<Singles>

Shantell
Winter winds blow the trees
Creatures trapped have to fall
Hear their howls claw the sky
Whispers follows Shantell

Gentle breeze, swirling corn
Trapped beneath Blade Machines
Urgent yells, Poppys blood
Splashed the hands of Shantell

Shantell sleeps, tables creak
Mirrors start to speak
Branches scratch, tap the panes
Whispers follow Shantell

Wallpaper Dying
The cold it penetrates so deep
The Leaves cry drops of ice,
A fire guts the land inside him
He wonders what's it like
To be in the sunshine with her.

The wet material on his face
With lines of unforgetful stress
A scratch in the wall by his side
He watches all the time
While all around him wallpaper dies.

The boards of such familiar grain
Are roads leading nowhere,
Careful drawings in the dust...
He tries to remember...
The breeze it blows it all away.
Something through the darkness
Caught his eye.

Secret Sea
She swims the Secret Sea of sleeps cocoon
It's soothing hands caress her dreams she breathes
She tries to hold him in her arms
But sleep walks away
She holds but light burn the day

Upon the Secret Sea she floats alone
She sees a figure on the shore who casts
A shadow across the bedroom floor
The tide pulls the day
She calls but sleep floats away

A swirling flood invades her room as sleep
Takes off his head for her to feel
his eyes lose his face
Day pulls
His eyes from his face

She calls
But sleep walks away
She calls
But sleep walks away
She calls
The light burn the day.

There Were No Bounds
There was no pain any longer
no more need to gasp for breath.
And the tiled floor ceased
to be cold and hard
All sound had died away
and it was quite dark.

But in the void and in the silence
there was still a kind of knowledge
A faint awareness.

Awareness not of a name or person
not of memories of the past
The awareness knew only itself.

A knowledge reached out into the absence
Reached out into the darkness
Reached out into the silence
And there were no bounds.

And it was aware with a kind of growing
hunger, but a hunger for something that
did not exist
For the knowledge was only of absence
of pure and absolute absence
Durations of restlessness
Durations of hunger

And existence of only one dimension.
But in the dark silence.
In the void of all sensation
Something began to know
And there were no bounds.

(Lyrics from 'Time Must Have A Stop' by
Aldous Huxley)

A Room Lives In Lucy
I hear voices from another morning
And in the sunlight I feel the room grow
Windows, white curtains and the smooth walls
But the night leaves her on the floors
Of a mansion hall
And the feet on the floors
I must get up off the floor
In Lucy lives a room
Inside

I feel someones waking in my room again
She says she's leaving
But she will never go
Wilting while waiting in the dark leaves
She's stretching but she cannot reach
The pale flowers
Watch their petals fall
Like the rain
How it rains
How it rains
In Lucy lives a room
Inside

There are such a lot of nice places we could go
There are so many beautiful places
I've seen them somewhere
But where is it we go
With the crumbled statues in the dappled wood
And the gentle laughter swirls around the room
And she's gone
In Lucy lives a room.

There Was A Man of Double Deed
There was a man of double deed
Who sowed his garden full of seed.
When the seed began to grow,
Twas like a garden full of snow.
'Twas like a ship without a bell.
When the ship began to sail,
'Twas like a bird without tail.
When the birds began to fly
'Twas like an eagle on the sky.
When the sky began to roar,
'Twas like a lion at my door.
When the door began to crack,
'Twas like a stick across my back.
When my back began to smart,
'Twas like a penknife in my heart.
When my heart began to bleed,
'Twas death, and death, and death indeed.

Scarlet Arch
Lie in the pale summer heat
Find a clock as it ticks...
Oh, to never sleep,
But the clock ticks so loud
Like the cracking of whips,
Till the sun slowly heaves
From the blood hungry land,
To its heaven of blue.

Run, through the dust and the stones
Like a stream as it flows
Through the kingdom of peace.
But a beast roamed his head
Like the aching of guilt,
As it bakes in the heat...
As its swollen tongue speaks,
Robs the old of their breath.

Hang beneath dawns scarlet arch
Where the wind ever moans...
Like the slaveship it drifts.

The Critical Distance
Never begining, never ending days.
Days when the ceiling is so low
I cannot stand,
And the blunted knife presses into me.
Melting in the airless heat
The walls close in on me...
Nudging me this way and that
From one to another...
Like nervous thunder,
Thudding in my head a heart
Is beating out the boredom...
Nudging me this way and that
From one to another
Like nervous thunder,
Until I fall to claustrophobic sleep-
And the ever-watching walls lean over me.

