Eurasia
\nI am awake
\nIt saddens me
\nyou are asleep
\nI can\u2019t get close to you.
\nI\u2019m wide awake two feet from you.
\nI\u2019m anxious that love is like fossil fuels,
\nthere\u2019s only so much we can use.
\nI am awake
\nit saddens me
\nyou are asleep
\nI can\u2019t get close to you…
\nYou must know me well enough by now,
\nto know that I tend to fuck things up,
\nmy love, is love like fossil fuels?
\nI am awake
\nit saddens me
\nyou are asleep
\nI can\u2019t get close to you…
\nI have a void in my heart the size of Eurasia.
\nIt saddens me, you are spooning the universe.
\nWhat are you dreaming of,
\ncan I plug into that dream?
\nI am awake
\nit saddens me
\nyou are asleep
\nI can\u2019t get close to you…
\nI have a void in my heart the size of Eurasia.
\nIt saddens me, you are spooning the universe
\nwhat are you dreaming of, can I plug into that
\ndream?
\nCan I be close to you?
\nCan I be close to you?
\nCan I be close to you again?<\/p>\n

I awoke early on a Sunday.
\nPut my favourite record on.
\nI couldn\u2019t remember
\nwhat our fight last night was about.
\nBut there in the Sunday sun,
\nwhile you were sleeping,
\nthe Sunday music
\nmade me love you even more.
\nI thought:
\nSunday is a day for healing,
\nwhile you are sleeping late.
\nThe Sunday sun
\nis endings ended
\nand beginnings begun!
\nIt\u2019s endings ended
\nand beginnings begun!
\nOh my dear,
\nSunday music is everywhere,
\nIt\u2019s in your breath,
\nit\u2019s in your hair,
\nwhile you are sleeping in
\non a Sunday
\nwhere everything good
\nis about to begin!
\nThe Sunday sun
\nis endings ended
\nand beginnings begun!
\nIt\u2019s endings ended
\nand beginnings begun!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a cold Scandinavian winter morning.
\nI\u2019m mourning
\nthe loss of the loved ones
\nI lost.
\nBut today is also a wonder,
\na wonderful morning
\nto walk with the loved one
\nI have not yet lost.
\nLet\u2019s go to the park
\nand be lovers,
\nwalking silently
\nthrough the snowfall of time,
\nand recall all the people we loved once,
\nthe loved ones who left
\nbefore we got to show them
\nhow much.
\nTime passes by unnoticed,
\nbut I will notice
\nevery snowflake that falls
\nin your hair,
\nand I won\u2019t hesitate to tell you
\nhow much I love you,
\ngrateful for every snowflake
\nthat falls in your hair.
\nIt\u2019s a cold Scandinavian winter morning.
\nI\u2019m mourning the loss
\nof the loved ones
\nI lost.
\nBut today is also a wonder,
\na wonderful morning
\nto walk with the loved one
\nI have not yet lost.
\nToday is also a wonder!
\nToday is also a wonder!
\nToday is also a wonder
\na wonderful morning
\nto walk with the loved one
\nI have not yet lost.<\/p>\n

Oh, what a fool I am,
\nwhen I confuse the sum of my belongings
\nwith the amount of my happiness.
\nFool!
\nCould you only have such a thing
\nas happiness,
\nno man could ever have such wealth.
\nOh, what a fool I was,
\nwhen I thought getting what I longed for
\nwould make me want no more.
\nFool!
\nCould you only long for no more,
\nno man would ever want more.
\nSo I make a list of unownable things
\nthat make me happy.
\nI write:
\nYou
\nThe sea
\nThe sun
\nThe trees
\nThe birds
\nThe sky
\nThe time I have left with you under the sun<\/p>\n

I recall my mother\u2019s voice
\nsinging solemn hymns of joy.
\nHours in the living room
\nthe clock was ticking
\nand her perfume
\nfilled the room…
\nI remember Rosie\u2019s eyes,
\nand how a heart could swell
\ninside the chest of a child.
\nSeconds turned to hours when
\nI came so close that I could sense
\nher scent filling the sky…
\nI remember cigarettes and alcohol,
\nsweet 16
\nand bored 18,
\nraging against the machine,
\nrevolutionary dreams,
\nbroken hearts and poetry…
\nI remember reading Revelations.
\nThe Apocalypse coming any time soon.
\nI got so scared,
\nI couldn\u2019t sleep for a year.
\nStill, years later, I slept with the lights on.
\nSometimes I still do.
\n(Shashe, Notwane, Chobe)
\nI remember when I first saw you.
\nYou were shining like a highway
\nleading out of misery.
\nI remember yesterday,
\nwhen you asked me
\nin your childish way:
\n\u201dDo you think time will have its way with us?\u201d
\nand I said: \u201cBabe, it already has\u201d
\nAnd I remember your eyes,
\nwhen I said: \u201cLife is now or never\u201d
\nAnd you said: \u201cBabe, I think we\u2019\u2019ll live forever\u201d
\nand your eyes were so full of hope when you said it,
\nthat it made me cry.
\nI still don\u2019t know why
\nit made me recall my mother\u2019s voice
\nsinging solemn hymns of joy.
\nHours in the livingroom,
\nthe clock was ticking
\nand her perfume
\nfilled the room…<\/p>\n

