1. |
Errant Sons
05:48
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Four sons taken over the hills, three gone over the sea
They went in search of fortune but found mostly misery
Tyrants drafted four by force, three went of their own free will
What difference does it make - in the end, we wonder still.
Whole generations lost to war and endless toil
Now seven sons lie hidden, camouflaged in foreign soil
Who would come and bring them home, ensure their safe return?
Or even find their remains and retrieve us their bones?
Four marching to the south, three striding to the east
No way to foretell when to celebrate their greater feast
Does fire kiss their brows? Or icy waves their mouths?
A cloud of unknowing accompanies our busy hours.
Only the winds respond: incomprehensible!
Now seven sons are scattered to all directions ordinal
Pray hear me gusts and gales, grant me this one request
At least deliver them this song and sing it to their bones!
Rise and remember how you walked like a skeleton
Pass through fire, cross the blood-red sea
Leave all dross behind, learn again to walk like a skeleton
Head ever homeward, from dreams and doubts set free.
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2. |
Hammurabi Lay Wounded
03:57
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My kinsman was a healer
An ancient riddle-weaver
He lay bleeding as some jeered, some wagered:
"Now judge thyself, O exalted lawmaker!"
The court in shambles, the nation torn
A leader once great, now lay forlorn
With a halo of blood, cracked and gory
A blackened crown, a faded desert glory.
He hears the mocking chant: "Now be a law unto yourself!"
And they stood in confusion
Could be it's all an allusion
To a world not so far removed
Of tooth and claw, an ever closing law.
The world is a swindler, it wears a mask
Of patient smiles, of forgiveness vast
And still beneath it, it hails the scales
Of retribution, of scourge and chain.
It bears the crushing task to be a law unto itself.
My kinsman is a healer
An ancient riddle-weaver
Three thousand years and more
Caught in a slow-motion regicide.
Nothing has changed, the sun still glares
For us the burden remains the same
To be born, to toil, to die and to sing:
"The king is dead, long live the king!"
For us the heavy task to be a law unto oneself.
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3. |
Fields of Strife Forever
08:20
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Into a town once rode a sullen stranger
Clad in black, his face a mask of woe
About him all could sense an air of danger
An outlaw or a soldier, none could know.
Who dared approach just faced a wall of silence
A fortress built to stand whatever might befall
But a siege of spirits struck a fateful frailty
And glass after glass, it began to dissolve.
Pour me more! He cried out
And you shall learn what's this about.
And soon he uttered prayers, uttered curses
His tongue now quickened by the drink and smoke
Do pour one for yourself and hear these verses
And their story of the cruelest, blackest yoke.
If we believe the words of this old drifter
He had lived to see the fall of all he knew
He had killed to serve the king and serve the emperor
He had died to see his self emerge anew.
Serve him wine, serve him ale
Ease the unfolding of his tale.
He told his audience that he was cursed to wander
Through the battlegrounds and through the fields of slain
Stranger still, the grave, it would not take him
That he had died and risen and died and risen again.
So then in the course of many lifetimes
Within him grew a hatred of this spell
This bewitchment that denied his right and license
At last to bid these fields of strife farewell.
Fill his glass to the brim
Some drop of solace let it bring.
And like a drowning man will clutch at strawy vessels
He too clung to tales conveyed by word of mouth
That named his tormentor an olden god, a wizard, or a devil
Who ruled men's fates like Sun rules in the south.
Determined to be freed from his affliction
His travels led him to a distant shore
It was the dwelling place of that supposed magician
At least according to some ancient lore.
Let his cup overflow
It all took place so long ago.
With trembling steps he climbed an arcane tower
Be it devil, be it God or be God's son
Swearing grim that this would be the hour
He'd introduce them to the barrel of his gun.
Finally breaching deep into the inmost chamber
Before him stood an eldritch looking glass
The price of existence: eternal warfare
In the mirror his own mercenary heart.
Oh, raise your glasses high
We pay the same price, you and I.
Oh, raise your glasses high
We walk the same fields, you and I.
Oh, raise your glasses high
We bear the same cross, you and I.
