Jalan Burma D* Am Bb Few of the old houses remain Am Along this broad Angsana-lined street D* Am Bb But the name alone takes me back again Am Bb To Rangoon days, Kipling and sandalled feet F Gm Which pattered along beside rickshaws Haiku #1: Dm7 C Ships in the strait F C Dm7 Storm clouds over the green hills Bb C Dm7 Both are good for Penang Haiku#2: Dm7 C Green china coffee F C Dm7 Late monsoon rains fall outside Bb C Dm7 Time to forget home

The Darkness Am G Starved for so long E7 I forgot the taste of sweetness Am G Through my dry lips F The sound of laughter Am And the texture of another's skin Yet I still lived Battened beneath the mantle of dispassion With a hard ceramic shell of ivory To keep emotions like raindrops Pattering softly before they slipped away G F# Shall I let you glimpse inside? Bm A To see the spoiled goods beneath the shine Em Bm Risking all for that distant dream F#m of what they call Love E which might bring only destruction Let's move slowly Like blinded beggars on a moonlit path careful not to add new injuries to old But holding hands firmly clasped To see where the darkness leads 27.2.17

I'm Only In It For Love Am D You ask me what I'm doing Am D What's the spin on it all C G D What's this game I'm playing C Em C G D Who's making the call It seems a bit crazy You can't see no return My mind's a bit hazy And my heart's gonna burn Chorus: C G D I aint in it for the money C Em D C I got it all to lose D C G D I aint trying to be funny C Em C G I'm only in it for love D C G D I aint doing it for pride C Em D C Like I got something to prove D C G D And my feelings I can't hide C Em C G D I'm only in it for love All my friends gonna say You had it going so fine Why'd you throw it all away Blow that silver mine Chorus Instrumental: Am D x3, Em C G D Am D I could throw in the towel Em C D Say I've been a fool, play it by your rules C D Turn grey with distinction Em C D Be a pillar of the state C D But why bother with anything Em C G D If you aint in it for love Chorus etc (c) Toby Darling 1998

Penang Em9 Am7 Em A Midnight and no sleep in dock at the Swettenham Pier Em A Em9 A No cicadas, just an aircon’s dreary fan Em F Em D No ‘Okay Lah’’s to be heard around here Am G E7 To soften the traffic out on the jalan The generations of travellers here Have gazed up at the Bukit cloaked in green The gentle bays with no pirates to fear And the fine British buildings so white and serene F C And felt they had found their Mandalay Dm E7 From where they would never need to embark Am - G - F - Em A ship, to see out their Somerset days Am - F Am Melt from an Andaman sunset to the dark I too should be sharing this dream But I’m lonely and I’m lost in a jungle of fear Pulling disasters from the air like ripe mangosteen Yearning to get back to a life miles from here This, the bitter fruit of my karma Not sweetened by ‘tinkly temple bells’ Even in this place farthest from harm, a [end on E7] Chinese dragon can drag me back to my hell Em9: 0x0002 Toby Darling, 20.1.18

