Under Wraps

Short arctic desert day ---
And someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Look around every which way
But i can't see just where the footprints go.
Is it a casual disappearance? ---
Plucked from the middle atmosphere
Like straw wind-blown.
No speck on the horizon ---
No simple message scrawled
Upon the snow.

Unearthly visitation ---
Someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Hungry buzzard flier
Circling round and round
Rattling death's tambourine.

Have to run it down the cold wire ---
Late insertion in tomorrow's lost and found.
Should i spread out searching?
But i'm a little thin upon the ground.

So i raise my lips to coax
The last drop of brandy from the bottle.
Rest my feet and contemplate
The mystery that's haunting
This siberian space.

Show-shoes they bind me down ---
I'm just one more parasite of the surface layer.
I begin to get the feeling
I've been on this stage before
And i'm the only player.

One more arctic desert day ---
Another set of shoes out in the tundra snow.
I make my fade to white-out
And you can't see me where my footprints go.

The middle lane has trapped my car
In red-light claustrophobia.
I slip the shackles, cut the rope ---
Stand naked with a telescope
As the cat walks alone
Under a big sky.
Against the dark so thin and white ---
Gonna be a big sky night.

Miss galileo, come with me
And view the new astronomy.
Black hole dressing on salad plate ---
Quasar at the kissing gate.
Now the cat, he walks alone
Under a big sky.
Umbrella dome pin-pricked in lights ---
Gonna be a big sky night.

My spectacles, my white lab coat ---
My coffee, thermos and my notes.
I pat my pockets. i got the keys
To the secrets of the observatory.
And closing the door,
I feel a new dawn
As the darker slides align ---
You to yours and me to mine.

And now you stand, assisting me ---
I can touch what i can see, see, see.
I look in wonder, i feel no shame ---
See the consequences of the game.
Expand the universe.
Head for the big bang.
Reach for my switch and shout ---
Gonna turn the big sky out.

There's got to be astronomy.
Astronomy.

Paparazzi, can't make the man.
Paparazzi, can't break the man.

Next to the transit lounge
See the paparazzi tears.
No-one came in today
From boston or tangiers.
And in departures ---
Only faceless trippers trip,
Loaded with duty free
Held in white knuckle grip.

Snap it up, flash away ---
Steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type ---
The news is running late tonight.

Be-decked with nikon necklaces
Hear the paparazzi cries.
Under their noses walk
The famous in disguise.
Conspicuously huddled there
But no-one stops to look.
They've got their crayons out
To colour in the book.

Snap it up, flash away ---
Steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type ---
Paparazzi won't be home tonight.

Paparazzi --- write it down.
Paparazzi --- turn it around.
Paparazzi --- take it, fake it,
Break it.
`cos it's a story.
Now someone's cut the lines
Communication's down.
All photo film is fogged.
Celebrities surround
And jab their fingers at me.
They kiss but i can't tell.
Even poor paparazzi
Must have privacy as well.

Snap it up, flash away ---
Steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type ---
The news is running late tonight.

Snap it up, flash away ---
Steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type ---
Paparazzi won't be home tonight.

It's an old profession
Of subtle artillery.
Rough wheels meshing ---
Button out, button in.

The tall general will mine
A few bridges tonight,
Stroking soft machinery.
Fanfare at dawn
Courting green steel
Lined up for world war one
(two, three, four).

It's an old profession
Of subtle artillery.
Rough wheels meshing ---
On a landscape with no trees.

The tall general points
To the distance ---
Disconnects his power supply.
Writes a stiff note to his nearest
And dearest ---
He takes the battle plan
And contemplates his fly.

The tall general
Flies by the seat of history.
The tall general
Is crossing.
The tall general
He thinks inevitability.
The tall general
Is definitely crossing.
With spit and with polish ---
Time for desperate measures.
The pain in the forehead
From holding up to the pressures
Of life on the rim
Of the convenient alliance.
Out on the rim ---
Let me out on the rim.

The tall general will walk
Across the compound
With his briefcase and i.d.
Later they'll post him
Seemingly missing ---
He's gone to be a generalski.

She smiles at me
From beyond the eastern sea-shore.
Flashing jewelled eyes,
She hoists her skirts so high.
Nouvelle cuisine or an oyster bar ---
It's really up to her.
I'll write every cheque she brings to me.
I shoot on sight ---
It's my european legacy.

Round the castle walls ---
About the highlands and the islands
The faint reminders stand.
Visitors who took a hand
A thousand years ago, or so ---
Stranded high and dry by tides ---
Washed up a new identity.
The channel's wide ---
But it's their european legacy.

I strain my eyes
Against the southern light advancing.
On whiter cliffs i'm high.
The sea birds roll and tumble as they fly.
I hear distant mainland music echo
In my island ears.
My feet begin to move instinctively
To the warmer beat of my european legacy.

She smiles at me
From beyond the eastern sea-shore.
Flashing jewelled eyes,
She hoists her skirts so high.
Nouvelle cuisine or an oyster bar ---
It's really up to her.
I'll write every cheque she brings to me.
She shoots on sight ---
It's her european legacy.

Keep it quiet. (go slow.)
Circulate. need to know.
Stamp the date upon your file ---
Masquerade, but well worth while.

Wrapped in the warmth of you ---
Wrapped up in your smile.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.

Wear an air --- (keep mum)
Of casual indifference.
Careful how you go
About your usual business.

Wrapped in daydreams of you ---
Wrapped up by your eyes.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.
Under wraps! i've got you under wraps.

Tell you when --- (not yet)
Soon the great unveiling.
Bless my boots! upon my soul!
Secrecy, it is my failing.

Wrapped in your summer night ---
Wrapped in your autumn leaves.
Wrapped in the winter of your sleeping.

Keep it quiet. (go slow.)
Circulate. need to know.
Stamp the date upon your file ---
Masquerade, but well worth while.

Wrapped in the warmth of you ---
Wrapped up in your smile.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.

Wear an air --- (keep mum)
Of casual indifference.
Careful how you go
About your usual business.

Wrapped in daydreams of you ---
Wrapped up by your eyes.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.
Under wraps! i've got you under wraps.

Tell you when --- (not yet)
Soon the great unveiling.
Bless my boots! upon my soul!
Secrecy, it is my failing.

Wrapped in your summer night ---
Wrapped in your autumn leaves.
Wrapped in the winter of your sleeping.

Later, that same evening, she ran.
I think she ran alone.
Later, she had early warning from
A hidden phone.
Checked with the embassy ---
She might have been
A million miles away.
Should i circulate her likeness
At all airports without delay?
It was later ---
Later that same evening.

Earlier, we had had a drink or four
In some kensington hotel.
Hard --- it was hard to keep my mind
On what she had to sell.
And with all business done
We took a cab ---
Should it be her place or mine?
Good security prevailed
And i was home just after nine.
It was later ---
Later that same evening.

Now i want you back.
Yes, they want you back.
We want you back.
My country wants you back.

Later, in the wee small hours
There was heavy traffic on the radio.
Scare at a channel port ---
Small craft warnings to keep to shore.
Lobstermen thought they saw
A submarine
Half submerged suspiciously.
Though i arrived too late,
I'm sure she blew a kiss to me
As the sub sailed out to sea.