1. |
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2. |
It's Nice To Be Desired
00:51
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It’s Nice To Be Desired
Waking up underneath
A green lake;
I can’t breathe.
It’s nice to be desired.
Thieves go on a murderous rampage.
The innocent are imprisoned.
The light’s too bright;
I can’t see.
I lay down to rest,
I close my eyes.
Although I’m tired
I can’t sleep.
Awake, I have dreams
Which I can’t remember.
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3. |
The Chapel In The Grove
02:26
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The Chapel In The Grove
Grapevines wind their way
Along the outer walls
And up from underneath the well-worn
Floorboards of the old
Chapel in the grove.
Long ago
A preacher stood at his
Pulpit every Sunday
And spoke to the parish
About the mysterious
Workings of God.
Everything happens for
A reason, he said to them.
Who are we to call into doubt
God’s existence
When things don’t go our way?
Longing and hope
Are joined together
Hand in hand with despair,
And with happiness too,
He said.
Now the chapel is empty.
I remember
One summer
The preacher presided
Over a wedding
In the Chapel
The bride was dressed in white,
And the groom wore a dark green suit,
With a blue flower in its lapel.
We are gathered here,
The preacher said,
To bring together in holy matrimony
This man and woman as
Husband and wife.
If there be any objections,
Please speak now.
Today the windows of the chapel
Are all boarded up.
Outside a single acacia tree
Still stands,
Ancient as time itself,
Its roots planted deeply in the ground.
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4. |
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Mysteries Of The Pyramids
The answers are written
In hieroglyphics,
Worn down by sand and the wind.
Symbols for strength here,
For eternal life, there.
The archaeologist
Struggles to decipher them.
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5. |
The Apple
00:36
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The Apple
Round and
Sitting on my desk.
A sticker proclaims:
‘Produce Of U.S.A.’
Red sunbeams
Sprout from the center.
Veins of green
Run down the sides.
Outside it is a new moon
The first day of the new month.
The light from a sixty-watt bulb
Reflects against the apple’s waxy surface.
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6. |
Today
00:42
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Today
Someday
The clouds which
Cover the eye of the sun
Will part.
Someday
I will be cured
Of my selfishness.
Someday
The enlightenment I strive for
Will appear before me.
Someday
My soul will once again be able to
Fly through the air.
Someday
I will finally let go of
My anger, my despair,
My jealousy, and my longing.
Someday,
But not today.
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7. |
Nicotine
00:19
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Nicotine
The woman who
Smokes tobacco
From a cigarette
Is seen in a vision by
The man who
Smokes tobacco
From a peace pipe
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8. |
Backslider
01:22
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Backslider
Today I walked
Underneath the sun
And the beautiful blue sky
Criss-crossed by thin white lines
In the upper atmosphere
I thought to myself
Why do I have to feel this way
Why can’t I be satisfied
With the beauty of the day
And how good it feels
To walk amongst the trees.
Why is the urge
To revert to my old ways
So powerful?
Why must I feel so discontent
So untrusting of myself
Bent on self-destruction.
But I never lost my urge
To believe in you.
Sometimes I think to myself
This feeling of emptiness
And yearning will pass
But it doesn’t.
Then I think,
Just be patient
This feeling will go away.
And then it does.
Then it returns.
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9. |
Money
00:43
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Money
In ancient times
Orchids were used
As currency.
Roses were gold.
Daffodils were silver.
Poinsettias were diamonds.
The customer
Cashing in his roses
For orchids
Slighted at the register
Short changed
Three petals
And one stem
Says to himself
To err is divine
To forgive is human.
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10. |
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Utcha-aãb, Discriminator Of Purity
I never ask myself
Why I was born.
Outside of their control,
My father and my mother
Were brought together
In a particular time and
In a particular place.
Utcha-aãb, Discriminator Of Purity,
Guided a particular sperm of my father’s
Into a particular egg of my mother’s
For a particular purpose.
This is how it is for all living beings,
With Utcha-aãb, Discriminator Of Purity,
Going ‘round to protect his eggs.
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11. |
Book Of The Living
00:27
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Book Of The Living
Some say
In order to die
One must first live.
Others say
In order to live
One must first die.
Our coffins are decorated
With scenes from the
Book of the Living.
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12. |
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A Key Guaranteed To Fit A Certain Lock
Once I dreamt
I had to choose
Between three
Different roads.
One road led to money
One road led to love
And one road led to free will.
I first took the road to money
And after I reached its end
I found I was back exactly
Where I had started.
I took the road to love
And after I reached its end
I found I was back exactly
Where I had started.
Finally, I took the road to free will
And after I reached its end
I again found I was back exactly
Where I had started.
I thought there were no more roads
To choose from
Until I turned around
And there was a fourth road.
This road didn’t lead to money,
Love, or free will.
Its entrance was black as night.
After I stepped across the threshold
I found I was in the middle of a
Field of golden flowers.
A beautiful woman
With black hair
And skin of alabaster
Smiled at me
And handed me
A key guaranteed to fit a certain lock.
The rays of the sun
Came upon us like a million butterflies
Destined to land on a stele made of chlorite.
And then I realized
I had dreamt all of this before,
The road, the field of golden flowers,
The woman with skin of alabaster, the key,
Even the million butterflies.
And I thought to myself
What makes me remember
Certain dreams and forget
Others.
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13. |
Poppies In A Wine Flask
01:17
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Poppies In A Wine Flask
Three poppies,
One red, two white,
Emerge from a blue
Wine flask.
An unknown artist applies
Paint to canvas.
Galileo
Waking from a dream
Steps onto his balcony at Arcetri.
He can feel the sun revolving around the earth.
He dreamt the Ottomans had laid siege to Candia.
