1. |
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In those long hot harvest days
Where hornets drone above the hay
And walnut trees with summer weight
Hang heavy at the old farm gate
I think of things that used to be
A world that seems so close to me
I’ve seen it in my darker dreams
Alive among the yellow leaves
And then suddenly
The first cool autumn breeze
Reveals a layer that lies beneath
Reality
Or our temporary minds
We only see one point in time
But all around
Are shadows of a past
That call to us and hope at last
To reemerge
Their stories to be told
They’re not so lost
And not so old….
Mary said she saw a wolf in the pasture
Walking on its two hind legs
And off she ran to tell the town but the pastor
Had fallen and had struck his head
Weep she did to see the blood in the church yard
Pooling where she used to play
And though the doctor rode through night
The pastor did pass away
And all the town was sure
That evil had occurred
And whispered of a name
Mary was to blame
Oh the devil walks alone
He searches for a human home
Where his will is flesh and bone
A weaker heart who’s hand can sow
His wicked seeds among good men
Who struggle with the weight of sin
To trouble and to torment them
And tear our little flock within
But we must not let him win
We must fight against him where we can
Look now from friend to friend
And find the one who’s let him in
And she knows what she’s done
And soon enough will everyone
For satan cannot not stand
Among the world of righteous men….
And Mary said she was in love with the lord
But she said it in a very strange way
And someone said they saw her out in the night
By the pasture where she was that day
And weep she did to see the men in the court wear faces that she did not know
And all the town agreed the devil had Mary
And that Mary would have to go
They led her to a walnut tree
And pulled her up in agony
And there her body stayed
Buried at its base
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2. |
Bleed for Me
05:33
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A long time ago
A life lost in the snow
A love’s end in the night
In fevered candlelight
Ten thousand tears I cried
Ten years I spent outside
On trails no man should go
Where darker gardens grow
In search of any balm
Reciting any psalm
And gasping out for rest
I beat my ugly chest
Til one day on my neck
Two pin pricks from a peck
Drew bright blood pure and hot
And pulsing through the clot
Was lapped between two lips
And drunk in gulping sips
By death’s more rotten form
A creature never born
Whose hands drew in mouth
And sucked my sadness out
Who bled away my fear
And pulled my body near
And sang to me in verse
And cooed to me this curse
Let me drink your blood lover
Pour it in my eyes
Cary for me and I’ll find you anywhere
Anywhere
The world is such a sad place
You’re dead if you’re alive
Bleed for me and I’ll take you away
From all the human things
Oh what tragic things they are
Then years they slip in time
And mingled in my mind
A century to play
Two more to sleep away
And now my hunger wakes
It watches and it takes
It hunts its favorite prey
A soul who’s lost its way
A sweet familiar scent
Where love’s dark vapors vent
Where life’s worst drippings lie
Where sad things go to die
And I will meet them there
I’ll cradle up their hair
And kiss them on the nape
And stare into the gape
And trace the flowing blood
Warm and red and good
Delighting me in course
And spurting from its source
It ripples down my chin
And dribbles on my skin
I’ll sing to them a song
I’ll rock them in my arms
And they’ll slip off into sleep
Their bodies mine to keep
Let me drink your blood lover
Pour it in my eyes
Cry for me and I’ll find you anywhere
Anywhere
The world is such a sad place
You’re dead if you’re alive
Bleed for me and I’ll take you away
From all the human things
Oh what tragic things they are
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3. |
Far Away from Here
03:09
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|
In those long hot harvest days
Where hornets drone above the hay
And walnut trees with summer weight
Hang heavy at the old farm gate
I think of things that used to be
A world that seems so close to me
I’ve seen it in my darker dreams
Alive among the yellow leaves
And then suddenly
The first cool autumn breeze
Reveals a layer that lies beneath
Reality
Or our temporary minds
We only see one point in time
But all around
Are shadows of a past
That call to us and hope at last
To reemerge
Their stories to be told
They’re not so lost
And not so old….
Mary said she saw a wolf in the pasture
Walking on its two hind legs
And off she ran to tell the town but the pastor
Had fallen and had struck his head
Weep she did to see the blood in the church yard
Pooling where she used to play
And though the doctor rode through night
The pastor did pass away
And all the town was sure
That evil had occurred
And whispered of a name
Mary was to blame
Oh the devil walks alone
He searches for a human home
Where his will is flesh and bone
A weaker heart who’s hand can sow
His wicked seeds among good men
Who struggle with the weight of sin
To trouble and to torment them
And tear our little flock within
But we must not let him win
We must fight against him where we can
Look now from friend to friend
And find the one who’s let him in
And she knows what she’s done
And soon enough will everyone
For satan cannot not stand
Among the world of righteous men….
