Under Wraps

Short arctic desert day ---
And someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Look around every which way
But i can't see just where the footprints go.
Is it a casual disappearance? ---
Plucked from the middle atmosphere
Like straw wind-blown.
No speck on the horizon ---
No simple message scrawled
Upon the snow.

Unearthly visitation ---
Someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Hungry buzzard flier
Circling round and round
Rattling death's tambourine.

Have to run it down the cold wire ---
Late insertion in tomorrow's lost and found.
Should i spread out searching?
But i'm a little thin upon the ground.

So i raise my lips to coax
The last drop of brandy from the bottle.
Rest my feet and contemplate
The mystery that's haunting
This siberian space.

Show-shoes they bind me down ---
I'm just one more parasite of the surface layer.
I begin to get the feeling
I've been on this stage before
And i'm the only player.

One more arctic desert day ---
Another set of shoes out in the tundra snow.
I make my fade to white-out
And you can't see me where my footprints go.

The middle lane has trapped my car
In red-light claustrophobia.
I slip the shackles, cut the rope ---
Stand naked with a telescope
As the cat walks alone
Under a big sky.
Against the dark so thin and white ---
Gonna be a big sky night.

Miss galileo, come with me
And view the new astronomy.
Black hole dressing on salad plate ---
Quasar at the kissing gate.
Now the cat, he walks alone
Under a big sky.
Umbrella dome pin-pricked in lights ---
Gonna be a big sky night.

My spectacles, my white lab coat ---
My coffee, thermos and my notes.
I pat my pockets. i got the keys
To the secrets of the observatory.
And closing the door,
I feel a new dawn
As the darker slides align ---
You to yours and me to mine.

And now you stand, assisting me ---
I can touch what i can see, see, see.
I look in wonder, i feel no shame ---
See the consequences of the game.
Expand the universe.
Head for the big bang.
Reach for my switch and shout ---
Gonna turn the big sky out.

There's got to be astronomy.
Astronomy.

Sailing round the true-blue sphere---
Is it too late to bale out of here?
Well, there has to be some better way
To turn back the night,
Spin on to yesterday.

The old man and his crew---
After all these years,
It's apogee.
Pilot training and remorse---
Spirit friends fly too,
At apogee.
Apogee --- solar bright.
Apogee --- through the night.
Apogee --- overground.
Don't think i'll be coming down.

Screened for a stable mate
With nerves of ice we flew,
At apogee.
No creativity allowed
To pass through stainless veins of steel,
At apogee.
Apogee --- put the kettle on.
Tight-lipped --- soldier on.
High point --- communicate.
Don't forget to urinate.

So glad they put this window in.
How to explain, how to begin?
See! tennyson and wordsworth there
Waiting for me in the cold, thin air.

Beware a host of unearthly daffodils
Drifting golden, turned up loud.
Tell the boys back home,
I'm gonna get some.

The wrong stuff's loose in here ---
I'm climbing up the walls,
At apogee.
So hoist the skull and bones ---
Death and glory's free,
At apogee.

A stranger wind, a solar breeze ---
I'm walking out upon the starry seas.
See pyramids, see standing stones ---
Pink cotton undies and blue telephones.

Goodbye, cruel world that was my home ---
There's a cleaner space out there to roam.
Put my feet up on the moons of mars ---
Sit back, relax and count the stars.

In and out of shady places ---
Walking on cold corners of the maze.
Following the trace you leave unwittingly.
I wanna be no saboteur.
Oh, no, me no saboteur.

Painted ducks across your landscape ---
Happy in your domesticity (it don't come free).
Misfortune, like a sparrow hawk, hangs over you.
Wanna be no saboteur.
No, no, me no saboteur.

Deepest regrets i humbly offer you
As i cut into your life.
With clean precision, all is simplified ---
Pass the hat and pass the knife.

By now you must be worried, wondering
Who is me and what lies behind my art.
I'm only removing broken sea-shells from the beach ---
Oh, no, me no saboteur.

There's at least one of me inside your ranks
In your factory or school.
I anticipate a cleansing opportunity
To take the horns by the bull.

History forever writing
Pages to be cut or painted grey,
Or celebrated like jesus in his
Temple rage
As he chased the money-men away.

I wanna be no saboteur.
Be no, be no saboteur.

She smiles at me
From beyond the eastern sea-shore.
Flashing jewelled eyes,
She hoists her skirts so high.
Nouvelle cuisine or an oyster bar ---
It's really up to her.
I'll write every cheque she brings to me.
I shoot on sight ---
It's my european legacy.

Round the castle walls ---
About the highlands and the islands
The faint reminders stand.
Visitors who took a hand
A thousand years ago, or so ---
Stranded high and dry by tides ---
Washed up a new identity.
The channel's wide ---
But it's their european legacy.

I strain my eyes
Against the southern light advancing.
On whiter cliffs i'm high.
The sea birds roll and tumble as they fly.
I hear distant mainland music echo
In my island ears.
My feet begin to move instinctively
To the warmer beat of my european legacy.

She smiles at me
From beyond the eastern sea-shore.
Flashing jewelled eyes,
She hoists her skirts so high.
Nouvelle cuisine or an oyster bar ---
It's really up to her.
I'll write every cheque she brings to me.
She shoots on sight ---
It's her european legacy.

Keep it quiet. (go slow.)
Circulate. need to know.
Stamp the date upon your file ---
Masquerade, but well worth while.

Wrapped in the warmth of you ---
Wrapped up in your smile.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.

Wear an air --- (keep mum)
Of casual indifference.
Careful how you go
About your usual business.

Wrapped in daydreams of you ---
Wrapped up by your eyes.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.
Under wraps! i've got you under wraps.

Tell you when --- (not yet)
Soon the great unveiling.
Bless my boots! upon my soul!
Secrecy, it is my failing.

Wrapped in your summer night ---
Wrapped in your autumn leaves.
Wrapped in the winter of your sleeping.

Keep it quiet. (go slow.)
Circulate. need to know.
Stamp the date upon your file ---
Masquerade, but well worth while.

Wrapped in the warmth of you ---
Wrapped up in your smile.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.

Wear an air --- (keep mum)
Of casual indifference.
Careful how you go
About your usual business.

Wrapped in daydreams of you ---
Wrapped up by your eyes.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.
Under wraps! i've got you under wraps.

Tell you when --- (not yet)
Soon the great unveiling.
Bless my boots! upon my soul!
Secrecy, it is my failing.

Wrapped in your summer night ---
Wrapped in your autumn leaves.
Wrapped in the winter of your sleeping.

Later, that same evening, she ran.
I think she ran alone.
Later, she had early warning from
A hidden phone.
Checked with the embassy ---
She might have been
A million miles away.
Should i circulate her likeness
At all airports without delay?
It was later ---
Later that same evening.

Earlier, we had had a drink or four
In some kensington hotel.
Hard --- it was hard to keep my mind
On what she had to sell.
And with all business done
We took a cab ---
Should it be her place or mine?
Good security prevailed
And i was home just after nine.
It was later ---
Later that same evening.

Now i want you back.
Yes, they want you back.
We want you back.
My country wants you back.

Later, in the wee small hours
There was heavy traffic on the radio.
Scare at a channel port ---
Small craft warnings to keep to shore.
Lobstermen thought they saw
A submarine
Half submerged suspiciously.
Though i arrived too late,
I'm sure she blew a kiss to me
As the sub sailed out to sea.