Ember Asleep

Published by Fontana

First published in Great Britain by Kindlight 2015

Copyright ©Mark Binmore 2015

This edition published in Great Britain by Fontana 2020. www.markbinmore.com

The right of Anonymous to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and publisher of this book

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

The journey of winter continues.

Prose, some written as songs. Feel free to add music and mix.

September

Dawn awaits a sleepless town skies all coloured grey

Here I roam the streets without you as summer fades away

Down to the harbour the harsh wind is blowing

Wherever you may be right now it must be getting late

You're probably asleep already but I am wide awake

Down at the harbour where the harsh wind is blowing

'Don't be lonely.' that was what you told me

But don't you worry now loneliness can be ignored and time has shown me how

Down at the harbour where the winter wind is blowing I am missing you so much

Fire trails sparkle across my eyes

I blink and you are gone sinking down with the setting sun Clouds swarming over me covering all that I can see The moon eclipsed the stars put out the hills fading to blue and grey and black

I sit here waiting for the sun to rise again it is only a matter of time

I dream only of loss the fine silver tinged gossamer threads of the past intermingled with lust and desire A horror show of fear a constant pursuit

And I'm always fleeing you are the cause of my dread

My hope you might visit me once more come to me at gone twelve gone two or three

Is that the only time you can make it?

The only time I will let you near I do not mean to push you away for I desperately want you

I was on my own when it began to snow on my own for so long on and on waiting for the snow to go away wishing it had come on any other day

Thoughts of you bringing me snow cherries from France and of the past and now the future it couldn’t last

The only thing I saw was snow falling no longer was my heart calling

Was I in your thoughts then?

Was I in your thoughts when the snow began to fall?

Now all the white lays smooth on the ground without a sound that was when I knew that snow must melt just like the feelings that I once felt

Listen to my heart sorrowful alas

I am lost without you and your lover

The great love in your life she guided me

Be with me always day and night

Lamenting the great loneliness the sorrowful tears

Asleep in the quiet green grave in a deep peace

There was happiness but that departed

It was he who followed you your lover the great love in your life

He guided me be with me always, day and night

I think of the day that you were beside me telling a story of the old life

I remember the day without want and without gloom

Be with me always, day and night and I leave my home in the morning and the start of the day

My heart is grieving and my youth is long past

And at night and I am alone endless deep black skies recollecting the days that were carefree and happy I listen to the wind great loneliness, forever, and ever

The end of the great journey I am sad, sorrowful, and broken

After me, there will be nothing more but, it is our fate, children

Long ago was the day that I left my home there is no joy in my life nothing is left except the dead There was happiness but that departed

It was they who followed you your lovers

The greatest love in your life they guided me be with me always day and night

It is as if I had bound myself to the dark middle house tied myself up at the spindle the knurling heart and said

You cannot leave this place until your heart is crystal and your words are twine

Your eyes are wisdom, tresses spidery grace

And long again, all mended, endless as the sky

You cannot be set free until your will is steel

Your thoughts immutable, immortal, as fine gems

Your silence frost-bound in the dark

Your dreams immense and perfect

All your limbs are purified and scourged of dread disease bones unchangeable, and core of mystery

Regained and taken softly to be safe forevermore

Until the rare forbidden word of sacred call is known to you you will be locked within And still as death as a stone

A shut-eyed flower, kissed by drowsiness kissed by numb wasps to closed dark eyes

Closed to the humming bees closed to the honey

And pollen, stowed like treasure deep inside

A poem untold, untold and changeless, theft less, lifeless, deathless, blind

Speechless, senseless in the bounds of mind until you hear the dreaded summons of the king

Cruellest call the most beautiful of all, unspeakable

You shall not see the spark of salt and fire in the ash you shall not know the secret ember locked within The dust of your dumb mortal house silent breast

It is a tomb from which the flare will rise it is the muteness of the silent flint

If you see this, dread and glory dread, despair and the breath

Most of all, if you see this a spark will always, always come from the very slumber of the soul

I'm leaving for Paris on the night train

I don't think that I want to say goodbye

So I am leaving for Paris on the night train please don't try and stop me

So I am leaving for Paris on the night train

Just take care of yourself won't you, huh?

Just you try to take care of yourself

Because I am saying goodbye as I leave for Paris

Tell me you follow me through the back streets by the Eiffel

I am asking you not to follow like so many who have followed before

So I'm leaving for Paris on the night train please don't you try to find out where I am

Just you try to take care of yourself

I'm leaving, yes I am leaving for Paris and I have nothing left to say

Goodbye

You know that I am here

I will be waiting for your footsteps

And when you are here

I know you will be home for Christmas

Don’t forget me please don’t leave me behind and please come home

Please come home for Christmas

Like Peter Pan

I wish I were a star and call you back from wherever you are

Come on fly to me fly to me tonight and let me kiss you goodnight

You know that I am here

I will be waiting for your footsteps

And when you are here

I know you will be home for Christmas