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Nine Poems and a Song

by Emet Lee Firth

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1.
To see the face painted a butterfly then In time illustrates the beginning again Of where I once stood and of what I must do This shelter a falsehood, where once it was true Long flights of the monarch begin in the sun We must show the landmark, we must be the one I stand on an island, the tower across Regarding the highland in hours of loss The water reflecting an image of stone Together respecting the river alone The ground we must cherish, the seed we must sow The tiller must perish, the seedling must grow The bags are all packed, bringing proof to the hall And silence thereafter sings truth to it all Of summer unending upon the old wall Of memory bending away from the fall The chrysalis open, the monarch has flown The prairie now golden, the seedling has grown
2.
Together we saw kingdoms rise and fall Patriarch and sovereign learn to crawl All I did was tell you to behold That that is what you saw, not what you’re told Now you stand on church steps like a flower Celebrating life in sorrow’s hour Comforting the wounded at the doors May her spirit find some peace with yours I don’t know what lonely words she spoke What gentle tug persisted at the yoke What battlements were tumbling in her heart What binding on the twilight came apart Now you stand on church steps with a smile Fighting back the tears a little while Sunrise of the fallen shining through May her spirit find some peace with you
3.
I used to think a soldier had no business in the war I used to question harshly what a bayonet was for But I don’t keep an arsenal of judgement anymore I used to think a phantom gave out passes at the door Handed down from empires and kept secret from the poor But I don’t have a treasure trove of viewpoints anymore I once believed the pastor was a joker and a bore I used to think his ministry was rotten to the core But I don’t drink the spirits of opinion anymore I once believed the jury were employees in my store And I believed the afterlife was just a settled score But I don’t keep a shrine to condemnation anymore I used to think that lions were the only ones to roar I used to think that eagles were the only ones to soar But I don’t have a field guide of exclusion anymore I once believed our enemies were waiting on the shore And I would hold the remedies to all their myth and lore But I don’t have that talisman of answers anymore So if you lean upon me we may fall down on the floor And there we may hear echoes of the dreams we had before But I don’t have a spell book of assurance anymore
4.
It’s better outside this chamber Where alone I submit to my lies It’s better out there on the commons Where a fool can defer to the wise It’s better outside this chamber Where a like-minded fool takes my word It’s better out there in the pasture Where the cows even know we’re absurd It’s better outside this chamber Where the evidence died on the floor It’s better out there at the schoolhouse Where a two and a two become four It’s better outside this chamber Where my voice and I tend to agree It’s better out there in the canyon Where the echoes can set themselves free It’s better outside this chamber Where the popcorn collides with the lid It’s better out there with the LEGO Where the father can learn from the kid It’s better outside this chamber Where my bingo balls bounce all about It’s better out there on the asphalt Where the B and IN GO just got out It’s better outside this chamber Where reflections are born of the state It’s better out there at the exit Where no keeper is manning the gate It’s better outside this chamber Where my voice and I tend to agree It’s better out there on the water Where the echoes can set themselves free
5.
Crystal on the table Would deny an empty space Scattered beams of colour No assignment could replace Dinner at the prism of love Sinners filled the galley And they rowed it out to sea Underdeck the oarsmen Split their yearnings like a pea Pulling to the rhythm of love Shelter was a tempest And the vessel duly wrecked Freedom only hazard to have Joined the broken sect Splintered in a schism of love Torment like a ripple curling Threads of time gone by Sorrow with no closure For the unrepentant eye Trained upon a prism of love Underneath the surface Cast ephemeral the sun Strewn in all directions Round a mariner outdone Drowned another victim of love Kneeling at these shards Of old dispersion we hold on Feeding on these scraps Of fractured light before the dawn Dinner at the prism Dinner at the prism of love
6.
