‘Harder to walk these days than run’

Album: Faultlines, 2004, Karine Polwart, from Stirlingshire, Scotland

I used to think I could live by the law
And believe everything that my own two eyes saw
But now all the certainties have come undone
And it’s harder to walk these days than run

I was always impressed with how lassie could tell
The good guys from bad guys just by their smell
But now they’re all odourless everyone
And it’s harder to walk these days than run

I read all the books, I thought words could repair
And I dreamed of a language that everyone shared
But all reason retreats in the face of a gun
And it’s harder to walk these days than run

And how can I consider what’s wrong and what’s right?
When everything moves even faster than light?
I’m not even sure I can trust in the sun
It’s so much harder to walk these days than run

You told me everything in its own time
And you waited for yours and I waited for mine
And right from the start I knew you were the one
Who’d make it easier to walk these days
Easier to walk these days
Easier to walk these days
Than run

Easier to walk these days than run
Easier to walk these days than run
Than run
Than run
Oh it’s easier to walk these days than run

This song, written and sung by Karine Polwart, inspired me to write a poem:

Gunshot fire, bombs,
cyclones, tsunamis, famine
Make you want to run.

Make you want to run
Though you know running won’t help
You run for your life.

You run for your life
grasp for answers, seek solace,
new reality.

New reality,
A well of love and laughter
Strength to see again.

© 2015, all rights reserved by Ontheland.wordpress.com