Thursday 7 June 2012

Isis

I once loved a girl her hair it was brown
She lived in the nearby seaside town
It was all in the summer of my nineteenth year
Though 'tis long ago, the memory is clear

We used to sit upon her parents sofa
From where we'd go trippingly but never go far
We'd listen to Dylan and Hendrix and Gong
And the Grateful Dead we'd also stick on

She taught me to make dahl and chop garlic small
And perfect white clouds to paint on the wall
And eat with a teaspoon and sip herbal tea
But when she left it was painful for me

It was the time all my lights converged
I hope I wasn't too much of a twerp
What I wished to be then I have now become
I've sung it and spun it, begun it and won it

That scant time passed and was fleetingly gone
All my feelings knocked out and broken and wrong
Through these smashed windows I sorrowful stared
To think of the time when she had been there

We used to hitch up to Glastonbury town
Bristol, Wye  Valley we'd do the rounds
Then one time in Cotham she finished with me
Though I tried not to I went miserably

The year had turned round to All Hallow's eve
The death knelling one gave no reprieve
And split us in two to end my childhood
I can't have it back I know it's no good

She became the icon of my inner eye
You'll have to ask the master bards why
She's formed into many but is really just one
I set off on my journey, it's still going on

I found myself floating in a sea of days
That never seemed to end though songs showed the way
They went on and on till last I saw shore
My many steps led to the White Spring's door

I sat and prayed at the clear crystal pool
My heart opened, a rare hidden jewel
Connected to the water that flows at this shrine
Healing my heart in a manner sublime

How merry, how glad did this make me feel
And I knew the turn of that cosmic wheel
The circle had met but only just drawn
The players all gathered outside before dawn

And a vision opened up to us
That had been subsumed by the Halloween curse
Again to sprout at verdant Beltane
When sunlight and laughter appeared once again

Meanwhile my prayers had formed a bridge
Some others sat about playing the didge
The waters rippled and the recorders played
And my Muse appeared through the gap we had made

I spoke to Her at length of the spear
Thrust into my side like Keats's for his dear
As I for my love and you for yours
She came in and out and we spoke for hours

Oh how dearly, how dearly do I hold near
These moments of memories of which you do hear
Inside Her Temple, the Goddess did reach
Into my soul me solace to teach

(repeat first verse : 'I once loved a girl...'
and then first chorus : 'It was the time all my lights converged...')

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