And thus the sunset beckons now the night As stars begin to glow and so reveal That once the dark has quashed out all the light The moon and stars display with wondrous zeal.
As man will walk in countryside by night Polaris shining bright to light his way Where pitch-black sky was not a unique sight He searches for that unspoilt place today.
For mankind spread and in his wake made light Which blurs the view of Heavenly array While phosphorescence glares so very bright We miss the wonders of our Milky Way.
A breath is being taken that’s so shallow No sound the breathing now makes The fear of death lurking in the shadows Immerses the souls in fearful quakes. For the breathing of man is a precious gift Yet one taken as a right by this sinner But the spectre in the shadows is yet waiting As the rasping sound of death grows ever thinner.
A tear now slowly falls from the dying man’s eye It lands with a mighty clap upon his pillow For the man is in such pain while he is living Yet he knows there’s more to come at where he’ll go. For not a word of simple kindness did he ever utter A cruelty to fellow-men was all he’d show And he never gave but a thought to how we got here But down there, it’s safe to say, he’ll surely know.
Moonlight casts out its magical spell Again I feel that deep pleasure Yet when you gaze upon it’s face It loses lustre by no small measure. For such is your beauty that all else will pale When everyone meets you they smile Your kindness just simply amazes my heart You make each of us feel worthwhile. O lucky man I, that I got to share A lifetime spent here by your side Immersed in such love and your radiance With a heart that is bursting with pride. And now here in twilight I gaze at your lips That have kissed me with such sensuous touch And I know as I smile and think of our life That I have and I still love you, so very much.
I hear the wailing cries that call They’re calling out to me They call to draw the sailors down To the shore at the bottom of the sea.
No one can ever resist their call And so I fear I must go If ever I find my way back home Would I even really know.
The wailing calls grow louder My captain lashed me to the mast But the calls are strong and they took him And I don’t know if I can last.
It matters not if you stop listening For they find their way into your head You just have to get away and onto dry land Or they’ll pull you down to the sea bed.
At last I see dry land is yonder It is almost within my reach but the ropes that tie have undone now And my feet can’t quite touch the beach.
I hear the wailing cries that call They have now come to get only me My mind is so full of their wailing That I’m lost and can never be free.
Show me no mercy for I was so wrong Things that I’ve done where I didn’t belong Wipe out my sins with the blood from my veins Spill it from my body and burn my remains.
Through centuries past I have pillaged and stole Always ahead of the God-fearing role Take me to Hell for I fear I am lost Actions I’ve taken always carry a cost.
But wait, I’ve been saved for reasons unknown For what manner of evil will I have to atone Must I roam centuries looking for peace Why not just kill me and speed my release.
It seems I’ve been given a new Holy task To seek out all evil in which sinners bask And steer them from evil and back to their God Or smite them and bury them under the sod.
Venture forth I now to quell rising tides Of evils and witches and foul things besides The hand of my sword is now cloaked in God’s will My one final chance to honour Him still.
I was never one to complain – like hell, I complain about all kinds of everything
Nonetheless I had never for a moment thought that I would be the one chosen to go
To travel that far with no guarantee I could ever come home
To live with the knowledge that we might lose everything I valued
But it was a risk I knew that one day I would take, a choice that one day I knew I’d make.
But Mars! This was gonna be one hell of a journey
One we’d trained for for years, one we’d hoped for all our lives
But way back then none of us had children and wives.
Blast off successful and we were heading up at thousands of feet a second
No going back now. Goddamn it, it was better than all the pot he’d ever smoked
But it was serious stuff, despite all of this and that that they joked.
But then when he thought about it he realised the nonsense of it all
We can’t even look after the planet that we live on
What right have we to go and probably destroy another one!!!
The spell was broken – he woke up. It was just a dream.
He walked right into the wooden door
time seemed to stand so still
and then it was as if his life
was presented before him to be relived.
He first saw his beloved parents smiling
and Monty, the cocker spaniel he loved
he saw his grandfather with his snowy-white hair
then his brother stood beside him laughing
as a little boy again, at the gypsy who knocked
at the door and was trying to sell lucky white heather.
He saw his sister and her friend playing cards
in the parlour, and then his friends from school
throwing a rugby ball in his direction to catch.
Suddenly it rushed forward to his adult life
his wife, his children, the fun, and all the pain.
And then it stopped and he passed through the door
Jovis on a Journey... 