And Mary said she was in love with the lord
But she said it in a very strange way
And someone said they saw her out in the night
By the pasture where she was that day
And weep she did to see the men in the court wear faces that she did not know
And all the town agreed the devil had Mary
And that Mary would have to go
They led her to a walnut tree
And pulled her up in agony
And there her body stayed
Buried at its base
|
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4. |
Strike the Lamp
05:12
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Strike the lamp and lie beside me
Hear the wind whip all around
Something in the woods is whining
Close your eyes don’t make a sound
Father left on Thursday morning
Mother died in early spring
He said that he’d be back on Sunday
How long has it really been?
A sudden snow fell Friday evening
Ever since we’ve stayed inside
Hearing something round the cabin
Take my hand and close your eyes
And here we’ll be okay sister
Sleep until the day sister
Dream of summers past
Small flowers in the grass
The milk cow and her calf
How mother used to laugh
How she’d wake up at dawn
And put the kettle on
And we would drift and dream
Until we heard it sing
Strike a match and look behind you
Something scratches at the door
Now it opens
Now it closes
Now it walks across the floor….
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5. |
Deep into the Woods
04:30
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Far away from here
Late one autumn evening
The stars were bright and clear
The end of summer leaving
She waited all day long
For her love’s returning
And now the night had fallen
She left a candle burning
In the window of a house
That faced into the trees
And through the flicker on the glass
She thought that she could see him
In his fine blue winter coat
Though she knew he hadn’t brought it
But the night had grown so cold
How she wished that he had thought to
Oh
Where’d you go
My love
Please come home
Now the flame burns low
She sees her breath before her
The moon is rising slow
Just above a quarter
And there at once he stands
A dream or his he really?
With bloody head and hands
Does she see him clearly?
With a wound across his face
Dreadful to behold
Calling out in pain
Trembling in the cold
She screams to him his name
But it seems that he can’t hear her
Then just as he came
All at once he disappears
Oh
Where’d you go?
My love
Please come home
The night
Is so cold
Don’t leave me
Alone…..
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6. |
Hallowed Ground
04:18
|
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|
Strike the lamp and lie beside me
Hear the wind whip all around
Something in the woods is whining
Close your eyes don’t make a sound
Father left on Thursday morning
Mother died in early spring
He said that he’d be back on Sunday
How long has it really been?
A sudden snow fell Friday evening
Ever since we’ve stayed inside
Hearing something round the cabin
Take my hand and close your eyes
And here we’ll be okay sister
Sleep until the day sister
Dream of summers past
Small flowers in the grass
The milk cow and her calf
How mother used to laugh
How she’d wake up at dawn
And put the kettle on
And we would drift and dream
Until we heard it sing
Strike a match and look behind you
Something scratches at the door
Now it opens
Now it closes
Now it walks across the floor….
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7. |
Salem
06:07
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Deep into the woods inside a house between two mountains
Or really more a castle made of pale orange yellow stone
I was working as a servant with my mother for the family
I was young and I was pretty I was downstairs all alone
I was sent to get more wine for a table at the party
Or something else for them to eat I can’t remember anymore
I was walking through the cellar when I heard the boys behind me
They were laughing they were drinking they were standing in the door
I tried to just move past them but he grabbed me and he kissed me
The boys thought it was funny when I pulled myself away
And then I just got so angry I don’t know what I was thinking
And when he reached again to touch me I hit him in the face
There are moments when it all turns
Places that are burned into the fabric of our past
Yet we keep coming back
And can we ever really leave them?
Or do we just repeat them?
And if we all just fade away
Then what remains?
He was the son of the father of the family of the castle
And I saw there in that second I would pay for what I’d done
They were shocked and they were silent I could see his fury forming
And I knew that like a rabbit from a wolf I had to run
In the instant of confusion I broke out up to the party
Down the hall and through the doorway out the gate into the night
Off the trail into the forest through the trees and up a creek bed
Over rocks and under logs looking for a place to hide
I was shaking I was crying I was trying to slow my breathing
I could hear the dogs around me I was praying to not be found
they dragged me out and stood above me and they kicked me until they killed me
And in that place there in those woods
I left my body on the ground
There are moments when it all turns
Memories that burn into the fabric of our past
Yet we keep coming back
And can we ever really leave them?
Or do we just repeat them
And if we all just fade away
Then what remains?
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ben survant Asheville, North Carolina
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