Dead Can Dance

The river is deep and the road is long
Daylight comes and I want to go home

Awoke this morning
To find my people's tongues were tied
And in my dreams
They were given books to poison their minds

The river is deep and the mountain high
How long before the other side?

We are their mortar
Their building bricks and their clay
Their gold teeth mirror
Both our joys and our pain

The river is deep and the ocean wide
Who will show us how to read the signs?

The earth is our mother
She taught us to embrace the light
Now the lord is master
She suffers an eternal night

You blocked up my ears
You plucked out my eyes
You cut out my tongue
You fed me with lies

Oh lord
Oh lord
Oh lord
Oh lord

We are the stars which sing
We sing with our light
We are the birds of fire
We fly over the sky

Our light is a voice
We make a road for the spirit to pass over
For the spirit to pass over

{Algonquian Indian}

We are like the wind
Wrapped in lumious wings
We make a road for the spirit to pass over
For the spirit of pass over

Outo, ba mwen son ou,e
Outo, ba mwen son ou,e
Tanbouye, o ba mwen son ou
Soley leve

Outo, give me your sound
Outo, give me your sound
Drummer, give me your sound
The sun rises

{Vodun Invocation - Haiti}

In the hour of darkness
Our worlds collide
Assailed by madness
That has plagued our lives
At the point of departure
On the eve of despair
Your recourse to reason
Seems to make no sense at all

The light of hope
Shines in your eyes
Dementia has gone
Purged from inside

Throughout our wanderings
In a land of lies
We fell from god's grace
Into a sea of storms
In the self renovation
Celebration of love
These both are virtues
We seem to have left behind

The light of hope
Shines in your eyes
Dementia has gone
Purged from inside

The light of hope
Shines in your eyes
Dementia has gone
Purged from inside

Lay bare your heart
Induce the will of love
To restore what little faith
That you may have lost
As morning brings rebirth a new day will dawn
To ease our troubled minds
Turn away on your side
And dream of days to come

La Panacea
La Panacea
La Panacea
La Panacea

Embrace the love so fair
Embrace the love so fair

Saloman hung down her head
Laid bare her heart
For the world to see
She craved for intimacy
Through darkened doors
Her aspect veiled with indecision
Gazed out to sea
She craved lucidity

Cast adrift
Fom past relationships in her life
Hoisted up the ideal
This was her saving grace
Seas of rage that once assailed
Her concern for the truth
Had passed her by
And left her high and dry

In her saviour's arms
In her saviour's arms
In her saviour's arms
In her saviour's arms

Across the sea
Lies the fountain of renewal
Where you will see
The whole cause of your loneliness
Can be measured in dreams
That transcend all these lies
And I wish and I pray
That there may come a day

For a saviour's arms
For a saviour's arms
For a saviour's arms
For a saviour's arms

In times of great vexation
When one must choose between what's right and wrong
Freedom so they say
Amounts to the choices you have made

Through all the arbitrary
Rationale concerning liberty
Freedom I must say
Exists within unconditioned minds

Reason has come of age

How can you be satisfied with things the way they are
When all that surrounds us now and so much more
Remains inside the keeper's dark embrace?

The insatiable thirst for power has made
Idols out of mortals, gods into clay
Soldiers into heroes, children into slaves
All damned desires, their hopes betrayed

Who will suffer the laws
That state can decide
Your child's education
Unless you pay the price?

Who will suffer the laws?
Who will suffer their minds?
Who will suffer their words?
Who will suffer their designs?

Who will suffer the laws?
Who will suffer their minds?
Who will suffer their words?
Who will suffer their designs?

