1. |
Fog
05:21
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My little vessel
Floating on the swell
In a fog bound ocean
Though where I can not tell
I can’t see behind me
And I can’t see around
From a shore I departed
When the Fog came down
I carry some fragments
But I don’t know what I bring
Hidden in my person
Are threads to which I cling
No chance to explore them
As I head where I’m bound
Only when I’ve landed
Will they all fall down
Only when I’ve landed
Will they all fall down
The threads that I bring with me
Are sharp and are hard
Edges press against me
Till I fear I will be scarred
But I’m numb to the feelings
Till I reach the foreign ground
Unconscious of the wounding
Till my feet set down
Fragments now forgotten
Will shape me as I learn
Governing my growing
In each way, in its turn
But I don’t remember
Won’t hear the faint, faint sound
Won’t realise the wounding
Till my tears fall down
Won’t realise the wounding
Till the tears fall down
Things, when they have vanish
Do not remain
Their fabric it is tattered
It does not stay the same
When walls of the houses
And buildings of the town
Are all being demolished
They all fall down
When voices are all silenced
And every song has died
And whailing is all over
And tears have all been cried
Then hearts, which are broken
Are dust within the ground
And the people will vanish
When they all fall down
The people will vanish
When they all fall down
Take a precious culture
And cast it to the dust
Seize all of its beauty
And have its flowers crushed
Shatter all its graces
Silence all its sounds
Batter all its wisdoms
And watch it all fall down
Take from it the future
And rob it of its past
Desolate its people
To leave them all outcast
Scatter all their spirits
Tear the precious gown,
But its time will not be ended
Till the stars fall down
It’s time will not be ended
Till the stars fall down
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2. |
Samsara
03:25
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I’m waiting for a courier
Who’s bringing me a thangka,
A painting, which has come to me
On a journey all the way
Over from Tibet
It was painted a long time ago,
The wheel of rebirth,
Which we are born in
And so I’m wondering,
Which world am I stuck in now?
Is this a god realm?
Am I a hungry ghost,
Whose never satisfied?
Always seeking out yet
More stuff to consume
I guess right now I’m stuck in a bardo.
Wanting form to manifest
To be my thangka,
And not just a tracking
On their website, Oh my!
I watch a man walk past,
And find I’m wondering
What does he think about?
Are his thoughts
Anything like mine?
Is his life is full of mystery?
Are the stones talking to him?
Does the wind kiss his skin?
Is he contemplating the wonder of it all
And his place in Creation
Or is he contemplating his next meal?
Paint upon that thangka, once
Was stone that someone carefully crushed
Which had its birth in distant stars
And came to us on trails of dust
Like Dzambhala’s pet, star wont cease
To spew out dust, both far and near
To make the worlds we live within
Whatever form those worlds appear
So yes, I’m in a god realm.
And yes I am a hungry ghost
And sometimes I’m in hell worlds,
Where I suffer endlessly
Time and again,
Maybe I’ve a tracking number too.
For when I’m lost in the system?
Who knows how it all operates
So I’m waiting in this bardo
While my thangka’s not here
And I am
Stuck to attachment,
With glue!
Couriers to the left of me
And the Cosmos to my right
And here I am,
Stuck in Samsara
With you
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3. |
Buddhism for Vampires
03:29
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Please pity the vampire
Who just can't sleep
But spends the days
Counting sheep
Living in the dark,
Not seeing the sun
Knowing that their life’s undone
Knowing that their life’s undone
All the friends they had are gone
They are buried in the ground
Where they came from
Their skin is mud,
Their bones are dust
And their dreams dissolved,
And voices hushed
But you’re not in that living death
Not scared of life and love and breath
So use their thighbone for a trumpet blast
And blow away your frightened past
Blow away your frightened past
So, pity the vampire
Who just can't sleep
But spends the days
Counting sheep
Living in the dark,
Not seeing the sun
Grieving for a life undone
Grieving for a life undone
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4. |
Shorefall
02:09
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5. |
Furious Wind
08:02
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Oh furious earth
We’re only mites before your step
When we’ll be trampled
You do not say
We think we’ve tamed you
And that we are in control
That we’re the rulers
And it’s our day
But we can not, no we can not
Make pacts with you
Oh furious wind
We’re only dust before your breath
Where you will blow us
You do not say
We’ve little warning
Of the storms upon our paths
Although we think
We walk a safe way
But we can not, no we can not
Make pacts with you
Oh furious fire
We’re only leaves before your blaze
How you’ll consume us
You do not say
We think we hold you
And are safe from being burned
That you’re a plaything
And it’s our play
But we can not, no we can not
Make pacts with you
Oh furious water
We’re not buoyant in your tides
When you will drown us
You do not say
We think we splash and swim
And stay within our depth
But currents tug us
From our safe play
We can not, no we can not
Make pacts with you
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6. |
Terms
04:58
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My left hand and my right agree
They are both truly parts of me
They do not need to make a fight
With each other, just to prove whose right
Such a fruitless fight, which tired me so
And gave no wondrous things to show
So, have I now made peace with me?
