1. |
Love & Madness.
04:09
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Love & Madness
Love & Madness (Love & Madness)
Love & Madness (Love & Madness)
Love & Madness – that’s what we live for!
He’s been to the mountain, drowned in the Sea,
Been to the inner penitentiary,
Put his shoulder to the wheel in England’s demonic mills.
Cut through the kingdom & the pyramid stone,
Cut through the flesh & he cut through the bone,
And he grew older than ancient in Albion’s angelic hills.
He’s carried a goddess made of feather & moon,
He’s carried some cross & he’s carried a tune.
Everybody knew him as one who went barefoot in the snow.
He’s carried the stigma – one of air & smoke,
He’s carried the battalion & he’s carried the joke –
Aphrodite threw him - they all said it was the highlight of the show!
When he was a boy, in Inverness,
He saw that even the clouds possessed Consciousness,
And still he carries that sweet wound to this very day.
Possessed as he is of this inner sight
He wonders how yon minotaurs make it through the night,
Clingin’ to trinkets & laws – I mean, what can ya say?
His eyes were blessed & spinnin’ in spires,
His eyes, it’s been said, became raging fires
When he saw her on the balcony brushin’ down her flaxen hair!
He was struck down by the sound of her lyre,
He heard her voice dancin’ through those wires,
And he was nailed to the sky & from that height he could only stare!
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2. |
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William Blake's Cathedral
Could swear I saw you in the Citadel
When the mist rose up from those ramparts & fields,
I was moving in the new morning all around the well,
I was dancin’ to be healed.
Carried upon the waves of Mystery,
No longer barking down the blind alleys of opinion,
Hailing those heroes of unspoken histories –
The king’s own noble, stalwart minions.
Barefoot in William Blake’s Cathedral –
Touch my forehead, open up these skies!
Barefoot in William Blake’s Cathedral –
I see the light in your eyes…
You manifested before me in the Spring,
Whisperin’ in the deep green glen,
My mind on fire & my eyes so blind
And you so full of Wonderin’!
On those silver trumpets, how the sunlight gleamed!
Into your service I was sent.
Surrendered & whirlin’ with my gaze upraised
In the refuge of Walt Whitman’s tent!
Take away this “I Am” from between you & me,
Movin’ ‘neath the firmament as in a trance.
Can I believe my eyes, what they so humbly see?
As the petals of the roses fall from your hair & from the palms of your hands!
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3. |
Invocation
05:18
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Invocation
Barbarian that I am, I bow before your hand.
I vow to make the sound that brings the Citadel down.
Here inside this cage of bone, wherein dwells this pounding bird –
This is where my passion for you has grown.
Have you heard the Invocation, have you heard?
Barbarian that I am, I humbly offer up this chant –
To kiss the blossom of your mouth, as I bow before you now.
As in another wild & ancient life, where once we walked, our feet unshod,
Have you heard me playing on my lute tonight?
Have you heard the Invocation, have you heard?
Have you heard, have you heard, have you heard
The Invocation, have you heard?
Barbarian that I am, I stand at your command.
And out there by that gate, two restless horses wait.
O, that I might say to you what Yeats failed to say to Maud Gonne.
Out on the edge of this trembling gypsy tongue –
Have you heard the Invocation, have you heard?
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4. |
Where Are You Now
03:37
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Where Are You Now
Where are you now, Adrasteia?
You who are called the Inescapable One,
Whose thighs are strong, whose belly is warm –
Where are you now, Adrasteia?
Where are you now, Europa?
Whose eyes are wide and wild as the rain,
Whose eyes are wide to the deepest pain –
Where are you now, Europa?
Where are you now, Ariadna?
Now that you’ve torn me from this hole in the ground,
Now that you’ve dragged me through the streets of the town,
Where are you now, Ariadna?
I’m just a man but something inside me rages to speak through this flesh
I’m just a man but something inside me rages to open this chest!
Where are you now, Scotia?
Your dark arms hold us as we weep by the sea.
Bring up your waves of Mercy!
Where are you now, Scotia?
Where are you now, Atalanta?