Frail of heart
Renounce all fear
Locked away inside
All these years
Remain in the light
Renounce all fears
For you have been
Mesmerised
Break this spell
Of silence

Sail to the stars
On your shining desires

"Reasons? There are none"
Cried the whisky laden brain
"When all is said and done
It amounts to just the same"

There in your starry eyes
Lie hopes that have been betrayed

The cause of your desire
Can also lead to your demise
When all is said and done
It will be you who pays the price

As countless fools
Are often loathe to testify
"It's an illusion of life
The whole cause of our demise"

Sail to the stars
On your shining desires

Lucretia waits in vain
For the child of her dreams
Within her aching womb
There burns a funeral pyre

There in your starry eyes
Lie hopes that have been betrayed

The prize that you claim
Can never be yours to take
Like castles in Spain
Hope is all that will remain

Abstain from the fools paradise
It's an illusion of life
The whole cause of our desire

[As countless] fools
Are often loathe to testify
"It's an illusion of life
The whole cause of our demise"

Contemplate the world
And its traitors to the soul
The forces of derision
And its legions manifold

Usurpers of the crown
All pretenders to the throne
Your world is linked in chains
"All in one, one in all"

All in one, one in all
All in one, one in all
All in one, one in all
All in one, one in all

All in one, one in all
All in one, one in all
All in one, one in all
All in one, one in all

[As countless] fools
Are often loathe to testify
"It's an illusion of life
The whole cause of our demise"

It's an illusion of life
It's an illusion of life
It's an illusion of life
It's an illusion of life

I need my conscience to keep watch over me
To protect me from myself
So I can wear honesty like a crown on my head
When I walk into the promised land

We've been too long American dreaming
I think we've all lost the way
Forlorn somnambulistic maniacal
In the dark

I'm in love with an American girl
Well, she's my best friend
I love her surreptitious smile
That hides the pain within her

And we'll go dancing in the rings of laughter
And leave alone by the shores
Feel alone in the brands of rapture
And leave alone for the loss

Yeah, on the lea the rising wind blows
Yeah, on the lea the rising wind blows
How long? How long?

Here alone on the grounds of allegiances
We've left behind
Turned back by the foot of the doorway
Never lost and found

We've been too long American dreaming
I think we've all lost the heart
Forlorn somnambulistic maniacal
In the dark

Yeah, on the lea the rising wind blows
Yeah, on the lea the rising wind blows
How long? How long?

Favoured one, fade on, see them run
Journey round, heave ho all night long
You've been afraid for far too long
I've been enraged in my song

I've been a rose in my rage
I've been a rose, I've been a rose
I've been a rose

Canaan ran, since her desert song
Canaan ran, rides on the bird song
You've been afraid for far too long
I've been enraged in my songs

I've been a rose, I've been a rage
I've been a rose, I've been a rage
I've been a rose

I am stretched on your grave
And will lie there forever
With your hands held in mine
I'd be sure we'd not sever
My apple tree, my brightness
'Tis time we were together
For I smell of the earth
And am stained by the weather

When my family thinks
That I'm safe in my bed
From night until morning
I am stretched at your head
Calling out to the air
With tears both hot and wild
Oh I grieve for the girl
That I loved as a child

The priests and the friars
Behold me in dread
Because I still love you
My love, and you're dead
And would still be your shelter
From rain and from storm
But with you in your cold grave
I cannot sleep warm

Ever loved a woman
Who made you feel tall?
Ever loved a man
Who made you feel small?

If you were a sailor
I'd raise the anchor
To sail the sea
In search of you and me

And god conjures currents
To break our fragile boats
And both the innocent and the damned
Are swallowed up in his wake

If you were a huntress
I'd be your bow
For your silver arrows
To seek out his heart

Ever loved a woman
Who made you feel tall?
Ever loved a man
Who made you feel small?

Who are you to complain
For lack of understanding?
We are all created equal
In just one thing alone

Alone in your thoughts
That consume you through your life
They'll take you outwards
To the dark edge of time

And there's nothing more dangerous
Than a man with nothing to lose
Nothing to live for
And nothing to prove

From the body to the soul
Where our hearts lead we must go
Wherever love may flow

Favoured son
Turn in the garden
Shades of one
Sins forgotten

Favoured signs to find hope
In the rounds of life
Favoured rhymes to find hope
In the sands of life

Favoured son
Fence in your heart
Savored son
Sins forgotten

I sat within the valley green
I sat me with my true love
My sad heart strove the two between
The old love and the new love
The old for her the new that made
Me think on Ireland dearly
While soft the wind blew down the glade
And shook the golden barley