But when I wake I feel alone,
There is nothing but a vast blank floor,
And although the walls are watching
I can never reach them. No matter how far I walk,
I can never reach them.

And the knife begins to shine,
Hisses in my hand-
Slices through the always blank distance
So I can see my hooded girl...
Swipes through the whitewash nothing
That shrouds my hooded girl...
She walks to me across the furrowed fields
I see a human headed fish revolving in her belly-
And the knife it sparkles
Like the piercing yellow mirror sea
And slashes open dead sailors clouded memories-
Spills their seaweed dreams over me,
Spill their seaweed dreams over me
Spill their seaweed dreams over me
Spill their seaweed dreams...over me
as I lie on the coral...
Amongst the driftwood.

And the ever watching walls lean over me.

Scythe & Spade
Of all the deaf old bones;
Sceptre and crown,
Of all the kings and emperors
Must tumble down.
They creak, stench, but all decay
And in the dust be equal made
Through sun, wind and sand;
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Each man of ivory and bone;
Sceptre and crown,
Of noble tribe or hybrid clan
Must tumble down.
Spider weaves a pretty web
And in the dust be equal made,
Brethren on this day
With poor crooked scythe and spade.

Figure-flingers, faceless mask;
Sceptre and crown,
Of all those blind and buried years
Must tumble down-
Career, fall and clatter
And in the dust be equal made,
Now all the kings and emperors are
With poor crooked scythe and spade.

The Renegade
"Order and method," the tongue says
But, oh., what a jumble. Oh, what a jumble.
"Order and method," the tongue says.
Over my words words, I fall, I stumble.
I stall and fumble.

oh, this tongue wags on and on.
I hear too many things.
Oh, I hear too many things.
I must tidy up my mind.

Like the sun at Auschwitz,
I was welcomed by the blind.
Burning, burning in the City of Salt,
I will learn to love hatred.
Oh, I will learn to love hatred.

Since they cut out my tongue,
it seems that another
tongue has been wagging in my head.
Oh, I hear to many things.
"Order and method."
Order and method."
"Order and method," the tongue says.

But, oh, what a jumble.
Oh, what a jumble.
Over my words I fall, I stumble.
I stall and fumble.
Mercenary or missionary?
Mercenary or missionary?
Over my words I fall, I stumble.

it's not only the blind who cannot see...
The sunlight it pours into me.
Burning, burning in the City of Salt,
Mercenary or missionary?
Mercenary or missionary?
I hear too many things,
Oh, I hear too many things.
And I will learn to love anything.

"Order and method."
I must tidy up my mind.
Oh, I must tidy up my mind.
Mercenary,
Mercenary,
Mercenary or missionary?
Oh, I can learn to love hatred.
"Order and method."
"Order and method."
"Order and method."
"Order and method."
(Taken From Albert Camus' "The Renegade",
Special Thanks to Ines! )

Shaletown
On the blue-green rising falling tide,
Breathing in the pebbles
Sighing out the salt breeze,
Chaff is blowing from the stubble fields
Leaving the dried earth land it threads the gate...
Tunnel hedges...
Old mans beard,
Sticking to the wild plums
Old mans beard.
And follows the pot-holed tracks
That lead to Shaletown.

The ox-mans soul forever turns around
And ploughs the stubble field,
Caught in the lonely mile
Between the roads to Shaletown.
He watches the chaff leave his dry brown eye
And swing over rose-hip stile
To Shaletown.

Under bronze-red sunset, cobweb clouds,
Dipping to the shadows
Dancing through the dead trees,
Over carts that struggle up the hills
Sticking into the sweat and blistered hands...
Nailed sacks flap
From blackened walls
Flailing arms to welcome
From blackened walls
Into the groaning heart of Shaletown.

The ox-man turns and walks into the wind
Towards the ceaseless sea,
Ploughing the lonely mile
As chaff settles in Shaletown.
The machines they groan
And the hammers they pound
As night falls on Shaletown
The chaff settles in Shaletown.

