Hymns 5
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The Old Ways
The thundering waves are calling you home
The pounding sea is calling me home to you.
On a dark New Year’s night
On the west coast of Clare
I heard your voice singing
Your eyes danced the song
Your hands played the tune
T’was a vision before me
We left the music behind and the dance carried on
As we stole away to the seashore
We smelt the brine, felt the wind in our hair
And with sadness you paused.
Suddenly I knew that you’d have to go
My world was not yours, your eyes told me so
Yet it was there I felt the crossroads of time
And I wondered why.
As we cast our eyes on the tumbling sea
A vision came o’er me
On thundering hooves and beating wings
In clouds above.
As you turned to go I heard you call my name.
You were like a bird in a cage, spreading its
Wings to fly
“The old ways are lost” you sang as you flew
And I wondered why.
The thundering waves are calling me home to you
The pounding sea is calling me home to you.
From THE VISIT
Loreena McKennitt
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LAST YEAR’S MAN
The rain falls down on last year’s man
That’s a jew’s-harp on the table
That’s a crayon in his hand
And the corners of the blueprint are ruined since they rolled
Far past the stems of thumbtacks
That throws shadows on the wood
And the sky is like skin
For a drum I’ll never mend
And all that rain falls down, amen
On the works of last year’s man.
I met a lady; she was playing with her soldiers in the dark
One by one she had to tell them
That her name was Joan of Arc
I was in that army, yes, I stayed a little while
I want to thank you, Joan of Arc, for treating us so well
And though I wear a uniform
I was not born to fight
All these wounded boys you lie beside
Goodnight, my friends, goodnight.
I came upon a wedding that old families had contrived
Bethlehem the bridegroom, Babylon the bride
Great Babylon was naked
Yes, she stood there trembling for me
And Bethlehem enflamed us both
Like the shy one at the orgy
And when we fell together all our flesh was like a veil
That I had to tear aside to see the serpent eat its tail.
Now some women wait for Jesus, some women wait for Cain
So I hang upon this altar
And hoist the axe again
And I take the one who finds me back to where it all began
When Jesus was the honeymoon and Cain was just a man
And we read from pleasant bibles that are bound in blood & skin
But the wilderness is gathering all her children back again.
The rain falls down on last year’s man
An hour has gone by still he has not moved his hand
But everything will happen if he only gives the word
The mountains will rise up and the lovers touch the earth
But the skylight is like skin for a drum I’ll never mend
And all the rain falls down, amen
On the works of last year’s man.
Leonard Cohen
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OLD FROST KING
Winter’s curtains are drawn against
the sun
Icicles & rain fall on barren
ground
Old people hide behind locked &
lonely doors
They watch TV phone in orders to
the stores
Great Lord Winter, ancient
frost-bearded king
Our hearts lie dormant with the
promise of Spring.
In the park the children are
bundled warm
They still play in sunlight or in
storm
Their parent’s wait for the golden
sun’s return
The human heart withers or it burns
Old Man Winter, we bow before thy
ways
Trust in Spring to bring a brighter
day.
The
sun is gone with the wounding of the light
Sunk
below the ground the days have turned to night
Don’t
despair the warmth will rise again
When
Spring repairs the icy tears of men
Spring
repairs the icy tears of men.
JEFarrow
San Francisco
1978
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THE WHITE SHIP
The White Ship has sailed and left me here again
Out
in the mist, I was so near again
Sailing
on a sea of dream
How
far away it seems
Sailing
upon The White Ship
All
through the night here in my darkened room
Sails
of white across the misty gloom
Blowing
across the sky
Burning
into my eyes
Sailing
upon The White Ship
Out of my mind nothing flows
Alone
on the shore, but that’s how it goes
Everyone
knows
How
the wind blows
The
White Ship
The White Ship has sailed and left me here again
Out
in the mist, I was so near again
Sailing
on a sea of dream
How far away it seems
Sailing
upon The White Ship…
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feel so different
i am not like i was before
i thought that nothing would change me
i was not listening anymore
still you continued to affect me
i was not thinking anymore
although I said I still was
i’d said “i don’t want anymore”
because of bad experience
but now i feel so different
i feel so different
i feel so different
i have not seen freedom before
and i did not expect to
don’t let me forget now i’m here
help me to help you behold you
i started off with many friends
and we spent a long time talking
i thought they meant every word they said
but like everyone else they were stalling
and now they seem so different
they seem so different
they seem so different
i should have hatred for you
but I do not have any
and I have always loved you
oh you have taught me plenty
the whole time i’d never seen
all you had spread before me
the whole time i’d never seen
that all i’d need was inside me
now I feel so different
i feel so different
i feel so different
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Pagan Poetry
Pedaling through the dark currents
I had an accurate copy
A blueprint
Of the pleasure in me
Swirling black lilies totally ripe
He
offers a handshake
Crooked five fingers
Form a pattern
Yet to be matched
Swirling black lilies totally ripe
A secret code carved
In the palm of fingers
Form a pattern
Yet to be matched
Swirling
black lilies totally ripe
Morsecoding signals
Pulsate
Wake me up
From hibernate
On the surface simplicity
But the darkest pit in me
Is pagan poetry
Pagan poetry
I love him I love him I love him I love him
She loves him she loves him she loves him she loves him
I love him I love him I love him I love him
This time I’m going to keep him
This time I’m going to keep him all
This time I’m going to keep him all for myself
Björk
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Dawn of a New Century
Imagine. Our planet floating silently in space.