T'was hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us
But harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said the mountain glen
I'll meet at morning early
And I'll join the bold united men
While soft winds shook the barley

T'was sad I kissed away her tears
My fond arm round her flinging
When a foeman's shot burst on our ears
From out the wild woods ringing
A bullet pierced my true love's side
In life's young spring so early
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft winds shook the barley

But blood for blood without remorse
I've taken at Oulart Hollow
I've lain my true love's clay like corpse
Where I full soon must follow
Around her grave I've wandered drear
Noon, night and morning early
With breaking heart when e'er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley

Sota mono tratao no trateja mon
Uto traja satija totaja tom
Ima toja satao no trateja mon
Uto traja satija tom satija tom
Sadom sadom
Sadom sadom
Una torti sadom
Una parki sadom

Suta mono tratao na trateja ton
Uto traja satija totaja ton
Ima toja satao uno trateja ton
Uto traja satija tom satija tom
Sadom sadom
Sadom sadom
Una torti sadom
Una parki sadom

Suta mono tratao na trateja ton
Uto traja satija totaja ton
Ima toja satao no trateja ton
Uto traja satija tom satija tom
Sadom sadom
Sadom sadom
Una torti sadom
Una parki sadom

You saw sagacious Solomon
You know what came of him
To him complexities seemed plain
He cursed the hour that gave birth to him
And saw that everything was vain
How great and wise was Solomon
The world however didn't wait
But soon observed what followed on
It's wisdom that had brought him to this state
How fortunate the man with none
How fortunate the man with none

You saw courageous Caesar next
You know what he became
They deified him in his life
Then had him murdered just the same
And as they raised the fatal knife
How loud he cried: you too, my son
The world however didn't wait
But soon observed what followed on
It's courage that had brought him to that state
How fortunate the man with none
How fortunate the man with none

You heard of honest Socrates
The man who never lied
They weren't so grateful as you'd think
Instead the rulers fixed to have him tried
And handed him the poisoned drink
How honest was the people's noble son
The world however didn't wait
But soon observed what followed on
It's honesty that brought him to that state
How fortunate the man with none
How fortunate the man with none

Here you can see respectable folk
Keeping to God's own laws
So far he hasn't taken heed
You who sit safe and warm indoors
Help to relieve our bitter need
How virtuously we had begun
The world however didn't wait
But soon observed what followed on
It's fear of God that brought us to that state
How fortunate the man with none
How fortunate the man with none

Farewell now, my sister
Up ahead there lies your road
And your conscience walks beside you
It's the best friend you'll ever know

And the past is now your future
It bears witness to your soul
Make sure that the love you offer up
Does not fall on barren soil

For the wind cries of late
In the whispering grass
Our way of life is held
In the spinning wheels of chance

I believe
In the way of long ago
And the sands I believe
Rose long ago

And we're changing our ways
Yes, we're taking on different roads
Tell me more about the forest
That you once called home

For the wind cries of late
In the whispering leaves
And the sun will turn to waste
The heavens we built above

Father, teach your children
To treat our mother well
If we give her back her diamonds
She will offer up her pearl

We must sing her creation's song
Show them all
Invoke the spirits that feed us
This dreaming takes too long

But I'm not bitter
No, I'm surviving
To face the world
To raise the future

So why don't you tell me
Come on and tell me
About the world you left behind
Can you tell me?

Outside the storm clouds gathering
Moved silently along the dusty boulevard
Where flowers turning crane their fragile necks
So they can in turn reach up and kiss the sky

They're driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
Someone's calling

I remember when you held my hand
In the park we would play
When the circus came to town
Look over here

Outside the circus gathering
Moved silently along the rain swept boulevard
The procession moved on, the shouting is over
The fabulous freaks are leaving town

They're driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
Someone's calling

The carnival is over

We sat and watched
As the moon rose
For the very first time

I sat within the valley green
I sat me with my true love
My sad heart strove the two between
The old love and the new love
The old for her the new that made
Me think on Ireland dearly
While soft the wind blew down the glade
And shook the golden barley

T'was hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us
But harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said the mountain glen
I'll meet at morning early
And I'll join the bold united men
While soft winds shook the barley

