Hissing black early morn
Hissing black wood warms 
In the hissing black my breath comes

Hissing black the kettle’s on
Hissing black there’s rain on glass
In the hissing black a diamond’s born

Something in the sound I like
Wheels going round a bike
The hiss means fire the hiss means dawn
The hiss is before the light comes on
Hiss means fire hiss means dawn
The hiss is before the light comes on

Hissing black of a fire pit
Hissing black the coals spit
In the hissing black your fag’s lit

In the hissing black microphone
Hissing black your amp’s on
In the hissing black when the room falls

Something in the sound I like
Wheels going round a bike
Hiss means fire hiss means dawn
The hiss is before the light comes on
Hiss means fire hiss means dawn
The hiss is before the light comes on

The hiss means fire hiss means dawn
The hiss is before the light comes on
The hiss is before the light comes on

©2023 Clair Tierney

Baby I will kiss your lips
You will feel you’re halfway high
Baby drawing quiet lines
I will be your valentine

People wish upon a star
Release it in the morning’s sigh
Be the pillow’s passenger
Every time I close my eyes

Don’t tell me how it all turns out
‘cause I’m up now I’m high from the ground
I’m up now I’m high from the ground

Driving in an open space
Along a gun metal road
We’ll be running out of time
I lazy watch my hymns take flight

We’ll be sitting under trees
Read another Ginsberg poem
Paint a picture of a dream
One where I could live long

Don’t tell me how it all turns out
‘cause I’m up now I’m high from the ground
I’m up now I’m high from the ground

And at your door I’m falling
I’m wearing flowers in my hair
And at your door I’m falling
I’m wearing flowers in my hair
And at your door I’m falling 
I’m wearing flowers in my hair
And at your door I’m falling
I’m wearing flowers in my hair

©2023 Clair Tierney

You will find me hiding in the woods 
And you will find me underneath the sea
And you will find me lowly in the gloam
I won’t blame you I won’t blame you

You will see me running with the pack
You will see me in the acres of stars
You will hold me in the cradle of your arms
I won’t blame you I won’t blame you

On this road I drive in raven black
On this road owls in feathers white
On this road our lives collide
Until you leapt to the mountainside

You will know me velvet on the nose
And you will know me in warm fur folds
And you will meet me on the forest floor
I won’t blame you I won’t blame you

On this road I drive in raven black
On this road owls in feathers white
On this road our lives collide
Until you leapt to the mountainside

©2023 Clair Tierney

Let’s get by the log stacks
Can’t make a den under the logs 
Way down there are the houses
Way up here waterfalls

Are we inside a story
I could tell you any yarn
This time not the three bears
Or the red riding hound

Aawoooo aawooooo aawoooo

Owls will wait ’til twilight
Woodpecker long stopped
Putting on head torches
Up into the trees we march

Are we inside a story
I could tell you any yarn
This time not the three bears
Or the red riding hound

Aawoooo aawooooo aawoooo

©2023 Clair Tierney

Hunted the bear, the bear down
I have run under this thorny town
Hunted the bear, the bear down
I have run under this thorny town
I had the devil on my back
I had the devil on my back

Hon’ you weren’t ready to roll and to shake
Hon’ you were far from carefree ways
You’ve got a fancy to play
You’ve got a fancy to be back in the game

Hunted the bear, the bear down
I have run under this thorny town
Hunted the bear, the bear down
I have run under this thorny town
I had the devil on my back
I had the devil on my back

Hon’ you weren’t ready to roll and to shake
Hon’ you were far from carefree ways
You’ve got a fancy to play
You’ve got a fancy to be back in the game

Dare I admit frustration
Grounded though I’ve got what I want
I’m just a would-be but if I could escape

You’ve got a fancy to play
You’ve got a fancy to be back in the game

©2023 Clair Tierney

I raise a glass to you 
My dear good Jane
Silence the cock’s din
Thou art a wife my friend

You take a walk out in fine society
A strange cage the window
And the ways that I conceal

