Tingalpa Creek

Now I saw a figure standing on the footbridge over Tingalpa Creek
He was looking at the water like its depths had what he had to seek
The creek runs through the mangroves and empties into Morton Bay
Don’t walk the bridge at night, he’s a ghost, that’s what they say

I don’t care for old wives tales, scary stories or bushman’s dreams
There’s enough evil in this world to fill a sane man’s screams
I saw he was a boy of eleven or twelve on the bridge kind of meek
I asked him who he was and why he stared so eerily into Tingalpa Creek

My name is what they tell me and my heart is as black as the water below
He lifted his dark head to the moon crying out the word ‘Gecko’
I woke up at my home but nothing there seems familiar to me
They call me by my name as if they know me and care for me

But the only thing familiar are the voices that sing inside my head
I don’t sleep well at night as the voices sing their evil chorus in my bed
They sing of hate, whisper violence and call on me to be the Man’s freak
The only time they shut up is when I threaten them with Tingalpa Creek

Then he climbed up on the railing, his black face bathed in the moon’s glow
He sought relief from a tortured life in the calming waters down below
They called me ‘deficient’, disordered and my attention was low
There words meant little to me but there is one thing I know

The pill they are going to give to you, the one to help you think
Is going to drown you in your head and drag your sanity to the brink
They do not hear you, they will not listen and then you even forget to speak
I am Gecko, I’m waiting for you, I need a friend here at Tingalpa creek

I went home to my family at the table, talking while they ate their food
I tried to eat, I tried to talk, to make some sense, desperate to disguise my mood
Mum tried to talk but I couldn’t make her listen to what I had to say
It didn’t matter at all because she told me my prescription had arrived today

Take one pill in the morning, one at night and, baby, try not to think
Now you can concentrate at school and have your sanity pushed to the brink
Now I have violent voices in my head telling me to be the Man’s freak
The only time they shut up is when I threaten them at Tingalpa Creek.



Tony Parker
29 March, 2006