Your orphans call your name in the street.
Where is the balance of bitter and sweet?
Where are you now, Atalanta?
I’m just a man but something inside me rages to speak through this flesh
I’m just a man but something inside me rages to open this chest!
Where are you now, O Leto?
For centuries you’ve been hidden from sight.
We long to taste you in the stars tonight.
Where are you now, O Leto?
Where are you now, Sophia?
We drown in ignorance, we drown in greed
Walk among us and sow your seed.
O where are you now, Sophia?
Do you see? There … a lone Figure moving through the dark valley…
The deep scent of lavender…through all the night…
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5. |
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The Hunters, The Lance & The Horn
In the emerald green, where no children sing,
On the forest floor, near the hidden spring,
Amid diamonds & rubies & drops of blood,
The wounded one waits for instructions from above.
All the ladies in silk, the stable hands at dawn,
The young maids with their milk, the choir with its song,
As the daylight approaches & bleeds upon the stones –
Morning is gentle for all that they know.
All manner of austerities, all manner of grace,
All manner of prosperities, all manner of taste,
To the one who is bleeding on this mossy ground –
All is illusion save that one holy sound.
What is the nature of a tightly strung bow?
What is the flavor of an arrow let go?
What salutations, what words do you say,
What manner of etiquette as you fall upon your prey?
The song of the hound, the song of the horn,
The song of the flesh as it’s offered & torn.
It’s not in the response, they won’t find it in the call.
Tell them this treasure is fair game for all.
Bring on these hunters, the lance & the horn.
There is nothing to protect here – neither malice nor scorn.
Bring on these hunters to the mouth of my cave.
Tell them this beast is not afraid.
Tell them this beast is not afraid…
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6. |
Clancy
02:31
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Clancy
Clancy used to be an upright man, Clancy used to be corporeal.
Clancy used to slam the hammer, Clancy used to roll the wheel.
But one day he went to the hen house just to laugh in the face of doom.
Now when all the people look at him, mostly they look right through him.
Clancy put all his eggs in one basket
Now Clancy’s an invisible man.
Clancy had him a monkey at home that knew how to tap & to dance.
So he turned down the Queen of Arabia when she offered to dry clean his pants.
That very night when Clancy got home carrying a bouquet of bolts,
The house was empty, he was all alone – the monkey left a monkey note.
Clancy climbed the birch tree where the ruby-throated sparrow lived.
Thought he’d ask that sparrow if she knew where he should hang his wig.
Now he hoped & prayed to the heavens above she wouldn’t be just like all the rest.
But the proof was in the pudding, she put every last egg in one nest.
Some people go in for caviar & some people go in for clams.
Some people go in for broken cars & some people go in for cramps.
Some people act high & mighty while some people just gotta beg.
But Clancy is strictly transparent cause a what he done with his eggs.
You can put all your horns in your closet, you can put all your knots in your hair.
You can put all your catfish in your pocket & all your nuns on the stairs.
You can put all your clocks in a casket, send all your chairs out to be burned.
But this one about eggs & baskets – well that’s a difficult lesson to learn.
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7. |
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This I Remember (Be Not Denied)
This I remember just before they dragged me from the bed –
Some unsettling nightmare of theocracy.
Minstrels were falling, singers were losing their heads,
Still the air smelled less of burning flesh than hypocrisy.
This I remember just before they bound me to the stake.
A wild horse reared up & broke through the crowd.
The wind fed the embers & the ground began to quake,
And a hungry hunch-backed child cried out loud:
Be Not Denied! Be Not Denied! Be Not Denied!
“O my dear lady” I heard the captain say,
“Let not the Heart be corrupted or hurt”.
His soldiers burned the village before the light of day –
I myself heard him give the word.
“Nothin’ can harm you now!” someone somewhere yelled,
And I first saw the Messenger in his old woolen coat.
Gently he smiled, the torchlight upon him fell,
Against all orders, he gave us milk from a wild goat.
Be Not Denied! Be Not Denied! Be Not Denied!
The Empress, distracted, mumbled her pardon
While they Danced With Daggers, celebrating her throne.
