anderson)

Good morning, Weathercock!
How did you fare last night?
Did the cold wind bite you?
Did you face up to the fright?

When the leaves spin from october
And whip around your tail
Did you shake from the blast?
Did you shiver through the gale?

Give us direction, the best of goodwill
Put us in touch with fair winds
Sing to us softly, hum evening's song
Tell us what the blacksmith has done for you

Do you simply reflect changes
In the patterns of the sky?
Or is it true to say the weather heeds
The twinkle in your eye?

Do you fight the rush of winter?
Do you hold snowflakes at bay?
Do you lift the dawn sun from the fields
And help him on his way?

Good morning, Weathercock! Make this day bright
Put us in touch with your fair winds
Sing to us softly, hum evening's song
Point the way to better days we can share with you