We barely remember
Who or what came before this precious moment
We are choosing to be here, right now. Hold on, stay inside
This holy reality
This holy experience.
Choosing to be here in
This body
This body holding me
Be my reminder here that I am not alone in
This body
This body holding me
Feeling eternal, all this pain is an illusion
Alive, I
Twirling round with this familiar parable
Spinning, weaving round each new experience
Recognize this as a holy gift and
Celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing
This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality
Embrace this moment, remember
We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion
– Tool, “Parabola” from the album Lateralus
Stand up to the blow that fate has struck upon you
Make the most of all you still have coming to you
Or lay down on the ground and let the tears roll from you
Crying to the grass and trees and heaven, finally on your knees
Let me live again, let life come find me wanting
Spring must strike again against the shield of winter
Let me feel once more the arms of love surround me
Telling me the danger’s past I need not feel that icy blast again.
– Genesis, “Undertow” from the album And Then There Were Three
Black
And
White are
All I see
In my infancy
Red and yellow then came to be
Reaching out to me
Lets me see
There is so much more that beckons me
To look through to these infinite possibilities
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
Drawn outside the lines of reason
Push the envelope, watch it bend
Over-thinking
Over-analyzing
Separate the body from the mind
Withering my intuition
Leaving opportunities behind
Feed my will to feel this moment
Urging me to cross the line
Reaching out to embrace the random
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come
I embrace my
Desire to
I embrace my
Desire to
Feel the rhythm, to
Feel connected
Enough to step aside and
Weep like a widow, to
Feel inspired, to
Fathom the power, to
Witness the beauty, to
Bathe in the fountain, to
Swing on the spiral of
Our divinity and still be a human
With my feet upon the ground
I lose myself between the sounds
And open wide to suck it in
I feel it move across my skin
I’m reaching up and reaching out
I’m reaching for the random or
Whatever will bewilder me
Whatever will bewilder me
Following our will and wind
We may just go where no one’s been
And ride the spiral to the end
It may just go where no one’s been
Spiral out. Keep going…
– Tool, “Lateralus” from the album Lateralus
Like the dust that settles all around me
I must find a new home
The ways and hopes that used to give me shelter
Are all as one to me now
But I, I would search everywhere
Just to hear your call
And walk upon stranger roads than this one
In a world I used to know before
I miss you more
Than the sun reflecting off my pillow
Bringing the warmth of new life
And the sounds that echoed all around me
I caught a glimpse of in the night
But now, now I’ve lost everything
I give to you my soul
The meaning of all that I believed before
Escapes me in this world of none, no thing, no one
And I would search everywhere
Just to hear your call
And walk upon stranger roads than this one
In a world I used to know before
For now I’ve lost everything
I give to you my soul
The meaning of all that I believed before
Escapes me in this world of none
I miss you more.
– Genesis, “Afterglow” from the album Wind and Wuthering
Wond’ring aloud
How we feel today?
Last night
said the sunset
My hand in her hair
We are our own saviors
As we start
both our hearts
beating life
into each other
Wond’ring aloud
Will the years treat us well?
As she floats in the kitchen
I’m tasting the smell
of toast as the butter runs
then she comes
spilling crumbs
on the bed
and I shake my head
And it’s only the giving that makes you what you are.
– Jethro Tull, “Wond’ring Aloud” from the album Aqualung
History repeats the old conceits
the glib replies, the same defeats
Keep your finger on important issues
with crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues
I’m just the oily slick
in the wind-up world
of the nervous tick
in a very fashionable hovel
I hang around dying to be tortured
You’ll never be alone in the bone orchard
This battle with the bottle is nothing so novel
So in this almost empty gin palace
You’ll go to a looking glass
You’ll see your Alice
You know she has no sense
For all your jealousy
In a sense she still smiles very sweetly
Charged with insults and flattery
her body moves with malice
Do you have to be so cruel to be callous?
And now you find you fit this identikit completely
You say you have no secrets
And then leave discreetly
I might make it California’s fault
Be locked in Geneva’s deepest vault
Just like the canals of Mars and the great barrier reef
I come to you beyond belief.
My hands were clammy and cunning
She’s been suitably stunning
But I know there’s not a hope in Hades
All the the laddies cat call and wolf whistle
So-called gentlemen and ladies
dog fight like rose and thistle
I got a feeling
I’m gonna get a lot of grief
Once this seemed so appealing
Now I am beyond belief.
Elvis Costello, Beyond Belief, from the album Imperial Bedroom
One Perspective 