She couldn’t get her mind off the agony in the garden.
She asked the Viceroy, “What do we do with all these bones?”
The sower of seeds & the blind girl with her concertina
Conspired out behind the constable’s court.
I stumbled in with a doubtful grin & asked her if they’d seen ya.
She gazed so strangely at her broken consort.
She said, “Be Not Denied! Be Not Denied! Be Not Denied!”
This I remember just before the Viceroy spoke –
The Messenger shed that patched holy coat.
Truer than those embers, more sublime than the finest joke,
I danced before that face & I just became the smoke.
People throw their stones, people throw their knives.
You can’t let it burden you in the least.
Just feed them on grace all the days of their lives.
There’s no time to waste, meet me at the Feast!
Be Not Denied! Be Not Denied! Be Not Denied!
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8. |
Above Paradise Street
01:39
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Above Paradise Street
Sometimes, when I gaze on so much Beauty
And I am made to kneel on thorns of light,
Stampedes of stars, heavens of horses moving through me
Burn an aching trail across the unbridled night.
Sometimes, when I gaze on so much Beauty
A pillar of flame rises above my head,
And every delight parades before me, truly
I am dragged to the repast, but I am not fed.
The black orchid in the singer’s hair, the waterfall’s descent,
The whisper in the Lion’s lair, the lonely Queen’s lament,
The grace of La Fornarina dripping from the hands of Raphael,
The tender dipping of the Moon into the Heart’s vast & opened well.
But there’s a deeper ache within me that seems to have no name,
That seems to flay & skin me & brand its iron upon my brain –
An almost unbearable Beauty in every gaze I greet,
Drags me to hover like a lunatic Lover off the ledge above Paradise Street
I don’t mean to sound ungrateful,
I’ve the deepest respect for Fate.
But in the name of all that’s broken & urgent & faithful –
I beseech you; let me dance beyond that Gate…
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9. |
A Thousand Cries
04:21
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A Thousand Cries
When Lovers seize the Moon
And on that fine nectar are fed,
No hand shall / violate / this Beauty.
And should that great Orb fall soon,
O, let it bow our earnest heads –
No hand shall / violate / this Beauty,
No hand shall / violate / this Beauty.
And when Lovers anoint the night,
And cry a thousand cries,
No hand shall / violate / this Beauty.
Wand’ring, arrayed only in Moonlight,
Through that world of a thousand sleeping eyes –
No hand shall / violate / this Beauty,
No hand shall / violate / this Beauty.
When Lovers lie down in pale flowers,
The old temple gong deeply sounds…
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10. |
Barbarian Hymns
06:38
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Barbarian Hymns
Walkin’ on air & ringin’ this ram’s bell –
The Order of the Fool, from limb to limb.
But I survived your incantations, your damnations & spells.
I’m singin’ these Barbarian Hymns.
Two gypsies came down that mountain,
Branded my brow with a most auspicious sign.
Then they nearly drown me in the village fountain.
Said, “You’ll sing Barbarian Hymns all your life!”
All this Milk & all this Honey
Overflows this begging bowl.
And all this Milk & all this Honey
Cannot still this soul…
Have you made yourself some sinister prison?
You better defy the warden, it’s now or never!
Have you exiled your precious Heart from every kind of Wisdom?
Are you gonna walk with your feet on the ground forever?
They took me to the Alhambra in the moonlight,
Never asked me my opinion of the cause.
Could hear the moanin’ & clawin’ long past midnight.
In the mornin’ I’ll sing my Barbarian Hymns in the Lion’s jaws,
All this Milk & all this Honey
Overflows this begging bowl.
And all this Milk & all this Honey
Still cannot appease this soul…
They asked him for his final words.
Hallaj laughed out loud ‘neath the hangman’s bough,
“If what’s been hidden from you had been hidden from me too,
I wouldn’t be in this mess right now!”
Walkin’ on air & ringin’ this ram’s bell –
The Order of the Fool, from limb to limb.
I’ve tasted the honeysuckle of your song, I’m not goin’ back to that cell.
I’m singin’ these Barbarian Hymns.
