Attendre et espérer

Heavy the rain doth pour and heavy the tongue.
The light does miss the forested face.
Bitter, bitter the pendulum swung

Bitter, bitter the pendulum swung

Open the sky for me and cut out the heart
The fruit does spoil the children’s laughter
Bitter, bitter the blackest of arts

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
The sun does try despite the shadow
Bitter, bitter the dying of the light

Bitter, bitter the dagger in the fight

October fire, November rain
I left the fleece outside again.
The dampened ground, the thirsty wool
And I, the faithless fool

You dinnae wait, but I dinnae call
And you dinnae comfort me at all
So I blamed a woman and cursed the fall
I curse them devils and angels all

But whose is the voice now keeping me from rest
When all I want is sleep
And whose are the hands pressed hard upon my chest
And oh, I cannae breathe

[ Quant à vous, Morrel, voici tout le secret de ma conduite envers vous : il n’y a ni
Bonheur ni malheur en ce monde ]

The city’s dark, the winter cold
The raven crow, its wings unfold
But fly from me ye demon bird
I will not make myself the third

Whose is the voice now keeping me from rest
When all I want is sleep
And whose are the hands pressed hard upon my chest
And oh, I cannae breathe

October cries, September pains
The blood from birth which comes again.
The farm to yield, the crop is slain.
The bloody labourer maintains

But whose is the blood now smeared across my door
While, oh, the shadow creeps?
And whose is the voice now calling through the noise
Says, ‘go ye prophet, lead’?

Warm summer
A soft story lay beneath my head
Two devils
The serpent and tree, the garden and me
One hero
A rider in white, the comfort and the sight
Three heralds
Elijah will come and stand by their side

Oh father
With pain he bequest the riches he possessed
Three scions
This peerage have come, the daughter and the sons

Oh my soul, I’m scared of all but what I know
And everything I don’t is burgeoning
But you were told, ‘look to the prophet from the east’
When the prophet by degrees escapes from me

Long shadows, cast in the night, a dimming source of light
See, I’m haunted
By strivings and strife. Eternity and damned impermanence

Oh my soul, I’m scared of all but what I know
And everything I don’t is burgeoning
But you were told ‘look to the prophet from the east
When the prophet by degrees escapes from me
Soon you go. Is life just only what you know?
Its evanescent hold, a scalpel deep
Oh my god, I'd cut my eyes open to see
Is everything I need at point of reach?

Three heralds
Regarded as one, the daughter and the sons

Blood still weakened from the beast you'd slain
The serpent rose again the head now twain
The arrow pit against the viper's fang
One was severed so it two became

A sturdy shield and a keener blade
A stubborn will and a will to stay
You struck the two so they four became
A twisting devil and a mounting pain

A father lying in a foreign bed
A parson trying to awake the dead
A tempest brewing in the rundown shed
The captain sailing where the hard wind led

Oh so horrid how my heart doth cry
That fate should give the beast a place to lie
A blight so great upon the southern sky
That he should live and the warrior die

I was alone and a quiver on the boat to ford the river
And, oh, my hands were cold
But that mighty river flowing
Surely knows where it was going

And I have to wait

I held the gold in my hand as I struggled towards the land oh
When the sparrow called me home
And I felt the wind was blowing
Against the course that I’d been rowing

And we start to sink

I am drifting into madness
Despite your promise
And I am frightened by the violence
Of your psalmist
For I’ve seen that I am like him

The face of joy defaced and sallow
And nothing slowing
I have let myself lie fallow
Still nothing’s growing

Pale is the ghost that’s hovering
The muffled specter in my sleep

Sharp is the edge that splits the flow
The waters above and the waters below

There’s a wind upon the sea that pushes and breathes
And the earth still turns as I begin to slow

Bright is the flower that tastes the sun
In the garden of my father’s home

But barren the branch when the winter comes
Death is led by death led to grow

The body betrays the mind given time
And the earth will shake when the seas start to grow

I glanced your open doorway but declined to go inside
Then I sat about the railway looking down the other line.
They say don’t mix the forms and borders or have your tea with wine
I think it’s all so damned obscure I don’t see why that I should mind.
If nothing is consistent and nothing doth remain
And all that we can hope for is some subtle, dark refrain
Call the terms and orders give infirmity a line
For chaos to be buried, let the benediction fly

The clouds begin to flare like
Some fire in the air.

And if indeed there is a heaven,
Then I hope to see you there

If you should die
And I should live
And time should gurgle on
And morn should beam
And noon should burn
As it has usual done

Behind the echoes
Behind the pleas
Behind the wooden rind
Under the heaves
And warring sighs
Is there an ease of mind?

If birds should sing
In wake of eve
And oceans currents strong
Still healthy breathe
I see them fall
I see them coming down

I ask now comfort
I ask now peace
I ask now bread and wine
I ask routine
Memento mori
Golden harvesters

I fell asleep when the sun came to rise
And I tried to rewrite what is right and where it dies
But I’m still a child on the ground where I lie
It’s funny how the dark is reflected in the eyes of the light

I want for attention though all eyes are on mine
And my escape was addressed by a brilliant design.
But I took my gun and I shot it down.
Now the wounds in my side can be found in his blood on the ground.

Oh the wind, it will blow it will blow
And my heart, like a stone like a stone

Oh the wind, it does blow it does blow
And with the sound like the croak of a crow

Still I want for attention though all eyes are on mine
Now a hole opens up in the sky.
So I took my gun and I shot it down.
Now the wounds in my side can be found in his blood on the ground.

Oh the wind, it will blow it will blow
And my heart, be it stone be it stone?

Oh the wind, now it swells as a groan
And the sound it does grow it does grow

And my voice like the kraa of a crow
Like the cliffs does begin to erode

Still my voice like the kraa of a crow
With my hands I must sow I must sow

Count the scars, expel the lies.
We’ve used half our seven lives
But if that’s the cost to have our eyes
Are you happy that we have died?
Turn the page, open quotes
This the line that heaven wrote:
‘The colors right this side of earth
I believe in second birth’

If you should die
and i should live
and time should gurgle on
and morn should beam
and noon should burn
as it has usual done 8

behind the echoes
behind the pleas
behind the wooden rind
under the heaves
and warring sighs
is there an ease of mind?

If birds should sing
in wake of eve
and oceans currents strong
still healthy breathe
I see them fall
I see them coming down

I ask now comfort
I ask now peace
I ask now bread and wine
I ask routine
memento mori
golden harvesters