We stood upon the answers Then we scattered to the winds I dug a pit of questions And your absence filled it in I try to feel your absence Like a drought endures its pain I know that I still love you And that love can bring the rain You found your paints and easel And the canvas of my soul You coloured in a half moon But your absence made it whole I try to see your absence Like a wiseman sees the night A journey through the darkness To awaken in the light I’m languishing in prison And I did commit the crime My blunder was the sentence And your absence is the time I try to feel your absence As an earthworm feels the ground He moves a good inch forward And he feels some hope around Your panties on my laptop And your message on the sheets You left a last impression That no absence can delete I try to see your absence Like some Shakespeare with his pen I want to rip my heart out But I get to write the end
7.
I don’t know his story But he made it to the meeting And that’s enough to answer Any question in the letter Maybe his is better Like a candle in the darkness That if it burn till morning We may find out what he’s seeking Now at last he’s speaking And we hear about the pathway I’m glad there is no ending We look forward to the sequel He, created equal Was abandoned in the middle To reach out for the pieces That all added up to zero Children need a hero But some only get a shadow He followed whiskey clerics Who would lead their flock to nowhere Thirsty, he would go there Loyal addict to the journey Collecting glass for windows That get shattered in the prologue He prefers the sun dog To mirages on the highway You know they’re both illusions But the sun dog stays there with you Standing like a statue In the bathing light of morning He vanishes in silence Like those fading pools of glory I don’t know the story But we made it to the meeting...
8.
No foundations in this snow Timing’s right to take it slow Got two towers on the go One up high and one down low Mattress polyurethane Cover good for fire and stain Got two pills for shakes and pain Saline bolus in my vein Out on the wasteland I had set a place for death You touched me when I could not feel I’m left a doubter fed But hungry for a breath Some higher power may reveal Somewhere a sinner runs to me I offer service for this meal Plaster ceiling overhead Rolling table overbed I am sheltered, I am fed By the grace of God, he said Had them DTs twice before Found him seizing on the floor Why they keep him by the door Had a dose, he needs one more I ran a broken man With nowhere left to hide You cured me when I could not heal I’m left a sinner fed But hungry to provide And I have cast my last appeal Upon the ripples of a pond I offer service for this meal
9.
Dead of the winter on the slow march home Frozen a nature ever meant to roam She planned a journey with no passage back Only to finish here afore the track Staring as stone-faced as sad cliffs inspire Memories dancing to the end of fire Burnt a great chapter of the heartfelt quest In the warm ash fell from love’s ardent crest Here in this cabin of the wintry wood Place of cold darkness where warm faith once stood She settles inward to reflect upon That love of millions in an age bygone Kneeling at lakeshore where the mountains lie She had drank deeply from the echoed sky There to see vividly the first-time scars Lit in a mirror by the nearer stars Life of the summer and the seed cast on Hastening colours of a nascent dawn Millions of songbirds singing new love’s call Millions of new leaves soon to know the fall Tracing faint heartsteps through the grande mêlée Gone to the quiet of a torrid day Only cicadas and the mournful dove Speak on through silence in the name of love That love of millions is not won on stage Nor in arenas, nor the fleeting page It offers droplets to a heart in pain Damp on the rock face of a misty rain It writes a letter to the dying whale Under high clamour of a stormy gale From all the lone ones across oceans vast That love of millions to come home at last
10.
At the height of the tide the storm rolled on You were stranded inside the rocky pond Your heart in a pen, your home beyond In the bottomless sea I could never be free If you are suffering You withered and hungered in the sun While aliens hunted you for fun A tangle that never came undone In spite of my plea I could never be free If you are suffering They let me into the building Through a vanishing door I never noticed a ceiling I never touched a floor An android voice said evermore Now I live with a spirit in the blue I lean forward to hear its song come true A thread of a yarn that tells of you In a mariner’s dream I could never be free If you are suffering

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released June 19, 2022

Vocals, guitar, keyboards, and conga by Emet Lee Firth
All songs written by Clark

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Emet Lee Firth

Canadian singer songwriter

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