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Starfish

from Homemade Wine by Penelope Swales

/

lyrics

Starfish
© Penelope Swales 1997

Married and divorced and at the age of 26
I’m off to find that lonesome road again
To ride around my boundaries
Now, I’m not sure just what is left
I dunno where those borders lay

To make a friend of solitude
It’s not an easy task
It’s not as if there’ no-one ‘round to love me
But I’m aware that all my internal terrain has changed
And I don’t know what’s the wasteland
What’s the minefield
But darlin’

Spring will come again, my love
And you’ll find me
Sleepin’ like a starfish
In the Melbourne Spring mornings
Spreadeagled in your bed
We will soar together
Farther, much farther
Than bus or plane could take me

But for now, I crave the solitude I’ve always feared
I need to make my peace with silence
Make a friend of distance
Somehow strike a truce will all my inner thoughts
Stretch and unfurl in the stillness

But I will return
This cold city’s in my blood,
You know it
I will return
And you’re the fire that got my
Circulation going
The fireworks within
Are not easily forgotton
But it would be so easy
To make the same mistakes again

So I’m back in the heart
Of the sweet Summerland again
Gentle hills in which I hide my head
I carry the lead weight of illness
The dead weight of grief
It’s here I can set down my burden

And sit in the sun
Days go past, my friend and I do nothin’
But sit in the sun
And watch the pageant of my thoughts parading
The cleaning out within
Is only just beginning
Darlin’ you don’t need me
To make your mind my garbage bin

I know you miss me
I can feel it in the wind
And I miss you
You can hear it on the phone line
But it would be too easy
To make all the same mistakes again
I just don’t want to do it that way this time

So bravely setting forth at the age of 26
I’m off to find that lonesome road again
To ride around those boundaries
Now, I’m not sure just what is left
Dunno what’s the desert,
What’s the wasteland
But darlin’

Spring will come again, my love
And you’ll find me
Sleepin’ like a starfish
In the early afternoon
Lying on our backs
We will talk forever
Laugh and joke and marvel
At our love for one another

I will return
This cold city’s in my blood,
You know it
I will return
And you’re the fire that got my
Circulation going
The blossoming within
Is only just beginning
Darlin’ I appreciate your patience
While I’m dealing with these things

credits

from Homemade Wine, released January 7, 1997
Penelope Swales - vocals, guitar
Paul Jonas - violin
Mal Webb - bass
George Papantonio - drums

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Penelope Swales Boolarra, Australia

Penelope Swales has been articulating the human condition with passion and humour for 30+ years. She sings about politics, love, friendship, the unbreakable bond between us and dogs and the impact of the Internet on society. She won the 2019 Alistair Hulett Songs for Social Justice Award with “Cambridge Analytica”. “The Ides of March in Christchurch" was short-listed for the same award in 2020. ... more

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