Medicine - Tim Wheeler

Through the night

You come and sit with me

Hold my hand

When I’m unsettled and I cannot sleep

You are my medicine

Heart of gold

And patience of a saint

Company

When the ward is quiet and the hour’s late

You are my medicine

Like a ghost

In your reality

Slipping through

Unseen walls and boundaries

From dreams and memories

Please be brave

If I forget your name

Though it hurts

My childhood friend I can see those tears

You should take your medicine

Broke my heart

When my wife crashed the car

State of shock

I saw the wreckage and I saw the fire

No one made it clear

Yet she’s here

Returned from the loss

Overcome

So confused I talk about it all day long

Taking my medicine

It’s not safe

In this sanctuary

I’m immune

Someone is trying to poison me

Changing my medicine

Turn your back

And walk out through the door

Spit them out

I throw the pills across the floor

I’m taking my medicine

Nothing left

They ignore my every plea

I am scared

Oh why have you abandoned me?

I don’t know who to believe

Late at night

When I realise I am lost

So alone

I cannot stop these helpless thoughts

What will become of me?

Locked away

There is no escape

No way out

Will I ever breathe the open air?

Or see my home again?

Can’t give up

The stubborn voice of will

Tries to fight

And find some hope where there is no hope

I’ve given everything

I collapse

My resistance has run down

Half closed eyes

Exhausted I’ve worn myself out

Drifting out of your reach

Stay awhile

Every afternoon

Passing time

By ourselves down the hall

In the piano room

We sit close

And try to find a tune

We get lost

In the stillness of the shimmering noons

Hoping a spark will bloom

From the depths

Childhood memories

Come to life

Feel the past resurfacing

Washing over me

Held in awe

In this reverie

Close to god

And bliss and rapture and I can’t believe

The wonders I have seen

Bittersweet

Too real to be a dream

I’m back home

I’n Danesfield, Dublin 1943

In the heart of my family

Mother, dear

You who worship me

Mother, dear

I will do your bidding obediently

And take my medicine

Flood of tears

I sob against your chest

Oh my son

I thought that you were someone else

Taking my medicine

Brings me back

To when my father died

Where I stood

Gave away beneath me in a landslide

Taking my medicine

By your side

I looked into his eyes

And we cried

We both knew it had come to this time

Taking his medicine

You should go

This may be the last time

Hold my hand

And kiss my forehead as you say goodbye

Take your medicine

I love you

That’s something you can keep

In your heart

Now I must sleep this sweet and dreamless sleep

And take my medicine

You can’t bring me back

No matter what you try

I’m never coming back

No matter how much you hope I can return

You can’t bring me back

No matter what you try

I’m never coming back

No matter how hard you pray I can return

You can’t bring me back

No matter what you try

I’m never coming back

I can never return