1. |
Church On Fire
04:25
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You built a steeple
you built a family out of stone
an endless fever in a mad search for a throne
but you recovered
your senses slowly filtered back
it was a nightmare, you wake up in the bath
some blind devotion set a beggar on a horse,
he'll ride to the Devil.
Either you're with me or you're against
there's something evil in the way you give a glance
so rig the top lights, raise the suspense
open your suitcase, balance footsteps on a thread,
strike matches Southwind.
Cars headed outbound
I turned a shade of twenty-four
an El Paso morning dominating your front door
you were light, I never questioned why
just drank your coffee and slept on your couch at night,
how lucky I was in the bedlam of the spin,
I'm just holding on now.
Either you're with me or you're without
no chance to panic until our feet have touched the ground
it's quite a trophy, you should feel proud
to have never wavered even when you wanted out,
you surprised everyone.
Pour over notebooks in an inner city park
leave maps and diagrams in downtown market stalls
condemn the order that has caused you so much harm,
but who was the architect?
Either you're with me or you're my enemy
dressed in the shadows of Leviathan's remains
laying our bodies on twisted frames
sift through the wasteland rubble just to keep the faith
look at your steeple burn, it's only taught you hate
and all that's left now is your clothes piled like chains
long live the juggernaut.
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2. |
The Iron Age
04:36
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How quick it passed,
the new year's days ahead of me
the oaks have given up on growing.
Blue sirens scream
it's Christmas Eve's old fashioned violence
I heard the whispers through the grapevine
but I don't think of it now
I don't second-guess my steps
this staircase can only lead up
I've returned home even more a legend,
it's been ages since you've heard my name.
Consider this an act of war,
consider me, The Headless Horseman
starting fires in the goat fields,
make your peace on holiday out on the highlands
we do our best to keep the wolf from the door,
when you come in, the world slows its spin
you curtsy at the crowd applauding
the band plays, and the host tips his hat
I hold my breath upon your entrance
you split the crowd like Moses split the sea.
We destroyed one another
it drained me of all my color
I was a wraith dragged from a horse
how long until you recover?
You asked me to stay but I don't see how,
"Where will he go?" You wonder.
It just ain't the same here at supper,
stare at the number and feel yourself shudder
oh you're such a sucker
but there ain't nothing like that howl at the door.
With a fell swoop, the night breaks its hip
I try to keep it all together
a short dress and a crown on your head
you've returned here even more a legend
it's been ages since I've felt this way.
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3. |
Bullroarer
03:39
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Take this wheat for leading arcane ceremonies
eat the dove.
Each hand is right and holy,
I don't trust nobody
who are you?
Maybe I trust everyone
come on home, love me for what I haven't done
when the fog lifts, who then will be wrong?
The circle's bright and simple
an Ouroboros sigil
made of fine neon lights,
a rhombus pulls the torrent
love and lightning forming this event.
But I will stumble from the wreck
feeling homesick but strong in foreign hands
I cross my heart and hope that we both die
by Christmas morning you will choose your side
when the wheels lift, who then will be right?
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4. |
"Golden"
03:22
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Shine on Golden, you were gone too soon
you left an address in scribbled pen
keep your chin up in that photobooth booth
waiting for me to come in
all the words are gone
it's 11:21, hang the phone, pick it up,
all your features look the same
but Norah, I think you've changed.
Hang on Golden to my dark black hair
and trace on your sweatshirt with your thumb
I'll keep your secrets if you say it's done
they tell me that you've settled for the one.
All is well in tell and deed
but the end ain't worth the means
without true beginning
years from now you'll look back longingly
when all of that is dead.
Come on Golden, see it like I do
when I leave I'm never coming back
you'll make a fine mother in Newport-News
along with all the other Navy wives
this is what you claim to be
can't you keep your name for me,
after all I've asked you
you say I can never stay the same
but Norah, why won't you change?
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5. |
Out Hunting Hares
02:54
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All my life I've seen it
only now it's clearer
separate rays in the same old light.
Tie me up to the stake
write in your alphabet
"I do this for you
I do things for you."
Down the rabbit hole, it was never a home
it will never be home.
Every missing piece is still within me
I could waste as many years
trying to live with the space
there's no god here today
just a cop swinging handcuffs whistling downwind
there's blood in my cage,
we were born stowaways,
I must have been born decades after
my generation's laughter
something I hear just enough
to glance and notice the change
it's too subtle to say
the cities collapsed, the water tastes strange
hold onto your head.
I know where every tunnel goes
to the same light we keep batting the moth toward
I know there are different sets of roads
leave no markers.
Leave no trail or bread crumb
leave no name or number
just the scent on an old black coat
and die just a little inside
while the whites of your eyes
are caught by the foxes behind the vines
it's time to escape.