T'was sad I kissed away her tears
My fond arm round her flinging
When a foeman's shot burst on our ears
From out the wild woods ringing
A bullet pierced my true love's side
In life's young spring so early
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft winds shook the barley

But blood for blood without remorse
I've taken at Oulart Hollow
I've lain my true love's clay like corpse
Where I full soon must follow
Around her grave I've wandered drear
Noon, night and morning early
With breaking heart when e'er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley

We scale the face of reason
To find at least one sign
That could reveal the true dimensions
Of life lest we forget

And maybe it's easier to withdraw from life
With all of it's misery and wretched lies
Away from harm

We lay by cool still waters
And gazed into the sun
And like the moth's great imperfection
Succumbed to her fatal charm

Any maybe it's me who dreams unrequited love
The victim of fools who watch and stand in line
Away from harm

In our vain pursuit
Of life for one's own end
Will this crooked path
Ever cease to end?

Hey, Patrice, don't cry
They've no reason to harm you at all
They don't realise
That the angels surround you with light

They don't understand
Their narrow ways defeat them where they stand
They don't realise
You hide your sadness beneath a painted smile

Ignorance
That light of fools steers a wayward path
And sets the course
Upon which we sail into the night of uncertainty

Following the stars
That make their way across the sky
Valuing the love
That lends grace to our hearts we sail

Fair Roseanna
Your vagrancy's a familiar tale
Fraught with danger
The lives you led were judged profane

Hatred enfolds us
Inculcates the minds with its heresy
Laymen enfold us
Clemency arrive to set you free

Faith, although Xavier has prayed
That life-giving waters may rain
Down on the souls of men
To cure them of their ways

These were the sins of Xavier's past
Hung like jewels in the forest of veils
Deep in the heart where the mysteries emerge
Eve bears the stigma of original sin

Freedom's so hard
When we are all bound by laws
Etched in the scheme of nature's own hand
Unseen by all those who fail
In their pursuit of fate

Faith, although Xavier has prayed
That life-giving waters may rain
Down on the souls of man
To cure them of their ways

And as the night turns into day
Will the sun illuminate your way
Or will your nightmares come home to stay?
Xavier's love lies in chains

These were the sins of Xavier's past
Hung like jewels in the forest of veils

If it were within, within our power
Beyond the reach of slavish pride
To no longer harbour grievances
Behind the mask's opportunist's facade

We could welcome the responsibility
Like a long lost friend
And re-establish laughter
In the dolls house once again

For time has imprisoned us
In the order of our years
In the discipline of our ways
And in the passing of momentary stillness

We can see our chaos in motion
Our chaos in motion
We can see our chaos in motion
View our chaos in motion

And the subsequent collisions of fools
Well versed in the subtle art of slavery

Severance, the birds of leaving call to us
Yet here we stand endowed with the fear of flight
Over land the winds of change consume the land
While we remain in the shadow of summers now past

When all the leaves have fallen and turned to dust
Will we remain entrenched within our ways?
Indifference, the plague that moves throughout this land
Omen signs in the shapes of things to come

Tomorrow's child is the only child
Tomorrow's child is the only child

With one wish
We wake the will within wisdom
With one will
We wish the wisdom within waking
Woken, wishing, willing

These silent chances pass one by
Who never knew of them at all
Resigned to the hands of fate
We await her impending beck and call

Until we return, paradise interred
Spread your golden wings, let the sails unfurl
Until we return, paradise interred
Spread your golden wings, let the fires burn

These silent chances pass one by
Who never knew of them at all
Resigned to the hands of fate
We await her impending beck and call

Until we return, paradise interred
Spread your golden wings, let the sails unfurl
Until we return, paradise interred
Spread your golden wings, let the sails unfurl

Well, opportunity's doors did not open wide
The answers remain locked away inside
Locked away inside
Locked away inside
Locked away inside
Locked away inside

So forced into labour we till the earth
To sow the seeds of our own rebirth
As the days turned into years
Our faith overcame any doubts or fears
Any doubts or fears
Are there any doubts or fears?
any doubts or fears
Are there any doubts or fears?

