Stumbling towards WATCH YOU DON'T LOSE HER IN THE LONG GRASS  Longer than usual at about 5 mins plus CLICK to hear the song

OLD WOMAN ON THE ROAD This is a rough early try out of a new song with Gene Autry in mind Old woman on the road Gets help from a younger one Not carrying her load Moves her further Than she has ever been   Views become clearer Miles are covered easier Fear doesn’t feature As it did before  Words begin to flow again Understanding grows again Pleasure overtakes the pain To leave it far far behind In the proverbial rain Old woman on the road Alone now but enraptured As the beauty of the foothills Of the once distant mountains Unfolds And as the beauty unfolds Old woman lays down her load Gives thanks for the younger one Who has helped her helped her Helped her helped her Along the road  Old woman on the road Gets help from a younger one Not carrying her load Moves her further Than she has ever been   CLICK to hear the song

*

THE PLAY IS BY A PAUPER This song was written after it became known that a woman had been tramping through the graveyard in Old Massett taking rubbings of carvings on tomb stones Trying it out here with a keyboard backing The play is by a pauper Purple in his gown Feeling for the heavens But finding only ground The scene is a graveyard Of hollow limbs and heads And on it walks a woman Picking berries red Her legs are torn with bramble thorns Her broken voice says there I see the fish the whale the bear How perfect she declares A spirit from another world Is angry at the sight He takes her foot with greying hands And yanks her into flight A nine foot man in black and white Walks by the sea and grins Hecate has got her Go back home survey your sins The engine of a nearby car Roars without the key It moves with speed driverless Headlong to the sea A raft of fire upon the waves Is seen to sail the tide The lady spirit nine foot man Stand there with feet astride The lady wears a wedding ring A dress of blue and gold The spirit has her by the waist Will not release his hold Back on the shore in lines of three People kneel and pray When suddenly a miracle Upturns the morbid day A killer whale turned gentle By God's Almighty Hand Rescues and delivers her Unharmed upon the sand A cry of joy is heard by all And as they join in dance A single Pentecostal voice claims Nothing's left to chance So if upon a raft you float Burning out to sea Remember to believe in God And a whale will set you free The play is by a pauper Purple in his gown Feeling for the heavens But finding only ground CLICK to hear the song

LIKE A SWEET WARM LIGHT This song was enjoyably made up (vamped on a piano) in the company of Joan Ure It is in keeping with the first words I ever wrote as an adolescent member of St James (evangelical) Church Carlisle They were for a chorus to the tune of I See The Moon - a popular song at the time  Like a sweet warm light Your love comes to me Bathing my clouded eyes With honesty While I seek while I find While I weep while I'm blind Keep me safe in your eyes Or I'm lost or I die In these days of darkness and of doubt And there have been so many without you You tenderly have shown me the way To where I could have faith in you Like a sweet warm light Your love comes to me Bathing my clouded eyes With honesty While I seek while I find While I weep while I'm blind Keep me safe in your eyes Or I'm lost or I die Like a sweet warm light CLICK to sing along