Hymns 6

The Lake of Innisfree

I will rise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall find some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While standing on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

And this old care shall fade…

W.B. Yeats

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light behind the veil

the nights last forever

and the days

go slowly

one by one

alone in the city

telephones ringing

constantly

but where has love flown?

i’ve lived in darkness

for so long

it became the only part of me

but then you came along

dared to look behind the veil that blinded me

cared to look behind the veil & now I see—

the day you looked into me

i found a small bird on a raging sea

flying alone singing out for me

small bird on a raging sea

friends I always gathered

for libra is my name

but none cared to stay long

to play the frantic rules of my silly games

i began to go mad

reaching out for grace & for fame

but you brought a new light

dispelled the fog, the distance &

the pain

the day you looked into me

i found a small bird on a raging sea

flying alone as I followed in the rain

a small bird flying home again

JEFarrow

Honolulu, 1972

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LULLABY

O for a voice like thunder, and a tongue

To drown the throat of war! – When the senses

Are shaken, and the soul is driven to madness

Who can stand? When the souls of the oppressed

Fight in the troubled air that rages, who can stand?

When the whirlwind of fury comes from the

Throne of God, when the frowns of his countenance

Drives the nation together, who can stand?

When Sin claps his broad wings over the battle,

And sails rejoicing in the flood of Death;

When souls are torn to everlasting fire,

And fiends of Hell rejoice upon the stain.

O who can stand? O who hath caused this?

O who can answer at the throne of God?

The Kings and Nobles of the Land have done it!

Hear it not, Heaven, thy Ministers have done it!

William Blake

As found on Elemental/Loreena McKennitt

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Houses

You have many houses

One for every season

Mountains in your windows

Violets in your hands

Thru your English meadows

Your blue-eyed horses wander

You’re in Colorado for the Spring

When the Winter finds you

You fly to where it’s Summer

Rooms that face the ocean
Moonlight on your bay

Mermaids swift as Dolphins

Paint the air with diamonds

You are like a seagull,

As you sail.

Why do you fly

Bright feathers sometimes in my dreams

The shadows of your wings

Fall over my face

I can feel no air

I can find no peace

Brides in black ribbons

Witches in white

Fly in thru the windows

Fly out thru the night.

Why do I think I’m dying sometimes in

my dreams

I see myself a child

Running thru the trees

Looking everywhere

Crawling on my knees

Searching for myself

Searching for my life

I cannot see the leaves

I cannot see the light.

Then I see you walking

Just beyond the forest

Walking very quickly

Walking by yourself

Your shoes are silver

Your coat is made of velvet

Your eyes are shining

Your voice is sweet and clear

“Come on,” you say, “Come with me

I’m going to the castle”

All the bells are ringing

The weddings have begun

But I can only stand here

I cannot move to follow

I’m burning in the shadows

And freezing in the sun.

There are people with you

Living in your houses

People from your childhood

Remember how you were…

You were always flying

Nightingale of sorrow

Singing bird

(With rainbows on your wings)

From JUDITH

Judy Collins

Amazon.com Widgets

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[Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) came to the throne in c. 1370 B-C. to reign as co-regent with his father Amenhotep III (c. 1397-1360 B.C.). He attempted a religious revolution in which faith was focused on one god - Aten (the solar disk).]

The Great Hymn to Aten

Thy dawning is beautiful in the eastern horizon,
O living Aten, creator of life!
When you have dawned in the lightland,
You fill every land with your beauty.
You are beauteous, great, radiant,
High over every land;
Your rays embrace the lands,
To the limit of all that you made.
Being Re, you reach their limits,
You bend them for the son whom you love;
Though you are far, your rays are on earth,
Though one sees you, your strides are unseen.

When you set in the western horizon,
Earth is in darkness as if in death;
One sleeps in chambers, heads covered,
One eye does not see another.
Were they robbed of their goods,
That are under their heads,
People would not remark it.
Every lion comes from its den,
All the serpents bite;
Darkness hovers, earth is silent,
As their maker rests in lightland.

Earth brightens when you dawn in lightland,
When you shine as Aten of daytime;
As you dispel the dark,
As you cast your rays,
The Two Lands are in festivity.
Awake they stand on their feet,
You have roused them;
Bodies cleansed, clothed,
Their arms adore your appearance.
The entire land sets out to work,
All beasts browse on their herbs;
Trees, herbs are sprouting,
Birds fly from their nests,
Their wings greeting your ka.
All flocks frisk on their feet,
All that fly up and alight,
They live when you dawn for them.
Ships fare north, fare south as well,
Roads lie open when you rise;
The fish in the river dart before you,
Your rays are in the midst of the sea.

