1. |
Monarch on the Prairie
02:18
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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
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2. |
Sunrise of the Fallen
02:33
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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
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3. |
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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
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4. |
It's Better out There
03:02
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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
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5. |
Dinner at the Prism
02:33
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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
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6. |
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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
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7. |
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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...
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8. |
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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
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9. |
That Love of Millions
04:31
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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
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10. |
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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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