I’m singin’ these Barbarian Hymns.
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11. |
Unseen Wine
04:53
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Unseen Wine
Bells pealing in the night,
Nefertiri’s handmaid reading my cards by firelight,
Tracing the scars of what we call wrong & right –
Drinking Unseen Wine. Drinking Unseen Wine.
Songs rising in the dark,
Breathing these words to rise up & take spark.
Aiming my arrow to make its mark –
Drinking Unseen Wine. Drinking Unseen Wine.
No flag moves in my sky.
No ear can hear such a low elusive cry.
What moves beyond your eye collides,
Coyly hides the prize, deep inside…
Kyriakos searching for the light in his boots.
Madras, the cynic, is all tangled up in his twisted roots.
Says, “That’s what happens to those who dare to question truth!”
But I’m Drinking Unseen Wine. Drinking Unseen Wine.
Dear handmaid whispering in the morn.
My head bowed low, all shaved & shorn.
Let me lay down all this envy & anger & scorn,
Drinking Unseen Wine. Drinking Unseen Wine.
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12. |
Bismillah
06:39
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Bismillah
In the stark temple softly she sings, shining still ‘neath the beams.
Shahada’s breath on my shoulder, here where I’m bowed down on broken knees.
No one knows the name of this nectar, where humming hallows the hives.
No axe need we to protect her, as she drinks in all our lives.
Lo! The Savage Beauty coursing Within!
Dance deeply out of this dungeon, open the cage –
How the Being loves the Becoming, age upon age!
Blissful in beauty before us - the Invisible Path.
Delight is the doorway & the chorus sings, “Let them pass!”
Lo! The Savage Beauty that sings from Within! Bismillah!
Languid the lips that adorn us, Love lingers long.
Whispered, the winged ones warn us – the approaching dawn.
O silence & sorrow surround us, for too soon the din
Beckons blindly around us, let us lock it out & yet again, begin…
Lo! The Savage Beauty, her kisses deep Within! Bismillah!
What we long & we long for, is that Lover who longs.
So we sing & we sing every song for the soundless sound in these songs.
Lay me down, O lay me down before the One who stole my soul –
Who held it high to the starry sky, and swallowed it whole!
Lo! The Savage Beauty aching sweetly Within! Bismillah!
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13. |
Nine Thousand Years
05:25
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Nine Thousand Years
Nine thousand years singin’ at your door
Nine thousand years kneelin’ on your floor
Nine thousand years longin’ in this land
Nine thousand years to feel the comfort of your hand
Nine thousand years blowin’ on this horn
Nine thousand years waitin’ to be born
Nine thousand years weepin’ by the sea
Nine thousand years do you hear me, do you hear me…?
I stumbled on the house of my Beloved
My chariot shattered & torn
There’s nothing in this world left to covet
Show yourself to me - I’m at your door.
Nine thousand years tending this desire
Nine thousand years sitting silent in your fire
Nine thousand years aching to be seen
Nine thousand years in someone else’s dream
Nine thousand years outside your windowpane
Nine thousand years beat about by the hurricane
Nine thousand years a-waiting on your grace
Nine thousand years a stranger to this place
Nine thousand years standing here without a prayer
Nine thousand years let me touch your hair, let me touch your hair…
I stumbled…
Nine thousand years kneelin’ on the road
Nine thousand years tryin’ to break the Old Code
Nine thousand years without a clue or a trace
Nine thousand years the memory of your face
Nine thousand years humorin’ this beast
Nine thousand years of hunger at the feast
Nine thousand years cryin’ for water at the well
Nine thousand years sellin’ souvenirs of hell
I stumbled…
Nine thousand years of longin’ for your kiss
Nine thousand years of this & this & this & this
Nine thousand years of witnessing the breath
Nine thousand years of life after death after life after death
Nine thousand years of burnin’ on this pyre
Nine thousand years of sufferin’ killers & liars
Nine thousand years of drivin’ out these stains
Nine thousand years of chantin’ your name, chantin’ your name…
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14. |
The Path
06:54
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The Path
I’ve heard it said you have fallen & you’re seeking shelter tonight.