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6. |
Touchstone
05:20
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Think of him as your touchstone
is that the standard you want
you look around at the others
skin and shoulders looking gaunt
walk forever in a stumbling daze
sprinkling parsley at the mouth of the cave
tell me you just had the funniest day
say it firmly like it's one of the most promising things
there are no vows you've left to break
you're disappointed, I can see it on your face
I am too, I can barely keep awake.
Think of me as the cinder filled with cavities
bumping around on the waves the ocean has to settle me
a pious man finding it hard to believe
on your feet you're still a beggar in need
love my insides as a form of misguided belief
an unholy alliance 'twixt the reeds
the deep end widens, you're just learning how to swim
you were swept out with the dishwater again.
I think of you as the timber hacked and folded into place
I see your specter again
it tells me I was a saint
but you ain't fooling anyone anyway
you're not fooling anyone
and the hills and hills I dream of live in my sneezes
there's water in the basement and I can't seem to go on
this coat's a ticking bomb
waiting at your front door ties my guts in knots.
Think of me as the forest
that you've been wandering in
if you can't tell if your compass works just chase the hollering
if you believe in your heart this will work, wake at home again
there ain't no one at the foot of your bed
dragging limbs across the glass and wracking knees to dust
the glow of the bulb comes through the husk
the gaslight dimples and at dusk I'm still alive
it was always black and white
set your bags down on the table if you can't seem to decide
is your Babel still on fire?
can you leave it all behind?
Is your life a candle burning from both sides?
Is your heart an anvil waiting for a strike?
Am I just a stranger when the ring's back on?
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7. |
Invocation: Enoch
04:27
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I saw your art in a gallery
there were people looking, wondering who you were
but I knew too well, what shampoo was in your hair
and how terrifying you'd become to me,
it's hard to be your friend sometimes
it's hard to live so close
there wasn't love back there, just a dustbowl and a mare
and a family clinging on to the routine.
In a different town, I miss you
settling in to the profane
I just want to rely on you sometimes
instead of knowing what went wrong
was I too young to tag along?
You always knew that I'd leave here
taken up in burning majesty
I stood as a man unbound, with one foot still on the ground
and the other in the talking thundercloud,
I'm older now than you were then,
you hated men your age
you never seemed to care yet you'd grow white in your hair
as the image of a lion disappeared.
You were always a Goliath
I'll never be David again
I feel so old, so wrinkled now
would you love me now
with an old man's mouth
if my hair fell out
or would you say my youth's an absolute
and hands like mine don't lie.
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8. |
Violent Past
05:00
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What talk have you heard from others
could have been the lies
I would tell from time to time
I was still a boy then, stacking dynamite.
There was a monolith here burning
what have you unearthed
something evil, something worse
in the basement, it slept standing like a horse.
Tell your new man, there's no place left to hide
tell him I was yours
long before your hair was short
we were winding vines, celestial in accord.
This goes out to you and your friends
where were they when I
had no fortunes at my side
now I'm filthy rich and you're stuck by my side.
What have you heard about me
that I drowned my wife
that I poisoned my own child
that it's something that I still haven't denied.
I don't see a future out there
I could turn my back
on this house built on the sand
I could revert back into a violent man.
My own history is striking
betting who'd die first
which of us was worth the most
which of us was dreaming, praying for the worst.
The dream has a might beyond mine
took my wife in its hands
and my child in its teeth
I was helpless then I couldn't do a thing.
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9. |
Song of Captivity
03:53
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We're made of sugar in a crowded archway
the sun illuminates the dust we're walking in
a baby Jesus pressed against the corner
there's a filter burning like a silent prayer to him.
I get to wondering, which way you'll head first
which cage you'll sing for when the dogs are at your heels
beyond the stone rose, I pause disheveled
too saturnine to care, too spiritless to feel.
You sauntered into a domestic prison
a palace shelled, levelled, smoked like a cigar
it was there I found you in desperate rapture
a gunner paralyzed, stood gasping at the toll.
I became your scattered language
here at the altar by the babbling of the brook
you kissed my fingers and called me Father
and built a temple where the ruined one had stood.
"Survive the dungeon, pardon the scarecrow
divide the pathways in the watermelon field
you've seen the fillings in the teeth we dug up
you've seen our surnames in the shackles of this year.
Oh son of mine when will you be back
I'm frightened more and more with each day that goes by
cover your nose as the smoke runs through you
waving a ripped flag from the wrong side of the gate.
Tonight's for leaving, I've gotten ready
I've gotten ready but my body still ain't sure
a subtle signal will cue the horsemen
I'll say your name then when there ain't a soul around.
Look past the pillars and recall my movements
reminisce with the disciples hunting hares
tell them I loved you and that I stayed behind to
ensure you lived your life as full as you could there."
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Dolmens Bangor, Maine
Lost Works
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