The Mousetrap Factory
Distant Man
You know I’ve seen your face so many times
And I know it’s wrong to believe
That I belong to you, but I do
It’s a haunting in a stranger’s dream that drags me down
And makes me look in your world
To that gaping hole on either side
The aged wheel on which we ride our time
Was never ours at all, at all
And you, you never showed me how
We’d travel to your place
So distant I was blind
And you, you never showed me how
We’d fly away in time
So distant I was blind
The letters fade, I loose my hands
And they must never know what I feel for you
But I do believe
The mirror plays its game
It knows that face and feels the pain that I feel
And the scars of life that cross your brow
Are fading now and anyhow this time
I’ll stand aside from you, alone
And you, you never showed me how
We’d travel to your place
So distant I was blind
And you, you never showed me how
We’d fly away in time
So distant I was blind
And you, you never showed me how
We’d shoot up to the stars
So distant I was blind
So distant I was blind
Trivia
When I was younger…
I couldn’t grasp the beauty of routine,
The little things that happen in between,
The tiny steps that get you through the day-to-day
So don’t you delay
There’s no time for this now
Waiting patiently for the time to show
Drags the dregs, washing lines for the wind to blow
Whistle tunes from music halls at the back of my mind
The back of my mind
Draw the curtains, take comfort in the joy of routine
Feel the thrill of danger confined to a screen
So sweetly it calls to me and helps me unwind
Helps me unwind
Meanwhile…
The boredom needs, feeds, I scroll through my phone
Hear the noise, the clatter of the objects I own
Me and Alan Partridge, we understand, we’re two of a kind
Two of a kind
Meanwhile…
Fillets of Quorn in front of the telly
All the news is bad and so is the weather
Something obscene may be happening outside
I pull up the rug, it’s none of my business
Don’t you forsake me, Mrs Green
Space
Infinite, vast, formless nothingness
So vast it defines a whole dimension
Small enough to separate these words
We used to dream of exploration
Now our journey’s endlessly deferred
Emptied of the imprint of existence
You say that some more would help you live
Nature, they say, abhors a vacuum
Strange, then, that you think it’s mine to give
Give me space, outer space
Einstein even claimed to understand it
Used it to mess around with time
I’d like to know what he was taking
Something like that would do me fine
Give me space, outer space
Infinite, vast, formless nothingness
Contradiction
Is it just a feeling
Given to the next in line
To counter my lack of timing
I find myself clutching this rhyme
The voice is loud
That fights its way
Into my head
A profusion of concepts I don’t understand
This I know
But it feels good to me
Just sign on this dotted line
Speak quietly and quickly my friend
Or the forces of contradiction
Will overwhelm you in the end
Still it comes
Pounding on
Into my ears
An explosion of thoughts that I don’t understand
This I know
But it feels good to me
Faster than our thoughts can cope with
Restless in their race
Sharper than our hasty voices
Can call and whisper
“Life is left to these”
Reason is just a failure
When passions are stalking the floor
But the lesson is all too simple
Leave your base sentiments at the door
Holding forth
Banging on
Rinsing out
I’m emptying words of the meanings they hold
This I know
But it feels good to me
Higher than our tallest arches
Written in your face
Colder than our wasted choices
We call and whisper
“Life is meant for these”
Faster than our thoughts can cope with
Restless in their race
Sharper than our hasty voices
Can call and whisper
“Life is left to these”
Waiting / Monologue
I bought a newspaper, though of course I didn’t read it
I carried it with me, its presence reassured me
To clutch it to me, to keep it by me
Something to do to pass the time
Time passes more slowly when you’re waiting
A leap into the dark
Shoot into the black
Talking to ourselves like helpless children
Seek a guiding hand
Looking for a friend
Simple speculation
Talking to ourselves
A monologue
I Stand Aside
I stand aside
I only came here to enjoy the ride
But if you’re planning something more beside
I stand aside
I stand apart
Demeanour like a dagger through the heart
Still waiting for a better place to start
I stand apart
I live from day to day
The Anglo-Saxon way
To keep the truth at bay outside
The man I have to be
Comes home instead of me
So I can run away and hide
I stand aside
I have a certain stare
I wear it everywhere
So I don’t have to care inside
I use it as a shield
To keep the truth concealed
So nothing is revealed or spied
I stand aside
I stand alone
Still hoping for an option to atone
But if it challenges my comfort zone
I stand alone
I stand aside
The Nineteenth Day
Inner darkness, he pays the price
Asks the question “what day?”
The web is broken, answers entice
Crying out “the nineteenth day”
Calling out on the nineteenth day
Journey homeward, he feels the pain
Branded deep inside his eyes
This number haunts, it takes the blame
For foolish foresight and their lies
Calling out on the nineteenth day
The consequence of all my wisdom
A parasite, a burden on my back
So I can see I hold the future
In hands that bleed from offspring biting back
Inner darkness, he steals the knife
All ancient mysteries now known
Seeking answers brother takes his life
Feigning madness takes his own
Calling out on the nineteenth day
The consequence of all my wisdom
A parasite, a burden on my back
So I can see I hold the future
In hands that bleed from offspring biting back
I hold the future…
Mrs Green
It’s creeping into my mind
Insidiously the chamber unlocked
Stand in the cold, my nature defrocked
One, two, wait for the knock
Hello darling
I’m creeping into her mind
She’s the mice in the nursery rhyme
Cut off their tails, the pleasure is mine
Three, four, taking my time
See you later
Fire, fire, bridge on fire
All join hands and sing a round
Fire, fire, bridge on fire
See the streets in London town burn
See them burning
Mrs Green, you have left your pills on the mantelpiece
Take your fill, take another daydream and find release
For they cannot understand
Take your pretty face in my hands
For we must preserve all that we have shared
Feel the strangers
In the kitchen
Got no headroom
Need no reasons for my actions
I just wish that I could feel anything
Anything at all
Anything