These charcoal slipstreams hiss an' spit
Past dead-gra** paths all piss an' sh**
An the gangrene thoroughfare snarlin' wi' jealousy…
Oh bent back lamp-light, 'luminate
These cracklin' wounds by station-gate
Like the dawn scarrin' the night-time stretched ahead o' me
And nostalgia thick and potent and as pulsing TV radiance
And the concretes tauntin' cries
"Come on singer, f** sakes, sing for us"
And a sketch predictably
Coiled around a broken C
Broken-gla** bouquets lain over streets, catchin' reflections
Of the mornin' clutchin' gifts o' clarity
And in her smile
A momentary burst o' some sweet decadence
She takes my hand
She says the drunken day is waking
Take me someplace still in awe of twilight
Vagrant chorus lined up 'long the walls outside the chapel
Singin' "Which Side Are You On" an there's a hint of something glorious
Swellin' in the pauses 'tween the words
Set for piercing almost every ear that's listenin'
Yeah, the rest just sigh an keep on walkin'
Broadsheet prophecies! Some monstrous calamity!
I'm makin' notes, I'm writin' lines
Chockin' on fear an yeah, sometimes
The fear is crippling an' I'm trembling
I bite my tongue till everythin' is
Fragments of a narrative
A fiction, nothin' more
Grafton Street all raw wi' memory, we walk on wounds
And sit by cafes watchin summertime carve madmen from Cathedral stone
I love you and it cuts my tongue to say
But that's ok
My melancholy suits my haircut
Like the piss-burn suits the gutter steam