Cold one morning and the sun didn't shine I took my folly in the bag of mine You waited for me though you're not the type You waited for me, I was right on time Time was a prison, it was keeping me still, Though my feet were on the ground I was running down the hill You waited for me with your crimson tie Like a flag on your post, it was ripping the sky Stray ye not, for nightfall blue 'Neath the trees will swallow you You unpacked the picnic, said it's time to feast On my dog-eared dreams and my memories You started singing a familiar song I closed my eyes and I ticked like a bomb Stray ye not, for nightfall blue 'Neath the trees will swallow you Rummaging, rummaging around in the dark for the right path I trip, I confess, rip open my dress and you laugh Now there's a change in your eyes A beast in disguise, I depart, rise Tree, star, sky, you- Brief, clear morning Shrouded by the staggered warnings You, wolf howling Hair on my coat, in my throat I'm choking Say it's true, I'll be OK The forest took half of my name Strayed too far beneath the trees Nightfall blue has swallowed me Rummaging, rummaging around in the dark for the right path I trip, I confess, rip open my dress and you laugh Now there's a change in your eyes A beast in disguise, I depart, rise Tree, star, sky, you-

There's a man in the background You can't pin him down, but he follows you around And there's a crackling sound And a curdling cloud above the river where the baptism drowned It was early May They gathered at the water's edge in anticipation The minister prayed For the ten men here, eternal salvation He took them to the pool by the old blue gum Through the murky water, golden rays shone Ten men under But only nine stood saved in the autumn sun You come undone, singing "I was kicking stones on the dirt road I swear that he was there Shadows long from the sun down low There was algae in his hair" The found his robes in the reeds when the water receded Seven years since he disappeared But not a bone was found In the baked ground, he still follows you around He's always there in the corner of your eye In the empty halls, supermarket aisles Not a day goes by Without a rain cloud but the ground remains dry And you cry "I was kicking stones on the dirt road I swear that he was there Shadows long from the sun down low There was algae hanging from his hair" Now I see you growing old on your front stoep stair Singing a rain-song, a yearning prayer "O Water fill the air! River to the sea, it's got a soul to bear "

A rusty sun A musky Monday fair above the dusty terrain Scraping skies with tetanus, our home, a garbage precipice It's no wonder he confused us with rats They called a man A grey witch music man To polish up the putrid vats We as kids have much to say but little of it makes its way As evidence We're credulous Such petulance Pretty people bathing in the treacle, tight chest, mascarpone Sweet skinned, gentle to me Mummy, daddy, all decayed (fat free, home made) Under my feet wherever I run (deboned, well done) Drink it all down, drink it all down ... A whistle in his hand, he's a man to depend on He takes the rats to the gathering in Grahamstown A rusty sun, a musky Monday fair above a dusty terrain Scraping skies with tetanus, our home a garbage precipice It's no wonder that we turned into rats Four years past, and now I ask, is it possible to leave this town? The streets slimy with the glue of the Pied Piper's tune And enough whiskey To help us drown Pretty people bathing in the treacle, tight chest, mascarpone Sweet skinned, gentle to me Mummy, daddy, all decayed (fat free, home made) Under my feet wherever I run (deboned, well done) Drink it all down, drink it all down... A whistle in his hand, he's a man to depend on He takes the rats to the gathering in Grahamstown

