TAKE ME TO THE HILLS

Take me to the hills,

to the burning steep mounds,

to the highest one first,

where the strongest wind sounds,

and leave me in the cold

to my awesome quest;

let me start in the hills

when I’m at my best.

Let me totter on the brink

and find the down-hill,

when the quest is young

and youthful my will.

For then I shall work

my way to the seas.

To start with the hard

makes ending an ease.

Copyright © Jason Horsler

1993

COUNT ANOPHELES

It is dark and silent

The night is ink and deep

Then that tuneless violin

Scuttles my sweet sleep

Up in arms! Light the roof!

Pillow fixed in hand

Whispered curses under breath

‘thy soul to hell be damned!’

With salted eye I search

For that which is un-dead

That which drinks my living blood

And hangs above my bed

Then I see its shadow

Swift passing by my ear

I parry with my pillow

‘dear count your end is near.’

But with a blink it’s gone

I search and search in vain

And as I close my eyes to sleep ...

The violin whines again.

Copyright © Jason Horsler

1993

THE BOX

It came wrapped in paper and string,

Six sided dull and brown,

No sender’s name nor address,

No tell tale weight nor rattling sound.

Sealing wax with no seal -

Your average tied brown box.

No shuffling of straw, no pings of glass,

No warning ticks or tocks.

Just a box.

What angel feathers or sunshine gold,

What treasures lie inside?

Forgotten poems and ancient tales,

The last of the kwagga’s hide,

Or devil’s claws and bottled beasts,

Witches curséd locks;

Poisoned wine or a ticking mine,

An infectious plaguing pox,

In the box?

Should I be wise and let alone

Or fall to Pandora’s fate?

The seal looks ripe and the string slender -

The contents shall not wait.

But its a thing and I am alive,

I must look after myself,

So decision rests for the future

And the box lies on the shelf.

Copyright © Jason Horsler

07/93

The Song About Everything (Lyrics and chords)

(after the galaxy song of eric idle

[Spoken]

[F] Whenever some one says there is no God

Or that at bottom there is nothing but pitiless [Bb] indifference.”

Yet you can’t help but wonder [F] because of wonder

If another explanation for everything would make more [Bb] sense …

[Sung]

[F] Just re - [Bb] member that the universe and everything that is

could not have come from something that is [F] not

Nothing gives you nothing and nothing isn’t anything

and everything that is is quite a [Bb] lot.

To say that one day nothing decided to become

In a [G7] flash of light everything we [Cm] see

Is [Bb] quite absurd but I [G7] know I’ve heard

 people [C7] say that they be – [F] lieve this fanta [Bb] sy[F]

We [Bb] know the big bang happenned - the science is quite clear

but it doesn’t much give us a valid [F] cause

not to mention all the detail and ratios bound up

in the constants and universal [Bb] laws

like gravity if it were just a smidge – a tiny bit

too [G7] weak or even worse a little [Cm] strong

then [Bb] hyrdogen forever or black [G7] holes everwhere

would  [C7] stop me from [F] singing you this [Bd] song[F]

So -[Bb] who kicked off the universe and set it straight and narrow

Please don’t say nothing any - [F] more

Someone powerful and good – wise beyond all measure

You can call him Jesus, God or even [Bb] Lord

Outside time and space – transcendent and almighty

It is [G7] written that he said: let there [Cm] be…

Then [Bb] light became apparent – and everything [G7] else was next my friend

And I be [C7] lieve that that in [F]cludes you and [Bb] me

THE DIGGER

   Dripping with sweat and hunching his back,

digging six foot down and long as deep,

   the digger does his day’s drawn work

and toils in the soil that one might sleep.

   His arduous job seems a waste to him.

Hours  to  dig  what  minutes  can  fill

   and the customer smiles not - yet anyway,

lying unhelpful, unwatching and still.

   Heaving  the  sand  and  ageing,

angry  at  wasted  days  dug  by,

   ponderously burying the sorrows of others;

many graves will he leave at his time to die.

   The burial is important to the dearly beloved,

   but to him its a hole to be dug and recovered.

Copyright © Jason Horsler

20/10/93 - Studying Shakespeare at school helped me fall in love with the sonnet form of poetry.

BECAUSE

Because the law states:  “No because

   may start a sentence in grammar” -

I shall use it often if only to give

   the English more cause for clamour.

Because my license is valid for daily use

   I start with ‘because’ so to speak

and everyone breaks the law colloquially

   so writing it down makes me not unique.

Because language is a bird of freedom which,

   when caged in laws and restriction, dies.

Because you fastidious scholars

   tie bells to our talons and blinker our eyes,

and teach the young your diamond laws,

   I shall certain start with because.

09/09/93

BONSAI

The reading of old poems

Reminds me of my tuning

When I was just a sapling,

For wiring and for pruning.

In humus of experience

And sunlight inspiration;

Clipping excess buds,

Enhancing a creation.

Filling out a form,

Finding a strong pot,

Damping dehydration,

Drying out root rot.

And I, like stunting a tree,

Will not stop shaping me.

26/07/93 - The growing of bonsai was a childhood hobby of mine. I wrote this poem after looking at the many poems I had written and rejected before it.