Let the desperate wind of the past go free?
It blew its toll, that faceless wind
Till I missed the mark and found I’d sinned
But missing marks is how we learn
It’s how our wheel of life does turn
And oh my wheel, it surely turns
While as my soul, it surely learns
All as my boiling ocean churns
Until I come at last to terms
And then, maybe, I start again
Will I stop the run from pole to pole?
Having come at last to pay the toll
And gain acceptance here I belong
Instead of the shore for which I long
Life it seemed was such a fight
Having always to be seen as right
It’s easier once I saw the joke
That I walk beneath a self made yoke
Now, this is the pause between the breaths
Now, this is life between the deaths
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7. |
The Paddle Song
03:41
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Here I go, I’ve crash the gates, to try to make it through
It scares me, as it ought to do, I bet it does you too
I know I can, but think I can’t, like I haven’t got a clue
I’m floundering, and Im full of doubt, shit, what am I to do?
Keep, keep, keep paddling, Keep on paddling, on to something
So Im here, without a plan, at least not one in sync
I’ve landed, so I’m stuck with it, and dancing on the brink
I can’t recall the strategies I need to help me link
So how do I make sense of it, I need some time to think
Keep, keep, keep paddling, Keep on paddling, on to something
Will I be an artist, who goes straight out of style
Will I be an astronaut, who falls a million miles
Will I be a robber who lacks all trace of guile
Will I be a peacemaker, whose heart is full of bile
Here I am, I’ve crashed the gates, I’m standing in the light
I don’t know what my lines are and it’s giving me a fright
It feels like I am up so high, I really don’t like height
I’m here now, oh what an awful, what an awful plight
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8. |
Vanities
03:46
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With the tree to my back, I seek the centre
Trying to plant my feet on ancient ground
Like those who came before my own arrival
And left here again, with barely a sound
To the North, and the South, and the East, and the West
Lady Existence puts us to the test
Saying; “What you going to do about this child?”
Have you even got a clue?
Cos, in the end it’s up to you”
And always are those changes cast
Which strip away forever, our fragile past
Exposing things, which of course, can never truly last
All the vanities, to which, we always cling
When we sail, we have to be within the water
And we can’t set sail, while we’re tied up to the side
We can cling to the shore, in hope of safety
But we’ll be dragged onboard, to meet our rising tide
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9. |
Walls
03:31
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Walls
Is your house lacking floor boards
Lacking floorboards?
Do you walk on beams?
Is your life lacking concords
Lacking concords?
Do you live on schemes?
Is your house lacking windows
Lacking windows?
Do you live sealed tight?
Is your life lacking airflows
Lacking airflows?
Do you live airtight?
Are there walls around you?
Do they keep you cosy
Or keep you tamed?
Are the walls of your life missing?
Does it make you fearful
Or self reclaimed?
Is your house lacking roof tiles
Lacking roof tiles?
Do you see the sky?
Is your life lacking shelter
Lacking shelter?
So you fear you’ll die?
Does your house give you safety
Give you safety?
Do you love your room?
Does your life keep you little
Keep you little?
Within the gloom?
Is your house locked from inside
Locked from inside?
Are you safe and sound?
Is your life locked from inside
Locked from inside?
So you won’t be found?
Won’t be found
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10. |
Pretty Things
06:35
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You know it’s not about who you are
Or about what is your name
It’s not about how you might define yourself, truly
As all of these things are the same
It’s not about the cool people who you like
And it’s not about if those cool people like you
It’s not about what it was you ended up being
Or what it was you wanted to do
And it’s not about how much you tried
And it’s not about how much you cried
And it’s not about how much you thought you understood
Or was lost in falsehood and pride
And it’s not about anything that you wrote
And it’s certainly not about the things you wore
Not about how filled up your long, long days
Or about who, or what you saw
And it’s not about the fancy things that you did
And it’s not about the pretty things that you made
And it’s not about the juicy facts that you learned
Or about how hard, how hard you prayed
Because it’s truly not about what you believed
And nor is it about how you were deceived
It’s not about what you thought it was about
If you had faith, or you had doubt
Were denied, or received
In the end it’s about not being thrown
By any illusion which you are shown
So that you don’t get swayed
By any turbulent wave,
On the course you’ve been blown
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11. |
Milk [Bonus Track]
02:50
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12. |
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13. |
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14. |
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Nicholas Breeze Wood UK
Multi instrumentalist singer-songwriter drawing on Rock, Arabic and Medieval music, using instruments from all those traditions
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