1. |
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If reincarnation holds true, I should like to be born
Away from this city, in the high Himalayas
Where the crown of the world shows its thorns
Detached from this body, now spinning, now coming back down
To the grey skies of London, and this Spanish affliction
Cigarettes and a hospital gown
Masters of secrets, and bridges to worlds we can't see
The lodger within me, like pylons sunk deeply
In the mud of an Indian sea
Clear conscience, clairvoyant, not the fraud the world wants me to be
These manifestations, are the wisdom of ages
Unveiled, untethered, set free
You brothers of Luxor, you sisters of Isis come down
There's a shadow that runs from the mountains of Lhasa
to the edges of Old Camden Town
The wind through these canyons is cold, and it scares me to breathe
Like treading the water of an African cape
Or the Mediterranean sea
The lotus is born of the mud, but it rises to greet
The sun and the passing of souls in the aether
If the two of them happen to meet
A thousand years pass, and the lotus will wake once again
Reborn to a world that is also reborn
The same souls in new bodies and skins
But here in these walls, in a house in the woods of St. John
There's a vase, ornate in its making, and full
Of the parts of a soul that is gone
No flying, no falling, no spinning, just an idol at rest
A last manifestation, a new transfiguration
She's reincarnated at last...
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2. |
Cairo, 1922
03:49
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“Spread your wings to cover me
Stars imperishing and bright
I am a stranger in the land
Where the falcon lost his eye
And he cried a mighty river
Now it surges from its shores
And I’m left to drink the flood down
A raft adrift with broken oars”
A bloom of roses on his face
Tongue stained red with sweet shiraz
The wine cuts deep into the skin
The same way the desert does
And his eyes well up and empty
To wash the sand from off his clothes
Born in the eastern sky this morning
Died in the same way that he rose
It set upon the empire
And did these soldiers turn to thieves
The wealth of kings laid low and waiting
Airless space of centuries
Me in khaki and white linen
They in their white linen too
Dressed in palm wine spice and honey
To let the jackal take his due
So he thought a little while
About the measure of his heart
And the scales that tip and balance
Where the souls wait to depart
And the crocodile laid waiting
Her hunger deep within
For the souls of thieves and traitors
The least original of sin
“Spread your wings to cover me
Stars imperishing and bright
I am a stranger in the land
Where the falcon lost his eye
He’ll swoop and dip and keen
And then he falls upon his prey
The curse of 7000 years
Screaming down on drunks like me”
In the evening light of Cairo
He can hear the master's call
Sees the feather placed and waiting
For a heavy heart to fall
They’ll find him in the river
Wrapped in linens for his clothes
Born in the eastern sky this morning
Died in the same way that he rose
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3. |
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The music of his heart stops
And his wings fold up and soon they turn to blades
There were whispers soft amongst the colonnades
That it was poison turned his blood a different shade
And left him lying in a bed he never made
The music of his heart stops
A ticking time bomb that was waiting to explode
A metronome that slowed with each progressive stone
He called for more weight to be added to the load
Now he's alone but doesn't know he's not alone
The music of his heart stops
The conductor waves his arms as if to fly
And tries to lift the chorus up into the sky
But blades can only take a man to certain heights
And he'd be nothing if he didn't even try
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4. |
Quicken the Footsteps
04:15
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There's a crack in the armor
Where the wind gets in
There's a light in the attic
Where the stories end
Pictures of weddings and a
Crumbling veil with the
Lace and the letters turning
Dustier trails
Who could forgive the time for wanting to walk ahead?
Quicken the footsteps darling,
Counting the days instead
There's a halo of sunlight that's
a trick of the clouds
there's a curtain of crystals where the
Light skips and bows
Green for the sunset oh and
Blue for the lunar year
Well of good fortune and a
Coin through the thinning air
Who could forgive the time for wanting to stay in bed?
Quicken the footsteps darling
Counting the days instead
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5. |
Love Between Strangers
04:24
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Suppose we pretend
It's not really the end
The year could stretch into summer
Then come round again
There's hearts on a line
They're hung up there to dry
But there's blood in a stone
And there's still blood in mine
So write your secrets, and sing me your truth
Have we built a cathedral and set fire to the roof?
Are they houses of God if the stone is made flesh,
And when the last ember darkens, there's nothing else left?
It's a rock for the ages
It's the light on the ranges
It's the love between strangers
That can only know changes
The year meets its last
In the grape and the glass
An unkind remembrance
Of holes in our past
Memories used up
In the grain and the cup
We'd float with the tide
But there's something else stuck
There's a moon overhead but it's cold and dark
And I've been watching the fireworks alone in the park
It just takes a match to give birth to that spark
In that moment, a new moon don't seem all that dark
It's just a rock for the ages
It's the beasts in our cages
It's the love between strangers
That can only know changes
That can only know change...
When I change I will still be the same
The same ocean with a different name
The same orbit on a whole 'nother plane
The same building just weathered by rain
The same stranger who loves you
But never in vain
Suppose we pretend
That it's almost the end
The year could vanish at midnight
And not come again
There's hearts in a line
And one of them's mine
There's blood in a stone
If you just hold on tight
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6. |
Ghosts of Brunswick
03:48
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A ghost can’t rest until its name is spoken for the very last time
Blue circles holding up the walls, ivy growing down the chalk lines
The heart will have its catacombs
Bones laid under marble stones
Secrets spoken in the half-light
Scan the spirit radio
We talk until it’s time to go
Then bid them rest until the next time
These winter days the veil thins 'til I can almost touch the ether
The wind finds comfort in the space between the windows and the heater
Radiator whistle low
Sing those songs from long ago
I need a friend until the morning
Temperature will stall and dive
Half asleep but still alive
Til April hangs the trees with her adorning
The old straight track, the space between
That runs from here to Aberdeen
Lines that glow like copper wire
Spirits dance like Elmo’s fire
Finding patterns, ear kept low
To static on the radio
Stories from another time
Reaching from your heart to mine
A man can’t die until his name is spoken for the very last time
Blue circle holding up the walls the ivy growing down the ley lines
Eighteen-hundred forty four
A poet was then was no more
A love sneaks up and then it hits you
Nineteen-hundred forty one
One eye closed and one eye gone
You never hear the one that gets you
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William Wallace Austin, Texas
Probably the only songwriter in Austin with a song about Helena Blavatsky AND Ida Craddock, but hey, who’s
counting?
Waltzes about ghosts 'n things. Stay tuned for the new record, "Lighthouse Keeper", available Summer 2023.
... more
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