HMS Mercury Am G#m On top of the high downs C#m G#m The last place to find a ship F#m A A relic of the cold war now C#m F#m A resting place for eco-warriors hip In sustainable bangles and chai tea Yurts tepees and soft pink April blossom Gazing towards Butser and the sea With the wind blustering east to chill some Walkers like me trying for Sussex Who have spent the day cooing at sheep With backs aching and knees that won't flex But thanks to Mercury have a safe place to sleep. Beacon Hill D F#m G A Today I tasted harsh mortality G A Em Soaked and cold to my bones D F#m G A As the southerly squalls beat without pity G A Em My fat frame and ill- prepared clothes F#m/D Em F#m/D Em Lost to me the beauty of Harting Down F#m/D Am G The valleys and forests in the driving rain F#m/D Em F#m/D Em I cursed Pen Hill, the wet chalky ground F#m/D Am G Never wanting to ever walk again My dreams of Wainwright and Himalayan treks Seemed like the ramblings of a foolish mind I thought i might die sticking out my neck Further than Eastbourne pier in the tide. I prayed, and the sun started to shine I met the first fellow travellers of the day By Cocking it seemed the whole day had been fine But I stopped in the church to pray anyway. Chanctonbury E/D D I left Cocking on the 8am bus Fmaj7 - Am Em A coward seeking a softer path E/D D Down to Chichester then a train I could trust Fmaj7 - Am Em To whisk me east for an early bath Am Em - Am At Amberley I resumed the trail G Am Em Am Panted upwards till I reached the sky Dm Am In heaven-sent sunshine soft winds on my tail Am - Em Am I glided to Washington as the crow flies Down to the road then up a steep lane Pali chanting to protect me from harm As the enchanted ring welcomed me back again I'd heard how the devil can trap you with charms I lingered but briefly to search for a stone I'd found there last year but left by a tree Too scared to risk taking back to my home I remembered the stone but it hadnt waited for me I passed an old lady with tousled white hair And two white dogs, she gave me a grin Was she one of them the bringer of nightmares? I smiled back and quickened my pace towards Steyning The monarch's way down the side of the camber Past sheep and a blacksmith through a broad lea Across the Adur to sleepy Bramber And the Castle Hotel for a pot of tea. Southease Long shadows from the low May sun Creep softly into this quiet room Stealing light from the stove, its work done For another winter, now become A mere ornament in this old stone tomb This place for travellers on the hills Who like the mayflies before their doom Seek adventure, liaisons and furtive thrills Tomorrow a new guest will sleep in my bed As ephemera rise from the wet grass I will leave at dawn bound for Beachy Head And the old stove will not move as the shadows pass Toby Darling Em/A x0x000 Am/D xx0555 C: x3201x Am/D xx0555 Em 0xx000 D xx0232 C: x3201x D/A x0423x D/Adim x0422x Escape Am D Am Last night in the hostel was hell Am F Am D The first to bed but last to sleep G C D Em Only to dream of being attacked Bb D7 By a BnB landlord Em D Who screamed at me his place wasnt chic Am D (I told him I wouldn't play Am D But he still refused to go away) G D E7 I woke to the top bunk banging A warning about my terrible snoring. After that I dared not sleep So watched as the daylight seeped Into the quiet bunked dorm The darkness in my head welcoming the dawn So I could pack my things and scuttle out The first to wake except perhaps the cows And sheep and rabbits, fish and crows. I was up at the trig by halfpast six With the sun peeping over the brow Asking myself what makes my life one which Cannot be like those others down below They that are fit, drink beer and dream While I am in pain, can't drink only seem To be like my fellow man Trudging east hating everything I am. Toby Darling

Betty Mundy Am E Dm Am Betty Mundy lived in the forest Dm C Dm A7 Her cottage beside a valley wide F C Dm E7 She sat and tailored for land-borne sailors Am G F- G Am Then she cut them up with a sharpened knife Betty Mundy sat in the forest Flashing her eyes at men who roamed First she loved them then she clubbed them And hid their money 'neath the chimney stones Betty Mundy cursed the forest And the farmer's prized dairy herd When the cows died she beamed with pride Happy with all the trouble she'd stirred Betty Mundy died in the forest In a mighty fire the villagers set They locked her in for all her sins But her gold is hidden there somewhere yet 13.6.18

A Pigeon [poem by Toby Darling Aug 2018] Today a pigeon landed Abandoned by its high-nested flock Ruffled swollen and grounded Walking clumsily as if in shock On our decking, easy prey for a cat But faster than me with sacking, A wicker basket, water and fat - It preferred its chances in the decking Tomorrow it will be cadaver Forgotten by its children and by me While my cracked frame must endure the palaver Of old-age, dementia and worn-out knees Postscript: Tragically the dead body of the pigeon was found in our garden the next day, killed by a neighbouring cat. It was buried in our garden and we did Pali chanting and meditated by its grave, which is marked with candles and joss-sticks. Poor thing. Chords: E2: 0x410x F#m+4+6: 2x020x Am9: x0220x Am9dim: x0210x F#m+6: 2x02xx Esus4: 0x22xx E:: 0x21xx Dmaj7: xx0222 F#m: 244222 Dmaj7: xx0222 C#m: 446654 A: x0222x D xx0232 F#m: 244222