Who makes seed grow in women,
Who creates people from sperm;
Who feeds the son in his mother's womb,
Who soothes him to still his tears.
Nurse in the womb,
Giver of breath,
To nourish all that he made.
When he comes from the womb to breathe,
On the day of his birth,
You open wide his mouth,
You supply his needs.
When the chick in the egg speaks in the shell,
You give him breath within to sustain him;
When you have made him complete,
To break out from the egg,
He comes out from the egg,
To announce his completion,
Walking on his legs he comes from it.

How many are your deeds,
Though hidden from sight,
O Sole God beside whom there is none!
You made the earth as you wished, you alone,
All peoples, herds, and flocks;
All upon earth that walk on legs,
All on high that fly on wings,
The lands of Khor and Kush,
The land of Egypt.
You set every man in his place,
You supply their needs;
Everyone has his food,
His lifetime is counted.
Their tongues differ in speech,
Their characters likewise;
Their skins are distinct,
For you distinguished the peoples.

You made Hapy in dat (the Netherworld),
You bring him when you will,
To nourish the people,
For you made them for yourself.
Lord of all who toils for them,
Lord of all lands who shines for them,
Aten of daytime, great in glory!
All distant lands, you make them live,
You made a heavenly Hapy descend for them;
He makes waves on the mountains like the sea,
To drench their fields and their towns.
How excellent are your ways, O Lord of eternity!
A Hapy from heaven for foreign peoples,
And all lands' creatures that walk on legs,
For Egypt the Hapy who comes from dat.

Your rays nurse all fields,
When you shine they live, they grow for you;
You made the seasons to foster all that you made,
Winter to cool them, heat that they taste you.
You made the far sky to shine therein,
To behold all that you made;
You alone, shining in your form of living Aten,
Risen, radiant, distant, near.
You made millions of forms from yourself alone,
Towns, villages, fields, the river's course;
All eyes observe you upon them,
For you are the Aten of daytime on high.

You are in my heart,
There is no other who knows you,
Only your son, Neferkheprure, Sole-one-of-Re,
Whom you have taught your ways and your might.
Those on earth come from your hand as you made them,
When you have dawned they live,
When you set they die;
You yourself are lifetime, one lives by you.
All eyes are on your beauty until you set,
All labor ceases when you rest in the west;
When you rise you stir everyone for the King,
Every leg is on the move since you founded the earth.
You rouse them for your son who came from your body,
The King who lives by Maat, the Lord of the Two Lands,
Neferkheprure, Sole-ane-of-Re,
The Son of Re who lives by Maat, the Lord of crowns,
Akhenaten, great in his lifetime;
And the great Queen whom he loves, the Lady of the Two Lands,
Nefer-nefru-Aten Nefertiti, living forever.

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stratosphere

i looked for the sun

it was starting to slip

i looked for the moon

it was shattered

i looked at the man

he was walking away

just like it never really mattered

i rose from the ground

and started to fly

the sun was a burning diamond

i looked for your eyes

and started to cry

then fell on a sun-swept island

i walked in your room

and started to dress

i could see you in the mirror

i looked at the moon

she fell from the sky

nude & trembling nearer

i looked at the sun

he was slipping away

i looked for the moon

she was shattered

i looked at the man

he was walking away

right then I knew it didn’t matter

i wish I were a shooting star

burning out in space

i’d fly right thru the stratosphere

leave a comet in my place

i went to your room & started to strip

i could see you under the covers

i went to your room & tried to confess

i could never be your lover

i looked for the sun it was starting to fall

i looked for the moon it was shattered

i looked for the man but the man wasn’t there

how could it ever really matter

i looked at the sun the sun wasn’t there

i looked for the moon it was shattered

i looked for the man but the man wasn’t there

just like it never really mattered

JEFarrow

San Francisco 1978

So We'll Go No More A-Roving

by George Gordon, Lord Byron.

So we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart still be as loving,
And the moon still be as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul outwears the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.

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The Haunted Palace

by Edgar Allen Poe

In the greenest of our valleys
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace--
Radiant palace--reared its head.
In the monarch Thought's dominion--
It stood there!
Never seraph spread a pinion
Over fabric half so fair!

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow,
(This--all this--was in the olden
Time long ago,)
And every gentle air that dallied,
In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
A wingèd odor went away.

Wanderers in that happy valley,
Through two luminous windows, saw
Spirits moving musically,
To a lute's well-tunèd law,
Round about a throne where, sitting
(Porphyrogene!)
In state his glory well befitting,
The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing
Was the fair palace-door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
And sparkling evermore,
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty
Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch's high estate.
(Ah, let us mourn!--for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him desolate!)
And round about his home, the glory
That blushed and bloomed
Is but dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.

And travellers now, within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows see
Vast forms, that move fantastically
To a discordant melody,
While, like a ghastly rapid river,
Through the pale door
A hideous throng rush out forever
And laugh--but smile no more.

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