Around it,
a white dove flies—forever circling.
Every one
hundred years, the dove’s wing
gently
touches the face of the earth. The time it
would take
for the feathered wing to wear this
planet
down to nothing is eternity.
Within
eternity time passes. Within time there
is change.
Soon the wing of the white dove will
touch our
world again.
The dawn
of a new century.
Time for a new beginning.
Now is eternity
At the break of
Dawn of a century
A thousand years
Of joy and tears
We leave behind
Love is our destiny
Celebrate the
Dawn of a century
Let voices ring
Rejoice and sing
Now is the time
Now is eternity
Love is our destiny
Dawn of a century
From Dreamcatcher
Secret
Garden
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david looking back
for jonathan (1947 – 2001)
do you recall the day we met
the air was hot, the sand was wet
with Summer sweat shed by golden bodies?
you looked around, you lost your shoe
the sand was brown, the sky was blue
were you a child lost on some vast horizon?
and looking back i realize
it wasn’t just the challenge in your eyes
that stole my soul
and sold my reason.
no one could ever take your place
no one with that perfect face of one
who always wins at cards & races—
too bad the joker forced your hand
dived below the scorching sand
came back up on land to show
the ace of spades instead of Summer.
and looking back I can recall
i never could know you at all
i was mad
and in great demand of loving.
now looking back i’m so amazed
we stumbled with such perfect grace
lost our place
now must we wait forever?
i always thought you might return
to test the climate or to learn
to yearn to see
how i was really doing—
what’s left to me are memories
static waves upon a torrid sea
still life memories are better than
never knowing you when you
loved me.
and looking back i realize
it wasn’t just the sadness in your eyes
that stole my Summer soul
and sold my reason.
you looked around, you lost your shoe
the sand was black, the sky was too
were you the child who tried to find the ocean?
you see my face is overcast
like the sea when the sun is masked
the Summer sank is gone at last
drowned with the memory of our past
now I think Fall's my favorite season.
JEFarrow
San Francisco
1984
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Raven
Girl
Now roam away my raven girl & roam away from me
And find a typhoon in the sky & find a howling sea
And beat your wild & roving wings & toss your raven hair
And sing a mad & joyous song & leave me with the dead
The night’s a cold & barren place the darkness seldom flies
The wind upon the howling sea will lift your feathers high
The sand that itches from the tide will claim the steps I’ve sown
The whispers in the ocean deep will pick my weary bones
What murmurs in your raven heart have taken you from sleep
What raging on a foreign shore has left me here to weep
What clashing in the nightmare winds have stirred your angry dreams
What thunder on the darkling plain has never been foreseen
I long to roll among the seas & hear the current cry
I long to blend among the waves & never questions why
I long to shift above the sands & never come to rest
I long for raptures never known while lying at your breast
So roam away my raven girl & roam away from me
And find a typhoon in the sky & find a howling sea
And beat your wild & roving wings & toss your raven hair
And sing a mad & joyous song & leave me with the dead
Richard
& Mimi Fariña
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SEE YOU AGAIN?
Traces of silver shattered on the moon
Sent shafts of glow to earth below
Somewhere in the shadows new love is born
Lost in the darkness light still grows
And sometime I’d like to see you again
Walk in the warmth of your smile
Sometime I still believe we could be friends
Make love again for just awhile
There was nothing more beautiful in this entire world
Than that promising desire in your eyes
Now evening knows the loss of light
Just as I had to watch our passion die
And sometime I’d like to see you again
Walk in the warmth of your smile
Sometime I believe we still could be friends
Make love again for just awhile
Halo of autumn shines like the dawn
As I stroll down to the sea
Torches are lit for those who can love
The cold is growing close to me
Sometime I’d like to see you again
Relive those golden memories
Sometime I believe we still could be friends
Share forever, you and me
Sometime I’d like to see you again
Walk in the warmth of your smile
Sometimes I believe we still could be friends
Make love again…for just awhile
JFFarrow
San Francisco 1985
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Mantra
to a Holy One
i
have your picture
the
one with the halo
i
light a candle
before
it on my table
i
offer prayers up only to thee
i
have your painting
nudes
with wings of fire
ice
on their bodies
melting
with desire
i
see you this way too
why
is your love so cruel
when
you know how much i long for you
i’m
mesmerized by all these things you do
i
light the candle
ignite
the incense too
i
spread the ashes on the floor
please
come down to my door
i'm
nothing
i'm
alone
within
&
without
You
O Holy Saint
child of affliction
your magick paints
such a lonely benediction
draws
my
heart
blue
so
true
i love you
love you
you
i
love
you
JEFarrow
Honolulu
1972