The House of the Heart
You stand beneath the racing sky
You don't know why you came to
The house of the heart

You sit amongst the withered flowers
By the dry fountains
You look at the barren world around
The house of the heart

The lichen covered courtyard lions
Stand restlessly beside you
The great door it swings
The house of the heart

"Remote and scarlet"
Say the clouds
Vivid visions shatter down the spiral stairs
Promises and perfection
Solitude and despair

You hear the tempest beauty sigh
You don't know how you came to
The house of the heart

Anchor Yard
She stands beneath the arch in anchor yard
And pulls her shawl around her back.
Her bandaged hands remember-
Hooks of iron hanging from the walls,
Fish guts in the blue-bricks
And the rain with the autumn falls
Around her shoulders like the night...
The strange songs they sang will always
Go round the moss walls
Where the host sun crawls.

So come back mackerel days
Sing with me to the waves...
We were the knives and we were the hands,
Now we are the salt and we are the sand.

We are the song of anchor yard.

Lady D'Arbanville

#My Lady D'Arbanville
Why do you sleep so still
I'll wake you tomorrow
And you will be my fill
Yes, you will be my fill

My Lady D'Arbanville
Why does it grieve me so
But your heart seems so silent
Why do you breathe so slow
Why do you breathe so slow

#-repeat

You look so cold tonight
Your lips feel like winter
Your skin has turned to white
Your skin has turned to white

#- 2 times repeat

I loved you my lady
Though in your grave you lie
I'll always be with you
This rose will never die
This rose will never die

The Street Organ
The street organ plays
Its blithe tune through the town,
Winding down the alleys
With the yellow leaves
It meanders down bleak avenues stare
The copper-green monuments stare
At nothing...
It passes them by unheard,
Waltzes with the ribbons of distant winter air,
The messengers of snow...
Moon-struck and gold.

It croons with the lullabys that lull
The babies back to wombs,
Confuses time with its merry sombre chiming,
Calling back the old,
Conjures daughters, lovers, sons
Fears, mothers, seasons, minutes
Lost and found, lost love, spring and nothing,
She sings like a bird that wakes up warm
And thinks the winter's over.

The street organs music is heard
For the first time here and the last time there
And not at all.

Cathedral quiet and narcotic seas
In a mind of tide-mark memories...
The strand of hair that falls in front of her face.
...He woke up and called out her name
But only the street organ answered.

The street organ plays down every road,
Moon-struck and gold.

Misfortunes
I would chase the moons cold eye
Into the bitterest day
And I would watch the sun-dial
And in its shadow stay-
So don't let me be afraid
I would hear misfortunes cry
Out of its virtuous face
And I would watch the sun-dial
And through its darkness race.

The silver star of morning
Blinks down a tear from the sky,
The sun has now arisen,
The night closed its watchful eye-
So don't let me be afraid.

I would chase its ancient time
Into the perilous wastes
And I would watch the sun-dial
And in its shadows wait-
So don't let me be afraid
I would hear misfortunes cry
Pay to its warning no heed
As I would watch the sun-dial
My darkest thoughts were freed.

The silver star of morning
Blinks down a tear from the sky,
The sun has now arisen,
The night closed its watchful eyes-
So don't let me be afraid
Don't let me be afraid.

The Great Alone
Camavenny Street and the moon that fled,
the piano fell, let's have a drink flopping
down like a fool in your buckskin shirt. And
I saw him away clutching the keys, talon
handed - my God! Were you ever out in the
Great Alone when the moon was clear.

And the icy mountains fell and the silence
you could almost hear with the howl of the
timber wolf you camped there in the cold
half dead thinking stark dead-world clean
mad for the buck called gold, while the
high overhead, green, yellow and the
red,the North Light swept in bars - you've
had a heart the music meant....hunger
night and stars. And her lips went into a
kind of grin, and spoke and he was so
calm and the voice said 'you don't know
me'

On a sudden music change you're soft and
scarce but you feel like a life had been
looted clean and someone's stolen the
woman you loved that her love was the
devils lie that your guts were gone and the
best was for you to crawl away and die and
the crowning heart and the cry despair and
the thrills though you know I thought you
were there 'I guess you'll make it spread in
misery' said Dan McGrew. The music
almost died away ...she burnt like a leant
up flood.

And it seemed to say,'Replay, replay,' and
my eyes were blind with blood and I
thought she came back ancient wrong and
it stung like a frozen lash, and the lust
awoke and said kill, kill...then the musci
stopped with a crash and the stranger
turned his eyes they burned in most
peculiar way 'Boys you don't know
me'she'd say....strange fool.
(Words inspired by the poem 'The shooting
of Dan McGrew' by Robert Service)



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