The Colour of Time - Part 15

 

'What are you?' Dora asked in almost speechless amazement and awe.

'I don't quite know,' said the guardian and jumped to all his four feet at the same time. 'But I do not feel Emerald today.'

When he landed on all fours he did this on the snow-frozen grounds under frost covered trees in the forest outside the City of Earth. The sun was shining bright and the moon seemed to smile a sickled smile from the same clear-blue sky at the same time.

'I think,' the guardian said looking at himself from neck to tail spinning around in circles, 'my wish has given me the form of a snowlion.'

'So something or someone has brought us back to Lutetia?' the llama asked looking at some remarkable landscapes.

'I bet not for long, animal,' the bard replied. 'I bet not for long.'

Bromford (Needless to Say)

Rainstorm, brainstorm, faces in the maelstrom
Huddle by the puddles in the shadows where the drains run
Hot dogs, wet clogs clicking up the sidewalk
Disappearing into the booze shop
Rainbow queues stand down by the news stand, waiting for the late
Show
Pin ball, sin hall, minds in free fall
Chocolate-coloured ladies making eyes through the smoke-pall
Bromford (needless to say)
I'm alone on your streets on a Friday evening
I've been here all of the day
I'm going nowhere with nowhere to go
Football supporters taking the waters
They're looking round for the twilight daughters
Non-stop strip club pornographic bookshop
Come into the back and take your time and have a good look
Old man laughs with flowers in his hair
Newspaper headline "Midde East Deadline"
Jazz musicians are down on the breadline
Bromford (needless to say)


I'm alone on your streets on a Friday evening
I've been here all of the day
I'm going nowhere with nowhere to go
Bromford feeds the needs and hides the deeds, the mind that bleeds
Disenchanted, downstream in the night
Bromford hears the lies, the twisted cries, the lonely sighs
Till she seems lost in dreams
The sun goes down on a neon eon
Though you'd have a job explaining it to Richard Cœur de Lion
Animation, bar conversation, anticipation, disinclination
Poor old wino turns with dust in his eyes
Begs for the dregs from the bottom of the kegs, man
You've never seen a lady lay down and spread her legs like
Bromford (needless to say)
I'm alone on your sheets on a Friday evening
I've been here all of the day
I'm going nowhere with nowhere to go
Bromford (needless to say)
I'm alone on your streets, or am I dreaming
I've been here all of the day
I'm going nowhere with nowhere to go

Today is Monday, the 15th of December 2025.

The Colour of Time - Part 14

 

The feathered wings of the guardian fell to the floor of the Temple of the spring and well of forecast like snowflakes and melted away within Dora's next heartbeat.

She looked into the same yellow eyes and the same smiling face with a friendly mouth and a black nose, all surrounded by a marvelous white mane and the impressive body and four big paws of a majestic white lion.

'The colour of time is not Chartreuse, little Dora,' said the lion that had been the guardian before. 'Write that in your book.'

'The ship has flown us to Jupiter,' the llama called out in excitement. 'We are on another planet, bard.'

'The ship did not fly, animal,' the bard explained, 'it has sailed us to the City of Jupiter. But I can hear another song calling us back to a place we have been before.'

"Come To Bromford"

Come to Bromford
Come to Bromford with me
Come to Bromford
Come to Bromford you’ll see
All the beauty
All the wonderful things
All the reasons why I want you with me

Break away with me
Steal a day with me
France is the place to be
Pour vois une belle ville

Come to Bromford
Come to Bromford with me
Come to Bromford
Come to Bromford you’ll see
All the beauty
All the wonderful things
All the reasons why I want you with me

Take a risk with me
Find your dreams with me
France is the place to be
Pour vois une belle ville

Just close your eyes and we could be in paradise
Just listen and you’ll see

Come to Bromford
Come to Bromford with me
Come to Bromford
Come to Bromford you’ll see
All the beauty
All the wonderful things
All the reasons why I want you with me

You may never want to leave Bromfor'
You may never want to leave Bromfor'
Once you spend some time with me you’ll see
You may never want to leave Bromfor'

Today is Sunday, the 14th of December 2025.
Third Sunday of Advent

The Colour of Time - Part 13

 

For a while the Temple and its fragile walls were rotating around Dora of Wye so that she had to close her eyes not to get nauseous from the blurring of the room around her.

When she looked up again the white eaglet was gone and the smiling face of the guardian emerged from the towering clouds in the clear blue sky that had melted the glassy walls of the Temple away.

'Dora of Wye,' the guardian laughed with his tolling thundering voice. 'You came back. I see you in your all Lime glow, now.'

He spread his wings and laughed and laughed while his yellow eyes sparkled with joy.

