Medicine

Through the night
You come and sit with me
Hold my hand
When I’m unsettled and I cannot sleep
You are my medicine

Heart of gold
And patience of a saint
Company
When the ward is quiet and the hour is late
You are my medicine

Like a ghost
In your reality
Slipping through
Unseen walls and boundaries
From dreams and memories

Please be brave
If I forget your name
Though it hurts
My childhood friend I can see those tears
You should take your medicine

Broke my heart
When my wife crashed the car
State of shock
I saw the wreckage and I saw the fire
No one made it clear

Yet she’s here
Returned from the lost
Overcome
So confused I talk about it all day long
Taking my medicine

It’s not safe
In this sanctuary
I’m immune
Someone is trying to poison me
Changing my medicine

Turn your back
And walk out through the door
Spit them out
And throw the pills across the floor
Taking my medicine

Nothing left
They ignore my every plea
I am scared
Oh why have you abandoned me?
I don’t know who to believe

Late at night
When I realise I am lost
So alone
I cannot stop these helpless thoughts
What will become of me?

Locked away
There is no escape
No way out
Will I ever breathe the open air?
Or see my home again?

Can’t give up
Stubborn voice of will
Tries to fight
And find some hope where there is no hope
I’ve given everything

I collapse
My resistance has run down
Half glow dies
Exhausted I’ve worn myself out
Drifting out of your reach

Stay a while
Every afternoon
Passing time
By ourselves sown the hall
In the piano room

We sit close
And try to find a tune
We get lost
In the stillness of the shimmering notes
Hoping a spark will bloom

From the depths
Childhood memories
Come to life
Feel the past resurfacing
Washing over me,

Held in awe
In this reverie
Close to god
And bliss and rapture and I can’t believe The wonders I have seen

Bittersweet
To real to be a dream I’m back home
In Danville, Dublin 1943
In the heart of my family

Mother dear
You will worship me
Mother dear
I will do your bidding on obediently
And take my medicine

Flood of tears
I sob against your chest
Oh my son
I thought that you were someone else
Taking my medicine

Brings me back
To when my father died
Where I stood
Give away beneath me in a landslide
Taking my medicine

By his side
I looked into his eyes
And we cried
We both knew it had come to his time
Taking his medicine

You should go
This may be the last time
Hold my hand
And kiss my forehead as you say goodbye
Take your medicine

I love you
That’s something you can keep
In your heart
Now I must sleep this sweet and dreamless sleep
And take my medicine

You can’t bring me back
No matter what you try
I’m never coming back
No matter how much you hope I can’t return

You can’t bring me back
No matter what you try
I’m never coming back
No matter how much you pray I can’t return

You can’t bring me back
No matter what you try
I’m never coming back
I can never return