We were young,
\nwe were free
\nunder Livingstone\u2019s Tree,
\nand even the whole wide world
\ncould fit in a hand.
\nSo if you\u2019re going back
\nto Manyana
\nin your time machine
\n– wait for me.
\n\u201dManyana? Manyana? Ee Rra, ee Rra, ee!\u201d
\nWe were wild,
\nwe were free
\nunder Livingstone\u2019s Tree,
\nand even the whole wide world
\ncould fit in a hand.
\nSo if you\u2019re going back
\nto Manyana
\n\u201dManyana? Ee Rra, Ee Rra, Ee!\u201d
\nin your time machine,
\nwait for me
\nunder Livingstone\u2019s Tree.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been wandering now
\nfor God knows how long.
\nI couldn\u2019t find my own voice
\nback in Babylon.
\nNow the road is my song.
\nI was wealthy then,
\nI am richer now,
\nwhen I try to count
\nthe iridescent colours
\nof the ruby-throated hummingbird.
\nAnd when nightfall comes
\nwith tranquil amethyst skies,
\nmy night is sweetened by
\nAngelic Julia in my dreams,
\nsinging a lullaby:
\nRadinonyane*
\nRadinonyane
\nRadinonyane
\nI listen to the song of the goldcrests
\nin the morning mist.
\nOh, they know much more,
\nthan I will ever know.
\nLove songs from tiny souls.
\nSoothing, graceful rain,
\nwhen you come to me
\ndripping from the leaves
\nof a magnolia tree in bloom,
\nmy soul is blooming too.
\nI stop to breathe by a brook,
\nled here by a breeze.
\nOh, I could have sworn
\nthat I wasn\u2019t alone
\njust moments ago.
\nRadinonyane
\nRadinonyane
\nRadinonyane
\n*(Tswana name meaning \u201cMr. Birds\u201d)<\/p>\n

A flock of mute swans
\nare singing their autumn hymn
\ncarrying frost on their wings.
\nOslo is blue today and so are you.
\nDear, you should know
\nthat the winter time is short.
\nThe winter time is short
\nThe winter time is short
\nLet\u2019s buy carnations and candles and white port,
\nand try not to count the things we have lost.
\nLet\u2019s try to rejoice!
\nTry to rejoice
\nin The Cool Fire of the Forest!
\nIf I close my eyes,
\nI still hear the trill
\nof the meadowlarks flying high in March,
\nand still feel the linen
\nof your white summer dress
\n(the one you wore by the bonfire)…
\nOh, that floral dress
\nOh, that floral dress
\nLet\u2019s buy carnations and candles and white port,
\nand try not to count the things we have lost!
\nLet\u2019s try to rejoice!
\nTry to rejoice
\nin The Cool Fire of the Forest!
\nLet\u2019s try to rejoice!
\nTry to rejoice!
\nTry to rejoice!
\nTry to rejoice!
\nTry to rejoice
\nin The Cool Fire of the Forest!<\/p>\n

My longing is a paper kite
\ntied to a stone craving flight.
\nI tried to live in light,
\nI tried to live in light alone.
\nIf the dead can live again,
\nas when winter turns to spring,
\nthen resurrect my hope, my love,
\nand make my spirit sing.
\nTake me to The House of Grace
\nwhere The Children of the Morning sing:
\n\u201cNo one can live in light alone
\nNo one can live in light alone
\nNo one can live in light alone
\nNo one can live in light alone
\nNo one can live in light alone
\nNo one can live in light alone\u201d
\nMy longing is a paper kite
\ntied to a stone craving flight.
\nI tried to live in light,
\nno one can live in light alone.<\/p>\n

I keep a photo of you in my heart,
\nno one can take it away.
\nOn our honeymoon,
\nwhen you were kneeling
\nin the cathedral of Lisbon,
\n(and after lighting a red plastic candle,
\nand quietly praying for the crippled,
\nand probably praying for me,
\nand for the marathon runners)
\nyou said,
\n\u201cLove is a boat and we\u2019re in it
\nchange is a sea and we\u2019re on it\u201d
\nAnd I wept,
\n\u2018cause I had kept you away from my world.
\nI thought it was best to be silent.
\nBut there on the cold cathedral floor,
\nI knew that you had always lived on my island.
\nI keep a photo of you in my heart
\nno one can take it away.
\nOn the back it says:
\n\u201cLove is a boat and we\u2019re in it
\nchange is a sea and we\u2019re on it\u201d<\/p>\n