1. |
Who Lives Here
03:36
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. who lives here where the white doves nest ... midst unmortered stones & immortal rest ... who lives here where the yew shades black ... and the thorn apple stands near the black bole crack ... who live there nether illimitable sky ... on the black green heath where the kestrels fly . you lived here ... do you live here still? ... through the firefly nights on the shadowed hill ... where the vixen's cream & the dark moth owl on velvet wings entwine like flowers ... who lives here neat illimitable sky ... on the black green heath where the kestrels fly?
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2. |
Ballad Of The Cutty Wren
07:45
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. where are you going said this one to that one . we may not tell you the other replied . we go to the wild wood, the old dark green wild wood . go to the wild wood came the reply . what will you do there with bells & with antlers ... with silver & copper & linen besides ... go kill the cutty wren, & bear her back again ... go kill the cutty wren came the reply . how will you kill her? ...with bows & with arrows ... rain forged yew dagger, moon cut yew staff? ... we'll kill her with cannons, with big guns & cannons ... bring forth the body & purge it with fire ... we'll bound her with linen & pierce her with iron ... and bury her darkly in new-cut holm oak ... & deep in the dark earth the worm will devour here ... then never no more will she come here again . though you may bind here, bring forth the body ... you will betray her here once more & again ... go kill the cutty wren all in the green wood, go slay the the cutty wren once more & again .
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3. |
Song Of Slowsand
02:57
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. raw & red sandstone, swift & slight . footsteps fall like clouds at five to twelve of night, like slip like coats the moving hand : slow as sand . soft dream of nothing drifts & falls ... while sandstone slips & granite weeps ... mountains weather to the deep - forever's fall is marked out in weeks .
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4. |
Monument & Effigy
04:10
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. all the insect silence, all the darkened halls - idols failed & fallen, holding vigil over all . awaiting first footfall, the earth may sunder, the cries cry rape ... supple & lithe & as subtle as subtle as serpents, as snakes . smoke & pearls, southern lights wreathe - ivy flaming unwinding in colluded air ... smoke & pearls, crisp bright frostfire ... full moon waxing clear over pale cold forest stones, over paths that cross between, over paths that twist & turn - turn away .
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5. |
All Will Fade
03:06
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. trees plunder bones from the soil - unearthing secrets - lost when the leaves fall . all will fade & die . in the sun - winter sun - crying sun . when the rain falls, does the river know . the thunderclouds are sisters, seeding winds with snow . all will fade & die . in the sun - winter sun -crying sun - mantled, overthrown .
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6. |
Sparklenight
05:04
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. sparkles in the darkest night, coruscating, brilliant brilliant light . is the air really made of light? ..its all right, its all right ... though the darkness can be kept at bay - it will never, never go away : night is the lack of day - away, away! and in the waterfall, see the silver bodies twine & jump - & though the water falls, gravity can't touch your soul at all ...why then must we always fall ... always writhing, held in thrall - pale eyes staring to appall the call .
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7. |
Cries Distant Calling
04:06
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. cries, distant calling on the wings of the wind ... dust that drifts without ceasing ... evermore . leaves turning, falling through the air to the ground ... on the road to forever - never home . all through the night, I will watch the light that shines from the crack, and the darkness dies - again, she cries . when will I see you? - will the leaves grow once more? will the dust ever settle? - never home .
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8. |
Thistles
05:30
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. darkness rise, rising from the ground . rising all around . last bright disc of western gold . leaves like thoughts aswirl with fire . great grey battlements & towers . on the distant blasted marches . dream of softness, pomegranates - hidden whiteness veiled & torn . eye with iris black & bright . incense wreathing in the night . bloom & brush of bruising touch . lost within the garden walls . and that which once you were is gone - and in the world you are reborn .
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9. |
The Cruel Mother
08:33
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. there was a woman of the north, o the rose & the Lyndsey o . she fell in love with her father's Clark - down by the Greenwood side o . he courted her for a year & and a day - then here the young man didi she betray . she leaned her back against thorn - there she had two pretty babes born . she took her penknife keen & sharp - she has stabbed them to the heart . a she was a walking to her father's hall - she saw three babes a playing at ball . babes o babes it's you I can tell - what kind of death do I have to die . seven long years a fish in the flood - seven years a bird in the wood . seven years a long in the warning bells - seven years in the flames of hell .
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10. |
Miracles Beginning
08:14
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. the dream is of a day belonging, of being solitary, yet more - with many, yet alone - still strong, and yet - still loving ..loving the more . there is Sun on the land then, there are miracles beginning ... there is learning at hand then ... there is knowing, there is giving . there is giving : moments living like the morning, to be renewed time & again - broken symmetries adorning - grieving movements all : all as praise . there is Sun on the land then, there are miracle beginning ...there is learning at hand then, there is knowing - there is giving . though the iron cold of others, their nailing rain claiming your name ... though their murder-will rule over you, you will live by your truest name ...
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Martyn Bates UK
(For CD version write to Jerry at eyeless@eyelessingaza.com)
voice +acoustic w/songs/ e-guitars/kybd/ tape. Since 1980,
Eyeless in Gaza, & since 2000, Twelve Thousand Days, Mick Harris etc. Knew stuff / Forgot stuff / cared too much / cared too little - perhaps. 2023:current band = Kodax Strophes … with Martyn reportedly "still longing for 'Christmas in my soul". kodaxstrophes.bandcamp.com
... more
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