Ooh eh eh Cassie is a storm, she'll be ripping up your palm trees Ooh eh eh She’ll be chipping up the oceans, sucking up the southern seas Ooh eh eh She be hopping about your heart beats, whipping you with your riempies Things you don't want to see The moon will be reeling the earth will be bleeding Ooh eh eh Cassie is a storm she'll be ripping up your palm trees Ooh eh eh She'll be chipping up the oceans sucking up the southern seas We don't worry Mama she told me “hide away my baby!” But she don't know me I’ll be singing at the party, my lady voice of anarchy Cassie dreams where the table turns Making love by the fire getting carpet burns You in her arms and winter in a snow jar Pouring out her mind living in her mess Staining your embrace and your short black dress You everywhere and her translating the sky Cassie lost herself in her head and you in her eyes Cassie neatens up the pottery, buys all the food for the cutlery Has a bowl of daisies by the windows to chop off their heads She dreams of boats and butterflies, anything that floats or flutters by But she doesn't speak of what she finds underneath her bed Cassie lets the night go by but leaves the light on by her bed She leaves the light on and it Burns Like words on a Sunday afternoon Return As ashes in the Monday blues and she learns That she herself is nothing new and future thoughts are overdue And when she dies so will you, so burn Cassie eats sunsets That's all she eats Twirling out her arms catching light losing meat Dancing for a man sitting on an empty seat See the fabricated lies that the others play Cassie he will love you but not today It will be your turn when the curtains fall and when they Burn Like words on a Sunday afternoon Return As ashes in the Monday blues and she learns That she herself is nothing new and future thoughts are overdue And when she dies so will you, so burn Cassie wakes when the dawn birds sing Cleaning off herself cleaning everything Who needs a mirror when the walls all sparkle and gleam Brushing out her hair into a waterfall Finding more excuses in her long black curls And then she whispers “Follow me” Filling up the barrel with some loaded gin Aiming at the world pointing at her chin Arms crossed across her heart The world and her, miles apart and she Burns Like words on a Sunday afternoon Return As ashes in the Monday blues and she learns That she herself is nothing new and future thoughts are overdue And when she dies so will you, so burn Ooh eh eh Cassie is a storm, she'll be ripping up your palm trees Ooh eh eh She’all be chipping up the oceans, sucking up the southern seas Ooh eh eh She be hopping about your heart beats, whipping you with your riempies Things you don't want to see The moon will be reeling the earth will be bleeding Ooh eh eh Cassie is a storm she'll be ripping up your palm trees Ooh eh eh She'll be chipping up the oceans sucking up the southern seas We don't worry Mama she told me “hide away my baby!” But she don't know me I’ll be singing at the party, my lady voice of anarchy

There's a girl on the corner In talking-kneed jeans A hand on her hip, she collects lucky beans She answers her phone It's a 3310 She gives a rainbird laugh, she's cooking dinner for a friend Beautiful windows All covered in bars Cursed by the boy who is watching the cars His People sing now with drums and guitars Sirens and churchbells toll from afar Now the girl begins walking In talking-kneed jeans Her pockets are filled with poisonous seeds She'll cook them tonight To brighten her stew I know I should tell her, that's what I should do But something there in the sound of the bells Veld fire, it's got that East Cape smell Now what I heard in the Bells swelling slow To die is the only true freedom we know Her friend arrives She hitches a ride It seemed to me a good day to die

Alarm clock living. Ring, ring, shower, sprint. Soap still in your butthole; And toothpaste lipstick mint. And what is so important; That till a godly hour couldn’t wait? What is so important; That till a godly hour couldn’t wait? The rush, rush, bus stop. Traffic whizzing by. Steely, stony faces; In the morning redeye in the sky. And now that the algorithms know their needs; They can online shop with ease. Now that the algorithms know their needs; They can online shop with ease. And I sit back and smoke their stompies. Sip the last dregs of their coffees. Suck the last ice off their lollies. Stare at the sun; In a silent fun; While they run. While they run. St. George looks down smiling; At the folly and the theft. A parliamentary privilege; Of shame to be bereft. Ineptitude lies broken; And they’ve stolen all the rest. Ineptitude lies broken; And they’ve stolen all the rest. Sit back and smoke their stompies. Sip the last dregs of their coffees. Suck the last ice off their lollies. Stare at the sun; In a silent fun; While they run. While they run. It’s not that they are sheep. They are lions; Wasting time on mice. It’s not that they don’t care. Some are scared; But they get kak advice. It’s not that it’s all unfair; But too much; Just isn’t nice. Not when enough, is enough, is enough, is enough; Is when enough, is enough, is enough, is enough! And I sit back and smoke their stompies. Sip the last dregs of their coffees. Suck the last ice off their lollies. Stare at the sun; In a silent fun; While they run. While they run.