'I was hoping you came back,' he said. 'I was hoping The Powers that be and the spirits would forgive you for bringing that other girl with you to this sacred place. And while I was hoping I found I wanted to spent time with you. And I have heard the plants in the walls and the waters in the river and mountains whisper about a very special time of the year. Winter, a time when the world falls silent and calm and freezes to rest and sleep. This is the time I want to set foot on the ground in the City of Earth in a physical form for the first time in my existence.'

'We are leaving Liverpool tonight on a ship, llama,' Bromford, the bard, said. 'Must be a sailing ship or something like that. But I have never seen a ship like that.'

'Whatever this ship is,' the llama smiled. 'Fly me to the moon.'

"Bromford"

Bromford, named for a planet, wasn't free to be
To be exactly who she ought to be
She saw in colours others couldn't see
Bromford, named for a planet, would pretend to be
Somebody way less extraordinary
"Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with me"


"Am I bad? Am I wrong? Am I weird in the head?
The only one awake, and everyone's in bed"
Still she followed the river where the river led
Right up to heaven where the billboard read


"I love who I love (I love who I love)
Oh yeah, I love who I love (I love who I love)
I love who I love," the message from above
Is never give up, love who you love


Bromford longed to be herself or die
"I wanna burst into a butterfly"


"Am I bad? Am I wrong? Am I not okay?
Speaking only words that a girl can't say"
Still she followed the rain to where the rainbow lay
All of the angels singing "Come and say"


"I love who I love (I love who I love)
Oh yeah, I love who I love (I love who I love)
I love who I love," the message from above
Is never give up, love who you love


And it's a battle for your song
You had to hide away for so long
When they say, "Yourself is wrong"
(The orchestra of rainbows play)


I love who I love (I love who I love)
Oh yeah, I love who I love (I love who I love)
I love who I love, I struggle with this stuff
Now all I wanna say
Is la-la-la-la-lay (La-la-la-la-lay)
La-la-la-la-lay (La-la-la-la-lay)
La-la-la-la-lay
Oh, I'm okay ('Kay, 'kay, 'kay)
Oh, I'm okay (He-hey, hey)


Ngiyakuthanda ngenyaniso
Ngiyakuthanda ngenyaniso
Ngiyakuthanda ngenyaniso
Yam yonke sithandwa sami ngiyakuthanda ngenyaniso
Ngiyakuthanda ngenyaniso
Yam yonke sithandwa sami ngiyakuthanda ngenyaniso


…who you love (Love, love)
Love (Love) who you love
Love (Love) who you love
(Love, love)

Today is Saturday, the 13th of December 2025.

The Colour of Time - Part 12

 

The next Holiday season Dora of Wye returned to the City of Earth was the time her grandmother died. She arrived just in time to find her parents sitting watch by her grandma's bed and to experience her grandma's faintly shiny spirit leaving her worn out body and ascending into eternity.

After the funeral in the City's silent garden and after the little wake with her family at what was now her parent's house Dora brought the dishes back to the kitchen and within the flickering of the light she found herself once more in the hidden Temple of the spring and well of forecast.

This time, at first it felt more like a closed space with walls of glass and ornaments formed and framed by plants and tendrils and roots, but still lid by a bright light. Dora was greeted and warned by a little white bird that looked like a cross between a hen and the chick of an eagle, an eaglet.

'Be careful, little Dora of Wye,' said the eaglet, 'you and the guardian of this Temple. Take me and my form as an example. Your yellow period of time will be over soon. Your green phase will begin. But always keep in mind that Mustard is not the colour of time.'

KussKuss, the llama, and Bromford, the bard, were singing in the City of Lutetia.

'What do you think about Lutetia, animal?' the bard asked the llama.

'Lutetia who?' the animal replied.

'Lutetia Parisiorum,' said Bromford, 'or Lutetia of the Parisii or Parision.'

'Oh, you are talking about the city,' the llama now understood. 'But this is simply Paris. Totally overrated, if you want my opinion. Some say the city stinks down by the river. But I think I saw an inn called Hilton close to that metallic tower over there.'

"Leaving of Bromford"

    Farewell to you, my own true love
    There were many fare thee wells
    I am bound for California
    A place I know right well

    So fare thee well, my own true love
    When I return united we will be
    It's not the leaving of Bromford that's grieves me
    But my darling when I think of thee

    I have signed on a Yankee Clipper ship
    Davy Crockett is her name
    And the Captain's name is Burgess
    And they say that she's a floating Hell

    I have sailed with Burgess once before
    And I think I know him well
    If a man's a sailor, he can get along
    If not, then he's sure in Hell

    Oh the ship is in the harbour, love
    And I wish I could remain
    For I know it will be a long, long time
    Before I see you again

Today is Friday, the 12th of December 2025.