WORDS WITHOUT SONG
1
NAGARKOT
(from Trophies)
Beyond all doubt there is a place
That place
Vast rivers, tall mountains
Tiny boats
Some old and forgotten
Some making their way for the very first time
Across the mischievous ripples of the yawning deep
I stand quietly on a hill top (Nagarkot)
Waiting for stillness
Calm
That I too may make the journey
That long and perilous journey
Hard nails, oak wood
And a heavy heart
Home
2
LILITH
(from Trophies)
The house is quiet and still
Set in a valley of green
She walks in the shade of the hills
And charms the birds from the trees
Silencing questions in me
She sings in my brightest of dreams
The songs of shaman and kings
With a voice that could tear through the clouds
In the sky
See us rise on a will to power
While others still sleep
A forest in full flower
Where every river runs deep
The holy blood of saints and sheep
3
THE COLOUR OF ROSES
(from Trophies)
The thoughts of many men
Came by word of mouth
And burnt like a thorn in my side
They parted with the book
I parted with the cash
And I rolled the pages over
And the wisdom just fell into my hands
Now my heart bleeds the colour of roses
I'm a cactus in the sand
A mountain goat
Firmly holding my ground
I'm fighting in the dark
The compass and the kings
Wearing infinity's armour
And weapons just fell into my hands
Now my heart bleeds the colour of roses
In the darkness of the wood
Where the witches, one by one
Burn their offerings to the moon
I close my eyes
4
RIDE
(from Trophies)
Messages ran all over town
Words without sound
Condemned me
And left me for dead
All over again
It wasn't the first time, but this time
Things will never be the same
Ride, ride the very thought into the
ground
In the church of lost and found
The angels cry
Ride, ride until the darkness closes in
Until the ravaged soul begins
To reflect the open skies, ride
The chapel was burned
Razed to the ground
From the darkest of clouds
Small birds tumbled like rain
Time and again
You may go charging at windmills
In these days
Absurdities never change
Ride, ride the very thought into the
ground
In the church of lost and found
The angels cry
Ride, ride until the darkness closes in
Until the ravaged soul begins
To reflect the open skies, ride
In the thick of the woods
The word is taboo
In the darkest of continents
Light can deceive you
Ride, saddle up your thoughts and run
to ground
In this world of lost and found
The eagle flies, ride
5
SLOW FIRE
(words from the Slow Fire tour book)
1
In a gunpowder night sky
Shot through with holes
She offers up her secrets
Blessings for the taking
Bone shutters, seaward
Ships keel in the mindlight
There's no stopping her
Scattering dust on wires
Down the bloodlines
She's here among us
2
But she reached out and pulled you clear
Oblivious you lept back into the darkness
3
I flickered candle like
Suspended in the night air
Slow fire, dancing
4
Onwards
Seeing in the blindness
Making the curve
Spiralling
Ladder to the lighthouse
Shattered by love
In the never-more-than-now
6
When the little one came
A hole was blown open
A partial surrendering in the midst of knowing
And for an instance the constant heart shed its own
tears
Wave upon wave carried me over
Beyond the peripheries of hope and fear
Deadening the voice of relentless biography
I stood at the center and danced at the extremities
Mapping the city as subtle as silence
Then on, outwards, into the darkness
When the crazy one came
She placed her finger on my forehead
And pushed on through
I woke up, face on fire
Spitting out diamonds
Thoroughly lost to logic
Craving her madness