The Constant Fight With Contentment album (N2K)
Enough For Now
Taking up the time that the waiter takes
Cleaning up the lives of all the friend he makes
Hoping that he'll let me stay 'till daylight breaks
It's enough for now

In the Autumn city blue I've been less afraid
To wander in the view that betrayal makes
Feeling like a habit I never want to break
It's enough for now

Attention to the light and the coming days
To focus on the few, far from this crazy place
Aching with an attitude and restless face
It's enough for now

Enough to know the time I've taken
Praying that it's not been wasted
Enough for now until it's changing

It's feeling like a habit
I never want to break


Sunday's Child
I've been first and last with the stakes both high and low
She'll never want me for me, but at least I know
She could never be alone
Casting shadows at the stone

Someday Sunday's child will let me down again

She breezed into life like a flake upon the sea
What's the end of time when you don't believe
And I can always be alone
Smoking rings around the rose

Someday Sunday's child will let me down again

As I lay my body down today
As I look the other way

Time and time again just as often as the sun
Always seems to be I'm the lucky one
All the life we live alone
One more lover for the road


High Time
All you need is time
You soak the flame then you feed the fire
It's the pressuring again,
It's all forgotten but it never ends

To focus on the true
You stand so far away to reach so few
You get a different picture from a different view
And you know I'll be there some day without you

It's high time you learned

It's such a foolish game
You change so often just to stay the same
And on another day I wouldn't be so restrained
'Cause your smile of many colours would frighten all the others away

You'll take it with you when you go

You've been fortunate to fall
Into the life of someone who can take it all
If you'd only show a part of what I'm looking for
I'd be laughing at the shadows and tearing out the pages before


Smiling From A Distance
I've been watching you grow, I've been smiling from a distance
I've been reaching out to touch as much as I dare to
If I was holding you now, I could tell you all my stories
I would share the life that I have lived without you

If I could talk to you now I wouldn't find the words that mattered
But I'd kiss your soul with tears that hang down from my heart
But I've been lost in my way down the darkened and forgotten
Where I used up all the words I want to say

Watch out for the sunshine when she comes
Hold on to the morning like your life was on fire
There's never a moment to forget
Hold every breath just like a flower to the sky
And a thought that lives to fly

So you'll be here in my eyes in your worst and finest hour
I'm the book you'll only read for just a page or so
But if you're feeling in time there's a spirit on your shoulder
I'll be watching where you go

(Dedicated to Charles Davison Scott)

Tomorrow
Whatever season you find you've been living through
Whatever glorious time has left you black and blue
If every story you've told was against the odds
Somewhere

If you're afraid of the glass that you're looking through
Whatever torturous hour brought out the best in you
When there's a reason to stop and collect it all
Somehow

Here comes tomorrow

For every damaging day you feel better for
And every turn of the screw that ease the pain some more
For all alone and without, to the final few
Somewhere

When you can laugh at the hours that you've cried alone
When all the feeling is gone, there's nothing left to show
Can you replay the best parts every day
Somehow

(for Louise)


Let Me Follow
Black and white, framed, against a silvery shine
For a moment turned into life
Scattered pages someday slipped into view
From a distance black into blue

Let me follow, follow you down
Let me follow, follow you around

Find a new name change, the sea to the sky
Catch a fragment sailing by
Love or leaving it's just as hard to tell
Slipping down the words that fell

And we'll breath the cold at night, and I'll always get it right
The crispness of the air will blow away out breath
And sway within my arms and the future's not so far away
Where we'll trust a hand to hold and it'll always be our fault
Skipping through the town with a multitude around
And laugh a little more, like we should have done before…..again

We can sing until we sleep with the company we keep
And fall from day to day and you'll never go away
In the sparkle of a star….and I wish you weren't so far away
And we'll wrestle through the hours and speak until we shout
And the guilt and fear of shame will never come again
I'll hold you where you stand and forget about the plans today