Cruising through the Kalahari Mixed CD's and not a worry Dry wors, Coca-Cola, the wind in my hair My what a beautiful scene, this is the dusty dream But as the sun sets behind me My tank burns dry So I gather all the wood I can Heavy fence posts in the sand Build my fire in the middle of the lonely road My what a starry sight, this is the darkest night But far off in the veld I hear a lion moan So I build my fire a little bigger Wish I had a barrel trigger Wish I were in Kwambo or in Tokyo And the silence in the air, every nightjar and springhare Know the ghost in the darkness Is coming near And now as the constellations change All I have to stay sane Is a bottle and this old guitar In dust, like stars fallen, twenty eyes glow And ten hungry lions moan They'll suck my flesh and chew my bones I was a breeze in the Kalahari See my bones drying down before me Rusted metal and tyre decay My what a freaky scene, this is the boneyard dream Til a dust-stream fades to a breakdown gleam

Speaking of love and luck and buses and breakdowns You were seventeen, it was somewhere between Jozi and Cape Town She in a freebee T-shirt and talking-kneed jeans Sitting on the corner expectantly like a waiting room YOU magazine With hair like a tangle of roadside weeds, She seemed borne out of dust, a mystical being But you gave at the knees, your greatest defeat At the calm in her eyes O gravity She invited you over with the promise of ice-cold water Said, my family's all down in the cemetery, it's just me and my ouma Her dog asleep in the dirt, plastic chairs in the driveway You spoke up until 7de Laan time of day Something unspoken settled between you, soft as a moth in the twilight She stood and you followed her, singing ladadada Sy het die doringdraad oopgemaak for you to climb through in the dark Secret as the veld sounds waking around you, she took you up into her arms A warm erupted the dust all around you And the salt of her kiss had you wet - right down to your knees Too soon came the sound of the bus in the town She pulled away and knelt to the ground And picked up a stone in the light of the moon And handed it over to you Said it's pink for girl and pink for love. Pink was the colour that you couldn't get enough of You believed she was some kind of mystical being But the stone is the proof of your memory's truth It burns a hole in your chest and you ache - for the sound of her singing

He breathes back doubts into your open mouth. His weak existence falls into your running hands and it silhouettes the puppets in his closed facade and a fragile life is now inside a stopping heart little human lost and falling from the start little human you didn't scream loud enough and now you're stuck here in between hell, heaven and love His jagged empty space clothed the haunted night and all the dreams he gave you took away your life and he mispronounced your heart beat and now he pays the debt but he's still there and your still there its as if you've barely met and now you're expected to hold it be glad the universe has no end cos the world would have hit the bottom of it love is like lead you're breathing it instead you paint your face like ticking years off from a wall the windows high above so the light doesn't keep you warm and he knows your secrets and he knows where you hide he's underneath those blankets that you saturate with lies and now you're expected to hold it be glad the universe has no end cos the world would have hit the bottom of it love is like lead you're breathing it instead under feet it's icy cold a landscape damaged with mismanaged carnages of marble hearts that once drifted with clouds white gold they are heavy when they fall frozen ripples of cripples, stippled soil echo out in shouts of oval yawns scars of screams of reality meets gravity the inflictor of such dissolved I've taken a map this time but it crawls resolute mute in the pocket of my suit a desperate mime omniscient and tongue-less on my bodies blind compass I'm panicking not thinking clear it's cold and I wanna get out of here drops of dew like tiny eyes rise up for the spectacle a sheet of stares reflect the skies kneaded by knuckles of knowledge and the dew drops double, the cracking land drinks under feet an ocean eats the horizon sinks love is like lead you're breathing it instead