Everything’s alright again
(to be spoken to Orbital’s ’Belfast’)

The end
Of the hectic, frenetic night
Lazy eyelids look up
As the sun comes out from behind the clouds
And warms the dewy eyed valley
And the birds wake up from their flightless dreams
And it seems as if the World
Has had a warm flannel draped across its feverish forehead by the sun

Everything’s alright again

The night’s drugs loosen their hold on us
But the relentless rhythm still pulses through our veins
As we lean up against the window
With nothing left to be said
We stare
And share
Our silent prayer
With the sun as our beloved
And the clouds as our choir
And the turntable as our altar

Everything’s alright again

Friends
To the end
Staring out over the valley
Bathing our gritty eyes with the clean sunlight
A thousand memories of our drug-addled past
Flit across our drug-addled minds
The emotions we shared
Times of our lives
What a time to be young
Without a care
As our world slows down
And our hearts beat slower
’Til our lives stand still
And we stand in wonder
As the sun draws its curtains
And the music fades

Everything’s alright again

© Simon Parkin

After an all-nighter at the Sanctuary, Milton Keynes in 1993. From left to right: me, Nathan, Rhian, Tina and Tim.