Child of my brain
Brilliant waste
Of clear vision

So throw away the key
And the memory
I was a Doctor’s daughter

How close you orbit
My genius ways
Listen we talk of
The spirit of the age

And what bright future
Is laid out for you
When all I surrendered
Never to be remembered

Child of my brain
A brilliant waste
Of clear vision

So throw away the key
And the memory
I was a Doctor’s daughter
A Doctor’s daughter

I raise a glass to you
My dear good Jane

©2023 Clair Tierney

More than the mountains
Higher than the highest seas 
Old as the castle
Is your love to me

More than the mountains
Higher than the highest seas
Old as the castle
Is your love to me

She wants the trees
The tops
The sky
The colour of horses

He wants the broom
The sand
The seaweed
And the porpoises

I want all of these days when you two are young
And the sound of the ice
And the birds and the burn
All of these days when you two are young
And the time to just be
In the guard of the hill

All of these days when you two are young
And the sound of the ice
And the birds and the burn
All of these days when you two are young
And the time to just be
In the guard of the hill

More than the mountains
Higher than the highest seas
Old as the castle
Is your love to me

©2023 Clair Tierney

Cold cold 
Cold in my bed
Next to me bodies are sleeping

Boards boards
For my bed
Though I lie like a stone not alone

Dear friends
I write you again
With a quieted spirit inside

Hills
In the distance
Is a land that I have never left

In the dust and the mud
Run the tears and the blood
Blessed are those who have cared
In admiration we hold on your name

Jane

Jane

Mother of mine
Hold in the night
And long is the line
That leads to the role of your life

In the dust and the mud
Run the tears and the blood
Blessed are those who have cared
In admiration we hold on your name

Jane

Jane

©2023 Clair Tierney

Little egg, little nest, little ache in my chest 
Waited for your breath
Little crab, carpet map, little sweep a soft eyelash
And dream a deeper ask

And you will go
Forget everything I know
And you will play
I will brush my tears away
And you will play

Little lore, little croon, little Miss new moon
Venus in full bloom
Little riff, little tune, red piano old saloon
Cherub with a lute

And you will go
Forget everything I know
And you will play
I will brush my tears away
And you will go
Forget everything I know
And you will play

©2023 Clair Tierney

Blue is the snow 
Please come please show
What colour is the wind
I could run away with

Yuletide song
I never felt it before
The journey of the Magi
The magic I was looking for

Monochrome
Those days in Winter
Made me hold my face
Longer in the water

Blue is the snow
Please come please show
What colour is the wind
I could run away with

In a rare sky show
Solstice
Waiting for seismic change
Throw your mask to the wind

Soon time-worn
Old ways
Glory be to the mist low lying
And the planets aligning

Blue is the snow
Please come please show
What colour is the wind
I could run away with

©2023 Clair Tierney

Back when I was all grown up 
I stood outside the frame
And I saw clearer than before
Once I got away

I see how scared you are of life
You’ve built your walls so high
Padded on the inside
With friendly alibis

So stop all the clocks
No one’s getting up
Sun turning black
You don’t love me back

I walked around with my head down
Ashamed of what I’d done
And such despair I’ve never known
I thought you were the one

My heart was hidden under cloth
I wore a braver face
And no one knew my state of mind
But I had lost the place

So stop all the clocks
No one’s getting up
Sun turning black
You don’t love me back

So stop all the clocks
No one’s getting up
Sun turning black
You don’t love me back

©2023 Clair Tierney

Our chimney fell in the wake of a storm 
Over your windscreen and you laughed loud
Tomorrow I won’t think about that cool couple
So my type I felt my heart sink

I cannot speak no words come out
Lay me down lay me low
These fruitless times nothing is sweet
Jet lag-like lay me down low

Calling myself the lily of the party
You are the snake hips do what you want
And here ends the Emperor’s New Clothes
You are the snake hips do what you want

I cannot speak no words come out
Lay me down lay me low
This fruitless time when nothing is sweet
Jet lag-like lay me down low

You are the great hips do what you want

©2023 Clair Tierney