BIRDSONG IN THE DARK

BIRDSONG IN THE DARK

Follow me, c'mon, hurry
I can hear them slapping
Leave your townie ways behind
You're mine now

Taste my anticipation
Let it worry you
Become my accomplice
Do as I do

Leave the dark to guesswork
Let the devil ride
The murder of the spate
Your mother voice inside

Weaving through the willow wood
Skeleton grey
Moon on your figure
This could be history

The fatness of the river
Louder, louder still
The mean fat volume of it
Black and thick and real

Silver slips the salmon
The crack of flank on pool
An ancient spear of muscle
A moonlit vestibule

A blackbird sings for territory
A salmon swims for life
A broken footstep fills the copse
A moon flash from the knife

Be still, come slowly, ballet feet
Now the hunt is on
My silent signal demonstrates
What you came here for

Belly in the bracken now
Follow my pointed hand
The torchlight in the gravel shallows
The poaching has begun

I'll slip into the vein now
You stay on the bank
See the way I start downstream
And creep up to the flank

They spook if you move too quick
They know if you think too much
You have to kind of be like them
You have to have the touch

Now dip the gaff and feel the flow
Remember past and present
Sweep the fish clean out, one heave
The next bit is sheer panic

20lbs of solid muscle
flic-flacs down the bank
A good man with safe hands
Will have it in the bag

In your fear and verve
The monster bounced back in
All that you had to show
Were rips and nettle stings

That night we lost a trophy fish
You took the blame to heart
It's just the way it goes sometimes
It's written in the stars

All the way back home
And up the steep Edentrack
You said it wasn't like you
To lose a fish like that

I walked you to your caravan
On my way home anyway
You offered me a whiskey
I wanted to come in

As you, I dream of monster fish
The one to give us peace
Locked in purpose, of one mind
We sought a joint release

The next time I go poaching
I'd rather it was you
Who came along as bankman
I know I can trust you