James Kenyon

Flying High

Flying high on an arc
of gold and silver sparks
and falling into nothing

The last place it was seen
was a cathedral of green
and golden

I guess you just walk away
and stop blowing on the ashes
But I know it’s a long
long way home

Oh the death of a dream
And everything in between
It all turns to nothing

Two years and a day
Since I looked up to pray
And thought of you unfolded

The girl who cried love
Is now flying high above me
And in the big summer sky
I can see the whites of her eyes

So let the rain tumble down
And let the fires all drown
And let us not leave a trace
That we took up space
In the very same place

And let the roads all turn around
And the inn remain unfound
And of the bells on the hill
Let them all lie still
And the air remain unfilled

Warooka

I was over in the Easter
Trying to find a way back in
The green and gold canola
Was playing with the wind

I was talking to my father
Staring at the hills
Still don’t know what I’d rather
Richter’s squares or the sound of bells

And way up in the sky
Jet trails drift on by

Don’t fade on me
Don’t fade on me
Don’t fade on me now

It’s been raining in the belfry
That’s why you can’t hear the bells
And the water’s running down the aisle
And the colours run as well

I was standing in Granada
The Alhambra on the hill,
But right now I feel like driving
To Warooka from Magill

And way up in the sky
Jet trails drift on by

Don’t fade on me
Don’t fade on me
Don’t fade on me now

The Calder

You'll be alright
as you head off down the highway
and as the sun goes down
you'll be halfway down the Calder

And the stars were out
like all the happy soldiers
were drunkenly flung about
and laughed until they smoldered

Oh I will push your crown
from your head onto the ground
watch it roll away
while you look the other way

Oh like a silent crowd
like solitude in concert
and your smiling frown
the weir that holds the torrent

And I caught you out
your hand was on my shoulder
and i turned around
so as to better hold you

Oh I will push your crown
from your head onto the ground
watch it roll away
while you look the other way

The North Pole

I never really thought

you were going to be able

to lay your cards down at the table

and rest your head in anothers Soul

small tears in the sky, well they only got larger

and the breeze that blew in was So much warmer

and slowly it dawned that the world Was much bigger

and I can feel it peeling off me Like old

clothes

I remember what I said

I just couldn’t find a way to

divorce you from my head

so I threw in a grenade that

blew our world to shreds

and out a path was paved and I’m

going to find out everything there is to

know

the first rays of dawn Refracted through my window

and began to light my room, and settled on my skin though

the feeling was warm I knew I must begin so

I’m going to walk half way To the north

pole

Like Old Sundays

The strangest smile I ever,
saw was like a river
arcing slowly
across your jaw
you looked like a king who’d just lost faith in everything
your power and glory myth and story

but all glass is liquid and a pane
slowly drifts on down again

I know the reason
for your lack of disbelieving
when you were a boy you
had to make a choice you
bound yourself, ornaments on all your shelves
books and journals, rites and rituals

all your Sundays did become
the story of a father and a son

you know this morning
I awoke before the dawning
I woke up smiling I
woke up smiling
we were sitting ‘round the table we were laughing
it was like old Sunday’s, like your Sundays

oh, in dreams it’s still allowed
I saw here smile and she was proud

Yellow Leaves

when the yellow leaves start falling

and trees become

dead wood that lines the park

I started to wonder whether

us being together

as never more than a spark

while waiting on the shape to form

I have been worn down to the ground

eroded now, if I wanted to

I couldn’t hold on to you

if I’d asked you earlier

before the stars had turned

further than their mark

would you have turned from me

and returned us to the start

I’d hazard a guess that your blood

never flowed freely

from your heart

the piece of you gave to me

was surely the smallest possible

part

the best time to leave is just before the first rays of the sun

lest you be pierced in place and sold the myth ‘that it all can be done’

Oh and the trains still come, and the busses go on and/ on

Oh the flags still fly high

Oh and the night still comes, and the streetlights still turn/ on

Oh and the plains still fly high

35 Degrees

Must be 35 degrees outside

Blinds drawn, clock says half past five

I’m not playing dead, and I’m too old to hold my breath

no tears were shed, I swam in rivers instead

Out there, over the ocean

Sometimes, maybe I can hear you

Sighing at the stars, as they drift up off the ocean

Or maybe in a bar, sipping on your poison

I heard an older man once say

Love like a bird flies away

Last time I saw it it was thumbing a ride

But I was going the other way

And out there on the western highway

Cars drift out of the horizon

Oh out into the blue,

Driving with their lights on

Oh out into the blue

I’m so tired of loving you.

I heard an older man once say

Love like a bird flies away

Last time I saw it it was thumbing a ride

But I was going the other way

South Troy against the world

Another hose burned down

on fifth avenue it glowed

and all the kids stood around

and the watched it burn

I don't know I don't know I don't know

I don't know I don't

I'm pulling pages out

I'm preparing for the show

I'm pulling colours out

I'm not letting go

I don't know I don't know I don't know

I don't know I don't

Oh Boy

Oh boy, this one’s gonna be long

You don’t know what they’re saying

Or to whom they’re praying

Or why the stars are shining

this one’s gonna be long

Oh boy, you don’t know what went wrong

It was over before you knew it

Before you even drove through it

Before the crowd had gone

You don’t know what went wrong

Oh boy, you don’t have be strong

Don’t get out of your bed

Don’t clean up what you bled

Don’t sing a new song

You don’t have to be strong

Oh boy, you’re gonna fly away

High above the clouds

High above the rain

Way up in the sky it’s a blue day

Oh boy, this one’s gonna be long

You don’t know what they’re saying

Or to whom they’re praying

Or why the stars are shining

this one’s gonna be long