Mr Eternity I want The People To See

Arthur Stace, AKA Mr Eternity. Also considered by many street artists worldwide as the father of street art and tagging. As his tags were made of chalk they washed away or disappeared quickly after a few days he wasn’t a vandal.

He worked as a cleaner early in the morning to make a living and lived in a humble cottage with his wife which is now a tourist attraction. For over thirty-five years from 1930 to 1967 the people of Sydney woke up to the word Eternity handwritten in yellow chalk on walls, footpaths and train platforms in Sydney. It attracted the ire of Sydney City Council. Even though he was illiterate and could hardly write his own name, he could write the word Eternity legibly in beautiful copperplate script with his chalk on hard surfaces. He managed to keep his Identity secret until he was caught one morning in 1956. He carried on doing it though right up until his death in 1967. He narrowly escaped arrest 20 times with his defense every time “ I had permission from a higher source”. Anyway reading about  Arthur Stace inspired me to write this which I attempted to put to guitar unsuccessfully in a sort of a way that maybe Johnny Cash and the Carter family would perform it as a poem. Arthur wrote the word Eternity everywhere in Sydney as a result of his Christian belief. His script inspired atheists and believers worldwide of all religions to think about eternity in various ways.  The successful Eternity theatre in Sydney a thoroughly modernized old building was originally a church with a different name that Arthur attended. His script is their logo. For a man born out of incest in 1895 and put into an orphanage as a kid and working in a coal mine at 12, he would be surprised at his notoriety now. He also experienced the horrors of the First World War as a soldier on the frontline and the world wide depression afterwards. Up until 1930 he spent a lot of time in and out jail until he completely changed his life in 1930.

              Mr Eternity I Want The People To See.

I want the people to see.

No matter what would be.

There must be something  good waiting in eternity.

For those who do good things.

I’m thankful for the man who gave me a helping hand.

I didn’t know when I was younger what to believe.

Then touched by the spirit a hidden hand.

I felt that I was part of the plan.

That doesn’t mean it is  just me.

It could be you who just calls on him.

To give you a helping hand.

Millions who love the man.

Who laid his life down for human kind.

Gave his blood on the cross at Calvary.

He rose from the dead.

So you and I can have a blessed eternity.

That simple word eternity is made for you and me.

All you got to do is reach out to the lord.