And the ghost of your old hunger’s calling & you’re afraid to give him a bite.
If Love sends its dragons to snap at your heels,
Open to those teeth & welcome them nigh.
And if all you’ve revered falls under the wheel,
Let my body be the Path on which you arise…
And should those cards that they’ve dealt to you, shatter like glass at your door.
Should those broken bards that were felled for you, come to rest on my green forest floor,
And if Love comes a stranger to your blind savior’s farm,
Slip out of those raiments & open your arms.
And if Love burns your manger & blackens your skies,
Let my body be the Path on which you arise…
Many strangers may Love you, many worlds may collide.
Gaze into still water – tell me, whose gaze returns to your eyes?
Some people say that Love is so vast, wider than all truth & lies.
I say to you let my body be the Path by which you awaken & arise.
There’s a pearl on the floor of the venerable sea.
It’s been there in wait for you for ten thousand years.
Without drenching your dress, go & bring it to me,
And let my body be the Path on which you arise…
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15. |
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Heaven be Praised (Hotel Room in Venice)
When the sun comes up on the love-soaked bed
Wrapped around each other with visions of sugar plums dancing in your heads.
You will hear the beating of the angel’s wings,
As they smile down upon you & all creation sings:
HEAVEN BE PRAISED, HEAVEN BE PRAISED!
MAN LIES NAKED BEFORE HIS WOMAN!
HEAVEN BE PRAISED, HEAVEN BE PRAISED!
WOMAN LIES NAKED BEFORE HER MAN!
Clothed in these naked bodies, corporeal as they are
We are given the instruments of music, the milky-white moon & the shooting stars.
We have the hands of man, forever strumming the lute,
The ecstatic song of delirious woman as she again descends on the flute!
Whenever two tongues meet through the vessels of the open mouths,
A glorious moaning can be heard in the East, the West, & North & South.
And every pore of every creature grows moist & invites us in. And it’s a most holy thing,
This moaning, it isn’t advertising & it sure as hell isn’t sin!
As all the meteors fall from Heaven like white hot seeds
And the canals of Venice open wide & the volcano at Pompeii bleeds.
With every man & woman enraptured in this prayerful bequest,
Again & again & again, mouth to mouth, loin to loin & breast to breast!
When you think that you just can’t go on any longer
And all your lily-white lambs have gone to slaughter,
Seek refuge & solace, remember somewhere in some glowing room
The Holy Mystery of Man is coupled with the Holy Mystery of Woman!
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16. |
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Let The World Pass By Like Clouds
Where rivers of milk & sweet nectar flow
There to the land of honey we’ll go
& I’ll kiss your forehead where the visions do grow
Let the world pass by like clouds, My Love –
Let the whole world pass by like clouds.
And I’ll be on that mountain with sheep’s cheese & bread
And a warm tasseled nightcap for your wee nodding head –
There on that mountain of dreams be ye fed –
Let the world pass by like clouds, My Love –
Let the whole world pass by like clouds.
Don’t worry for ogres, don’t worry for trolls.
For even ones such as these do have souls.
O harm may come, but harm slips through holes –
Let the world pass by like clouds, My Love –
Let the whole world pass by like clouds.
Abide in stillness, in tenderness bow,
In the morning you’ll open your eyes.
We’ll wander in wonder down the path, but for now,
Let the whole world gently pass by…
Miraculous angel, miraculous dove,
How much you have shown me of the Myst’ry of Love!
O, breathe in my arms as the stars sigh above
And let the world pass by like clouds, My Love –
Let the whole world pass by like clouds.
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John Terlazzo & Voices in the Hall York, Pennsylvania
Voices In The Hall: Songwriter / Poet John Terlazzo on vocals, guitar, Indian harmonium, Kristina Machusick on vocals,
flute, recorders & Paul Wegmann on vocals, lead guitars. Together
they have become one moving, breathing creature, offering up a rich array of "Modern Surrealist Gypsy Folk", & described as "Marc Chagall gone aural" and "Leonard Cohen meets Rumi".
... more
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