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The plains aflame with spring
are purified to ash.
The same refrain we sing
for every year that comes to pass
when everything we are
erased, sprays to the stars
bouquets transmuted by
the change that overcame.
When you and I
now gaze into each other's eyes
the pain of transformation
burns that inner fire brighter.
And everything we are
expires through the heart
and we both come apart
to marry in the flame again.
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we ply in maps
we are certain that the world fits on a page
in a poem
and believe that what we see
doesn't slip into the discontinuities
we use to lead our children through
this quaint diorama
we are real people living in our imagination
at simile speed
failing to keep up with a life led beyond
a metaphor's needs
that sheds and reissues all that continues
without seams
the dispersal of seeds
we are all sages and saints waiting to happen
we are real people living in our imagination
and it is more beautiful than can be expected
but we scratch and sniff at our books
in attempts for the actual scent
lord, we try to fade into the sky
but we come home alone
we come home small
cuz no belief has any meat at all...
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You want me acting like you're just another woman
Don't want to live outside this moment
with the serious things I might say to you
So you're just another woman
I'm just another man
We're not the last two people or anything
You never called me lover
I never gave you cause
It's such a sad strange shame, this drama, so
I'm gonna tell you the truth
Honey and venom, I'm a conduit
I don't mean to be rude, but brave
Words hurt when they go unsaid, so
cover your ears, you'd rather not hear the few
serious things I might say to you
At least you know I mean them
You just pretend you're casual
like we are not both responsible
And I can barely touch you
cuz you shrink from grander plans
out of fear it'll get out of hand
So I have nothing to lose
Honey and venom, I'm a conduit
I don't mean to be rude, but babe
your affections only come when boozed
Hey, cover your ears
you'd rather not hear the few
serious things I might say to you
And it's true that if we cannot bear the weight
of our past relations
who's to say that we could ever bear enough
to love in spite of the pain we've caused
to love in spite of pain?
But you want me acting like you're just another woman
So you can thank yourself
when that's what I start doin, baby
I'm just another man
and we are both afraid
of the serious things I might say to you
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The sky was bronze bleeding
We sat waiting to watch the sun setting
But lord, our question's not in the sun
nor is our answering
You scream and you shout
You pierce and you pout
You clear and you cloud
but still you get yourself into these
circumstance that knock you down
And until goal and ground
that poor ego will not surrender, not surrender
I knew you weren't asleep
just dying to more and more and more
one world at a time
sinking sight through levels of illusion
You scream and you shout
You flee and you flout
You shrine and you shroud
but still you get yourself into these
circumstance that knock you down
And until goal and ground
that poor ego will not surrender, not surrender
Even now, you fight it
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River, river, carry me on
Living river, carry me on
River, river, carry me on
To the place where I come from
So deep, so wide, will you take me on your back for a ride
If I should fall, would you swallow me deep inside
River, show me how to float, I feel like I'm sinking down
Thought that I could get along
But here in this water, my feet won't touch the ground
I need something to turn myself around
Going away, away toward the sea
River deep, can you lift up and carry me
Oh roll on through the heartland
'Til the sun has left the sky
River, river, carry me high
'Til the washing of the water, make it all alright
Let your waters reach me, like she reached me tonight
Letting go, it's so hard, the way it's hurting now
To get this love untied
So tough to stay with this thing, cos if I follow through
I face what I denied
I'll get those hooks out of me
And I'll take out the hooks that I sunk deep in your side
Kill that fear of emptiness, that loneliness I hide
River, oh river, river running deep
Bring me something that will let me get to sleep
In the washing of the water will you take it all away
Bring me something to take this pain away
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I went out on a limb
grasping at all of the pretty things I've seen
recur in my time machine dream
and fell asleep naïve
unaware I might never find my way to back to the tree
here I lay, lost enchanted underneath
the canopy of fantasy
and I won't ever come back
We are threaded through time
by people we intuit we could be
mistranslating infinite peace
but when I recognize
my higher nature peck the shell
I'll split this cell
differentiate, but stay
and in remaining, meditate on gleaming grace
that I don't ever come back
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t-plus one million seconds since we were shut in
air one-half atmosphere, tasting faintly of tin
food from a tube and crewmates rude from strain
countdown five years until we'll feel rain again
muscles atrophy but appetites grow
we take up new habits to stay in control
in gravity, love was clumsy and raced
but coitus goes slow in zero with grace
so kick off your flight suit
and join me tumbling above
the beds where mere mortals make love
you know I want you
we both have nowhere to go
watching our world in the rearview window
it's a wafer-thin lifeboat, keeping our cosm contained
borne to the cosmos, bearing our lives in its frame
minds made to wander wither when shut in a pen
but in zero with grace there's infinite space
and so few other men
in gravity, love was just part of the game
but here it appears we need love to keep ourselves sane
so kick off your flightsuit
and join me tumbling above
the beds where mere mortals make love
you know I want you
we both have nowhere to go
watching our world in the rearview window
kick out the cameras
and let's slink off alone
from disappointed viewers at home
I know you want to
we both have nowhere to go
till we're rich
but wish we'd kept video
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22. |
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You simmering heat
You morning dew
I have to quiet so far down to hear you
Your yearning voice, whispering
carries away the louder sounds I'm used to
I'm a rounded stone in a trickling stream
a glowing coal enwombed in ashy bedding
Erode away my name and face
my time and space to deeper places than I've given you
Relax your gates
My love awaits
to fold into your quiet depths and patient truths
to couple with the subtle grace that lives through you...
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Let it all get out
Set it all splayed there on the table
If we're to make this work
none of our horses can stay in the stable
chomping at the bit
churning up dust with restless hooves
Empty your pockets
and unpack the boxes you've left underfoot
And let it all get out
Open up your heart and throat and sacrum
If we're to see this through
we must see through our explanations
Squeezing till it hurts
and squandering our limited resources
and begging for the worst
to justify our wasted sacred forces
It's time for full disclosure
time this cold war's over
time to own our demons
time to meet our reasons
time to bare our teeth
and let the plovers clean them
And let it all get out
Stand up and uncap that volcano
If we're to live at all
we must acknowledge the buried anger
pushing at our doors
a still unexploited energy source
So dig to the core
and do not be afraid of who you are, anymore
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You can watch the video for this track at http://youtube.com/michaelgarfield
I'm falling out of these open eyes
filling up all of the world outside
I'm seeing more than fits in my mind
spilling the bliss out through bright surprise
If there's one thing I know, it's that
angels appear when you stop trying to prove them
and the clouds clear
you don't have to move
I'm falling out of these open eyes
challenging all my ideas of size
What was once narrow feels miles wide
all of a sudden in all of time
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