In truth we had found the key
But its application would unravel this mystery
This mystery
This mystery
This mystery
This mystery

I was told this in a distant land
Where tortured souls have to fight together in anguish
And the scenes of the show
Are of a cruel and violent nature

Scenes of pain and cruelty
Are there to be seen
The arena, the town, the place was set
For all to watch and see

I was told this in a distant land
Where the oppressor ruled with an iron hand
And the mission of saddened complacency
Left cold and emotionless by history

Scenes of pain and cruelty
Are there to be seen
All the while I should have known
It was you killing me

Somewhere east of Eden
The designs will never change
Vented through others' fear
The world stops at the end of the hall

We watch the life force fade away
And that's the price we shall have to pay

Once you are dead
How could the children have known

From ancient times to the present day
There have been those who have claimed her as a lover
So driven by the will to possess
Have pursued her to the very ends of the earth

We enter into it, it enters into us
We enter into it, it enters into us
As the wheel spins and turns
The fortunate ones are seen to emerge
We enter into it, it enters into us

Fortune smiles upon our heads
Mistakenly we cling to her warm embrace
How easily we seem to forgive and forget
I'm lost in the security of our new found wealth

There are those of you amongst us
Bearing vacant faces and empty smiles
Their fates have already been decided upon
They will leave behind them only the victims of their misplaced trust

We enter into it, it enters into us
We enter into it, it enters into us
As the wheel spins and turns
The fortunate ones are seen to emerge
We enter into it, it enters into us

Fortune smiles upon our heads
Mistakenly we cling to her warm embrace
How easily we seem to forgive and forget
I'm lost in the security of our new found wealth

Fortune smiles upon our heads
Fortune smiles upon our heads

Please, go after him,
'Cause he delayed them there.
I see the proud man.

He delayed to see them all.
All have stayed,
The bloodstains on the floor.

He left, he's left.
He's gone today,
He's gone back,
He's gone back.
I just want to make him understand,
Teach another lesson,
Make them go and see the proud man.

Sail on silver wings
Through this storm what fortune love may bring
Back to my arms again
The love of a former golden age

I am disabled by fears
Concerning which course to take
For now that wheels are turning
I find my faith deserting me

This night is filled with the cries
Of dispossessed children in search of paradise
A sign of unresolved ambition
Drives the pinwheel on and on

I am disabled by fears
Concerning which course to take
When memory bears witness to
The innocents consumed in dying rage

The way lies through our love
There can be no other means to the end
Or keys to my heart you will never find
You will never find

Here in the garden of the arcane delights
Dark shadows overwhelm us and we become blind
Blind to the needs of those who would be free
From the grip of fear and the prisons of the mind

Amidst the throes of perplexity
Phobia moves amongst us, in her hand is held the seed
Extermination angel stood beside the road
In violent retribution for the seeds that we have sown

All my senses rebel
Under the scrutiny of their persistent gaze
It took a lifetime to get here
A journey I'll never make again

For those who have accepted the burden of shame
For the innocent only guilt will remain
And our lives will be forced to accommodate
The perpetrators of our own bastard race

All my senses rebel
Under the scrutiny of their persistent gaze
It took a lifetime to get here
A journey I'll never make again

I stand accused of a thousand and one crimes
A witness to events that led to this present time
These traditions which bind our hands and keep us tied
Will never survive the greatest test of time

Deliver me from all these feverish eyes
That threaten to unbalance my state of mind
For I must confess only to the smallest of crimes

A sense of guilt
A sense of guilt
A sense of guilt
A sense of guilt

Come in here
Where it's nice
If you want
If you want
If you want

Wild in the woods of love
We harm those whom we adore
And contrary to all good intentions
We suffocate them in an alarming embrace

Listen, child, try to understand
All is not what it appears to be in the world at hand
Here dreams are bought and sold for a price
The truth a burden to keep for the rest of your life

These paths that we have chosen
Can only lead to fear and despair
So we learn from and experience the corporeal
All is hidden in hidden meanings
All can be learned from within
We're all brothers and sisters in spirit

Wild in the woods of love
We harm those whom we adore
And contrary to all good intentions
We suffocate them in an alarming embrace