Oh, raise your glasses high
We tread those same fields, you and I.
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4. |
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Alas, it could no longer be denied that it had come to pass:
The merciless invader held the capital at last.
The last militias disbanded and prayed to flee unseen
Lest their band be caught and fed to the war machine.
A solitary rifleman
Survived against all odds
Deep into the woods he ran
Led by fate or gods
Exhaustion turned to awe
As the trees began to speak:
“Still your weary heart
Come join the brethren of the green!”
“Come, brother beckoned by the call
Lay your life before the wood
If you wish to hasten foeman's fall
Come join the brotherhood!
All the blood spilt will form a bond
Wherever green is worn
Those who see it shall bear witness how
A terrible beauty is born.”
Listening to the whisper of the leaves
Their emerald promise
Of this arboreal resistance
He felt his spirits lift.
The vastness of the wood
The sphere of man so small
Thus the soldier understood
This is how empires fall.
“Thrive and strive on the front that life begot
May it take a hundred years
The ageless augurs measure not
The passing of days nor tears.
Let your roots take hold in the ground
Withstand and work in silence
For crumbling creeds, they make no sound
And time is the gentlest violence.”
Birch would be his aide and bride
His shield and warden oak
Thorns and nettles by his side
Leaves and moss his cloak.
The mold of man transfigured
And in a summer's span
The boundless green enfolded
That weary rifleman.
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5. |
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"Come follow, follow, follow"
Said my heart to me
Whither shall I follow thee?
"Follow me to the gallows tree"
I shall not, I shall not, I shall not follow
For death is forbidden unto me
Instead I'll take my hammer
And nail you to that gallows tree.
I'll find a sturdy oak or pine
With branches steadfast and strong
That helped smother so many a bloodline
Never asking why, never asking for what.
An English elm will do, or a sycamore tree
That stood watch since ages men forgot
So tireless in its duty to oversee
The marriage of those betrothed to the knot.
Or mayhap an ash or a yew
A wooden gate fit for a king
Or a sorcerer to pass through
A bark-covered steed for that deathly ride
And whether gold or thorns upon the brow
They all need a spear to pierce their side.
I'll nail my heart to the anguish-tree
So that it may come to learn.
I'll bind my heart to the glory-tree
So it too may come to know
A stillness of trees.
I'll nail my heart to the weeping ash,
So that it may come to learn.
I'll bind my heart to the shining ash
So it too may come to know
A few of those ashen keys.
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6. |
Paarmasaari
06:28
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Jossain haikean harmaana huokuvan taivaan
Ja tunkkaisen tummina vellovain vesien välillä
Kurssia kääntämään, airoa vääntämään käy
Vaan yhä uudelleen savukiehkuraan takertuu ihminen
Jonka korskeita kapteenin harteita lysyyn lyöpi
Maan äärestä äärehen peittävän pettymyksen
Paino niin murskaava
Ulappa rannatonna kysymysnä huokaa
Mikä lie päättyväksi merkitään
Kun symboli viimeinenkin särjetään?
Niin haikean harmaana huokuvan taivaan
Ja tunkkaisen tummina vellovain vesien välillä
Lipuu venhoni pienoinen lastusen lailla
Hiljaa ohi paarmasaaren viheliäisen
Ah! Vuossatain paino ylkän viitaksi harteillain ylenee
Ja tyhjyys kirkastuu harmaasta maidonvalkeaan
Nousee värittömyyden syöveristä hunaja kullanhehkuinen
Enkä siinä hetkessä ihmettele laisinkaan
Että uupuneen maan reunimmaisilla rannoilla
Yhä palvellaan Maariaa.
Sillä viisaus on lempeä leski
Sillä viisaus on näyttäytynyt minulle muodossa lempeän lesken
Sillä viisaus on lempeä leski
Joka on tuhatkunta miestä tuntenut
Ja tuhatkunta hautaan saattanut.
Tuhatkunta kertaa väsynyt pettymään ihmisen sukuun.
Tuhatkunta kertaa itsensä sulkenut kiviseen muotoon kuun.