(for those who lived in William Morris Hall, Loughborough University, between 1986 and 1989)


This Easy Throne
Thirty-Five and I just can't stop
Wanting more and more of a head-spin life
Monday morning and stop the clocks
All the detail falls from a shoulder high
Pouring over the same old notes
Directing a day after day of the common folk

Less than lonely a lesson learned
Stretching out to a love of restless life
Sixty seconds that doesn't count
Move the ripple of soul from the stream inside
Knowing only a moment of fear
Carefully pulling the curtains of cover near

Stripping down the answer-phone
Using time as time as you'll never know
This easy throne
Weighing up the choices shown
Watching beauty shine as you'll never know
This easy throne……..you'll never know

Check the seconds forget the days
Straightening lines of time from a bedroom maze
Steady as king of your favourite place
Fighting the battle of light to the darkening space
Reaching out to welcome the night
Fooling no-one that nowhere's a given right


In Your Eyes
Bored and tired from every flight
Led to lead an impossible truth
Screaming out at a vanishing lie
A constant fight with contentment in your eyes

Had enough of a wasted mind
Good many gone and the days edge further away
Falling down leave them tumbling by
I thought I saw something more in your eyes

Many more haven't asked for the light
Another night left alone with a bottle of rain
All that time that I had for a while
It's nothing more than a lesson in your eyes

Take it all with a passionate smile
Leaving all the plans and the love you make
All the chance that was only that kind
I thought I saw something more in your eyes

The circle bends in the time of a life
We all depend on the dark and the light
Can you pretend in the sense of a sigh
When in the end you can still always hide in your eyes

In your eyes is the truth of a lie
Falling over the name that you call your own
Never be any greater than mine
I know I see something more…………..


My Nature, Once Again
What's with the face, where is that smile?
You set the pace, you set the style
Is it only good enough for me?
Would another be treated differently?

I'm setting standards all the time
Matching the best and worst inside
Is it only what I've come to learn?
What's another full sale on return?

And it's my nature, once again
And all the very complicated
Feelings that remain
I've never felt the same
Wasted on the way
And waiting 'till my memories are real again

I'm recognising all the signs
Can't quite believe those loving lines
Will I always be twisted in the kiss?
Can't remember ever wanting this


Easy To Love
I could never be a Superman
I've only got tomorrow hidden in my hand
I could never be a suit or a spy
My face is firmly written and I just can't hide

But I've got a wonder left in me
I'm not afraid to fly, I'm just easy to love

I could never take you by the hand
My grip is gently slipping like a grain of sand
I could never lead you down the aisle
Without my clothes and passport in the car outside

But I've got a wonder left in me
I'm not a speed limit sign, I'm just easy to love
But I've got a wonder left in me
I've got deep blue eyes, I'm just easy to love

I would always love to find the time
But somehow it's a struggle in this life of mine
I could always tell you tales I know
But never with the promise of a decent show

But I've got a wonder left in me
Be there in a few minutes time, I'm just easy to love
But I've got a wonder left in me
Better than the TV guide, I'm just easy to love
But I've got a wonder left in me
Me and a life like mine, I'm just easy to love


This Time
It's not the end of the world, just the starting of a new day
And I'm willing to learn any other way
You'll get tangled and torn just by wishing it away
Don't you know that I'll stay

It's not the end of the world, just the turning of a page
And it's anyone's guess what the words will say
When you've come to the cross, decisions to be made
Spend a lifetime that way

I could never leave your side
I could never take your smile
Loving this fairground ride
Even though you're churning inside
I will always find your eyes
I could never pass you by
This time

It's not the end of the world, even if the feeling's still the same
You're just taking a bow in another play
When the curtain is down don't go running from the stage
It's time for another take

We'll bring the stars alive, this time
Taking a carpet ride, this time
Taking our time, this time


(p) and (c) 2003, 2005 Marcus Shelton
All lyrics are published by N2K Publishing Limited
All rights reserved