Poem 370

Another song from The Nightdress musical … it’s sung by the one hundred year old Constance Kent who after serving two decades in prison for the murder of her infant half brother was released at age 40, emigrated to Australia and lived another sixty years … the fact that she lived so long was some of the reason why I wanted to write this story – what does a one hundred year old think of her sixteen year old self and the crime she committed, does she see that girl as herself or just one of many incarnations she has lived through? …

… I wrote it on the Greek island of Kos, working in the mornings on the stone patio outside the Bird House where Michele and I were staying … one afternoon after beginning work on this song I took a stroll down to the Lidl supermarket for supplies and found more and more words coming to me as I walked, I hadn’t brought a pen so had to memorise them … then at the supermarket my eye was caught by a display of jars of thyme honey and the chorus started flooding in on me … I couldn’t get back home fast enough …

(I love the haunting bittersweet aura of this song – and Tim Finn set it to a beautiful tune … )

Thyme Honey

Winter autumn summer spring
down the ladder, down the years 
seasons shedding old dry skins 
stagnant water running clear

Why go back, disturb dry leaves 
old dead lives with all the pain 
of unfurling memories 
of becoming green again

All our days in time’s honey
amber caught in a jar 
hold it to the light and see 
who we were, who we are

Through the glass I see darkly 
all is held suspended there 
lost hours squeezed of their gold 
where have they gone now, where?

Silent, dust in a sunbeam
who comes here, who comes no more 
voices from a distant dream 
sound of a softly closing door

Left alone and not alone 
other selves, skins I was in 
lives echo within my bones 
that soon will fade forgotten

All our days in time’s honey
amber caught in a jar 
hold it to the light and see 
who we were, who we are

I am caught in time’s honey
I’m caught and can’t fight free 
suspended in time’s honey 
each and every me

Each and every me ...