Tuhatkunta kertaa itsensä kätkenyt kuoreen honkapuun.
Tuhatkunta kertaa itsensä kehrännyt sisään kylkiluun.
Tuhatkunta kertaa itsensä takonut veitsiin paarmansuun.
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7. |
Illankoi & Eudaimonia
07:41
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Taipuu vihree ruusunkajoon
Vaipuu outoon valoon ja oon
Varronnut sua illankoi.
Verhonasi ehtoorusko
Roomalaisen runon usko
Veren virsi väreissäs soi.
Väistämättömyyden vaatteen
Vääjäämättömyyden aatteen
Hehkussas sun nähdä voi.
Viininpunaan punottuna
Puiden latvaan laskettuna
Liekehtien se ilkamoi.
Huvetessaan helmeilevän
Ehtymistään enteilevän
Maljan juon viime pisaraan
Käy sen läpi valonsäie
Hurmeen kirjon hento häive
Karkeloi ja katoo hämärään.
Lyököön läpi mun myös lieke
Leimuava valkee nielköön
Sameuteni kitaansa
Tee myös musta kirkas malja
Taivaan loimun julman kielen
Asuttama astia.
Piirtyköön punainen aava
Auki ammottava haava
Kudoksessa maailman
Illan hämärässä näen
Vaiti väreilevän väen
Rajan raskaudesta nousevan.
Kerro mistä kyse, murra
Äänettömän läsnäolon
Taikapiirinne sietämätön!
Sano ääneen sanat, joiden
Loviin ootte kätkeytyneet
Joihin luotteet luovutettu on.
Laula laulun laskoksihin
Leirin tehnyt kaunis hovi
Öiden suusta läpikäyneiden.
Veisaa runon rintamille
Sirkanluusta linnan pystyttänyt
Lintukuoro kuolleiden.
Huokosista hiljaisuuden
Hauraan kuiskeen hetken kuulen
Luulen niin, mä ainakin.
Vastauksia vaatiessain
Käsitän kuinka äänen sain
Kukintona ajan kaikujen.
Kuka kysyy, kuka vastaa?
Jos ääneni on ainoastaan
Amalgaamilainaa aikojen.
Musta malmi tuonen pajan
Solmittuna solmuun ajan
Elohopean helleenisen.
Syyt ja synnyt selvitän tän
Punoksen sen auki kierrän
Valoon vajoavan auringon!
Lailla laulun alkemistin
Vanhat säikeet uusiks taitan
Laitan muotoon ehompaan.
Hiipuu loistees hiljaa, korjaa
Kohta tähtikenttäin viljaa
Kun sä läpi käyt yön porttien.
Kantavaks tee jotta voit sen
Kantaa halki avaruuden
Soi hymni eudaimoninen.
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8. |
Hiljaisuuden Taakse Maa
05:50
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Unessani ukonkorennolla ratsastava kaikkiallisen Jumalan poika
Palaa kierrettyään niin yliset kuin aliset maailmat.
Hän hymyilee lempeästi ja virkkoo, ettei ole nähnyt mitään
Joka välttyisi kaikkinielevältä liekiltä.
Ei ihmisten keskuudessa.
Ei jumalten keskuudessa.
Ei esi-isien keskuudessa.
Ei levottomien henkien keskuudessa.
Ei eläinkunnan keskuudessa.
Ei kasvikunnan keskuudessa.
Ei kivikunnan keskuudessa.
Hän ei kai nähnyt mitään
Joka säästyisi tulelta
Pirunratsu pihtihuuli
Vaihtuu valkeeksi oriksi
Pahanvarsa parkutuuli
Heleäksi hummaksi
Jonka vetämänä ikuisuus keikkuen käyvi
Helkavaunuin helkkyen kulkevi
Kääntää päivät öiksi
Yöt tyhjiksi lukien
Kultarenkaat vaskivöiksi
Vasken tomuksi pukien.
Eikä sen korkean voudin velkomatta jää
Yksikään lainaksi annettu nimi
Kantasana karhuamatta
Perimuoto perimättä.
Jää hiljaisuuden taakse maa.
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