Kek Lok Si Am G Am G Guanyin, in her mercy, gazes down on us all, F C/E Dm7 Past crumbling condos and the market below Am G Am G Past Chinese chatting around the stalls F C/E Dm7 And through all this it’s only she who knows C Bb That it’s only hatred that destroys the world F C/E And greed is the curse of millions Dm7 C And anything else is like the rain and windblown leaves furled, Eb-Bb C Falling softly down on her pavilion

Sleep Em* G/A You know you’re safe when the nonsense starts Am7 Bm7 And the absurd seems to form a part C Em7/B Am7 Em Of the storyline in your restless mind Am Em The moment the rabbit bids you follow behind As he scuttles off to wonderland The waking mind says ‘Don’t take his hand’ And pulls you back to the woes of today ‘Till those Lethean threads again can play Am C And draw you gently into their keep F Em And you enter the blissful land of sleep Toby Darling Em*: 0xx057 G/A: x0x035 Em7/B: x2003x

Love Strikes Em It aint the lightning It aint the rain All I know is it's driving me insane Dm C - G When Love strikes Dm A bolt from the blue Am - G Now what's there to do Am Till the storm has passed through E7 I can't forget about you Am G - Am When Love strikes It aint clever it aint kind All I know is it's blowing my mind When Love strikes Cupid's arrow has got me I'm crying like a baby I feel like I'm hist'ry And I'm wishing that he missed me When Love strikes instr B Em I just gotta get you outa my mind Am B7 I know I'm hurting deep inside When Love strikes A shot in the heart blown my life all apart Yeh I guess that damn dart Has really made me smart When Love strikes instr (c) Toby Darling 2017

Battersea Am A siege of careful cranes Em Am Over Battersea's proud remains G Am Em Like surgeons at dissection school G Am D C Em6 Peering over the lifeless frame The patient's face must stay tight-lipped While intricate procedures probe and strip The once mighty fires and iron To make expensive shoeboxes Toby Darling 25/3/18 Am: x0x05x - x0x03x - x0x21x Em: 0x22xx - 0x24xx Am: x022xx Em6: 0x22xx

South Downs Way Am Am/F Am7 Raisins and cashews, Southern Trains to Brighton C G E7 Rattle off 'The Times' between Lewes and Eastbourne Am Am/F Am7 Taxi from the station, jump out at Beachy Head G F Am Striding off West on a burning May morning Birling bores us, the Seven Sisters wore us Cuckmore takes me back to days at Nai Harn Over buttercups to Friston then a merciful forest The Plough and Harrow, soft meadows to Alfriston D Am D Am Like Napoleon defeated in Waterloo square C#m F#m C#m D Hot chocolate gets us as far as Bopeep A Bm A Bm Climbing high on a yellow brick road to Firle Beacon C#m Bm A C#7 Then the slow torture of descent to Southease Too tired to drink, to talk, to think Just shower and collapse on a bunk room bed Off again at the dawn, crossing tracks and river Open fields, chalk, grass, slowly moving West Up to Ditchling then Jack and Jill Meet for a picnic then down to Pyecombe Would sell soul to the Devil for a lift up his Dyke But settle for Buddha for the glide to Edburton Aunt Clare floats by us as we pant back to the ridge Lewes wants us back but Chactonbury says stay Tempts us with treasures, doesn't want to let us go Washington says pass, Amberley helps us board the railway F#m A Bm C#7 Arundel begs us to come back again F#m D A C#7 But we speed back to the bridge and the river Arun D A Bm F#m Eight Hundred feet of hell CD A Bm C#7 By Cocking I'm crocking, saved by hot tea and a bun Fmaj7 Am7 B7 Em Pentangles and witches as we pass by Didling Am G F Am Hill after hill till we reach the Milky Way D Am D Am By Buriton I'm feeling like Sherpa Tenzing C G Am B7 3000 feet of up and down in a day Leave the hotel at six on a damp mistful morning An old chalk quarry, the forests of the queen Commuters trailing back as we cross the A3 I'm wondering who should be feeling green Butser Hill doesn't notice our passing HMS Mercury's ghosts have moved on Whitewool's trout are lying in the cold ice Unlike us their travelling is done Old Winchester's yew trees are keeping their secrets Meon Valley still mourns its lost rails But the Shoe Inn is bursting and my feet are hurting So for me this is the end of the trail. Toby Darling 1 June 2017 Am: x0x555 Am/F xx3555 Am7: x02010