A ship sinks in the Mediterranean Sea
Its cargo lost forever
Investors lose money.
The master forger
Creates an anonymous work
Sold at auction in Rome.
Wind blows through
Bare branches of an olive tree.
Nothing can be known
Of a God which is
unknown.
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14. |
Negative Confession
01:08
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Negative Confession
He who says he knows God
Will never know God.
Don’t waste your time
Trying to teach him
About enlightenment.
Or worse,
Humoring him by listening
To his speeches
About enlightenment.
Instead
Seek out he who says
He doesn’t know God.
He who says
Furthermore
One can never know God
In God’s entirety.
He wakes up in the middle of the night
And can’t fall back asleep.
He makes a wrong turn
And then another.
His recklessness
Is the pathway
To enlightenment.
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15. |
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Pythagoras At The Monochord
A reed flute can be heard
From the center of the pyramid.
We all can claim to hear
The word of God
But only the neophyte
Can hear the notes.
Religiosity and spirituality
Cannot be separated
And this is how I know.
The act of listening to music
Is the act of listening to God
They say God created
The world and everything in it.
God created the beginning and
Ending of time.
God created all musical instruments
All forms of musical notation
God created all rhythms
God created all melodies
God created all songs themselves.
Don’t think for a moment
God doesn’t know your beginning
And ending.
To God the world began
And the world ended in an instant.
The intervals of your life
Have been divided equally
Along the single string
Between the two bridges
Of the monochord.
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16. |
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The Holy Women At The Sepulchre
Why look among the dead for someone who is living?
Why look among the living for someone who is dead?
Ani makes his preparations.
Let him come forth from the multitudes.
The Son of Man knew,
Ahead of time,
Who would believe in Him
And who would betray Him.
This is why He told his disciples
No one could come to Him
Except through the will
Of the Father.
Love will be found within love.
Hate will be found within hate.
The holy woman
Lifts her veil.
She is pure of mind.
Ani will come forth by day
To do his will
Amongst those
Who live.
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17. |
God Is A Woman
01:23
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God Is A Woman
God is
Omnipotent
Omniscient
The creator of
Everything seen
And unseen.
Human beings are
Powerless
Devoid of knowledge
Creators of nothing.
God, by definition, is beyond human.
Humans, by definition, are irrevocably human.
Therefore
If God is a man
It’s just as likely
God is a woman.
Genesis says:
"God made man in his own image."
Could it be this "image"
Is not that of the physical,
But of the soul-image
The spirit-image
Of God
Reflected by God
Onto all of us.
God is a woman.
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18. |
Only God
01:39
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Only God
No good or bad; only God.
No right or wrong; only God.
No love or hate; only God.
No honesty or dishonesty; only God.
No act of violence.
No act of kindness.
No act of selfishness.
No act of selflessness.
No act of cowardice.
No act of courage.
No downfall.
No redemption.
No life.
No afterlife.
Only God.
It has been said
God is everywhere and in everything.
God is outside and inside you.
Every word you speak comes from God.
Therefore
When you speak, God speaks.
When you say "no faith"; God.
When you say "no hope"; God.
When you say "no chance"; God.
When you say "no God"; God.
Only God.
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19. |
A Man Calls For War
01:44
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A Man Calls For War
A man calls for war
A man calls for peace
A man calls for death
A man calls for life
A man calls for hate
A man calls for love
A man calls for fate
A man calls for chance
A man calls for finitude
A man calls for eternity
A man calls for pragmatism
A man calls for justice
A man calls for sound
A man calls for silence
A man calls for reality
A man calls for beauty
A man calls for violence
A man calls for pacifism
A man calls for intelligence
A man calls for enlightenment
A man speaks up
A man speaks down
There they can be found
From the beginning of time
A man calls for war
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20. |
God Created Capitalism
02:13
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God Created Capitalism
If there is a God
And God
Is the creator of everything
Seen and unseen
Then it logically follows that
God created Capitalism
God created Fascism
God created Communism
God created Socialism
God created Anarchism
It logically follows that
God created Democracy
God created Aristocracy
God created Oligarchy
God created Monarchy
God created Theocracy
God created dictatorship
God created authority
God created submission
God created conformity
God created ignorance
God created indifference
God created resistance
God created revolution
God created enlightenment
God created evolution
God created a way up
God created a way down
God created a way in
God created a way out
God created Capitalism
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21. |
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Gone From Thinking To Praying
Gone from thinking to praying
Gone from knowing to dreaming
Gone from certitude to emptiness
Gone from determination to surrender
Gone from expression to impression
Gone from willfulness to impairment
Gone from language to deciphering
Gone from freedom to following
Gone from belief to faith
Gone from the soul to the spirit
Gone from embodiment to the mist
Gone from prediction to dereliction
Gone from certainty to forgetfulness
Gone from stability to sincerity
Gone from lost to found
Gone from faith to sound
Gone from thinking to praying
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22. |
We All Come From God
01:38
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We All Come From God
We all come from God
That's what they say
Others say
Only one comes from God
He's supposed to show us the way
Others say
None come from God
There is no God
Its obvious they say
Still others say
There are many Gods
Each God a symbol
Of another origin from which we came
I say
In a newborn child
Is the symbol
For the beginnings of all life
From the seedling
To the star
From an idea
To its fruition
All that lives
Must be born
Their beginnings surround us
We all come from God
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23. |
The Hawk And The Cross
02:31
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The Hawk And The Cross
Sun shines down
On an ancient village.
The citizenry
Go about their business.
Atop a cross,
A hawk
With wingspan seven cubits wide
And the head of a bennu bird
Devours a crow alive.
Trapped underneath its talons
The crow makes no sound
As its flesh is ripped away
And its feathers fall to the ground.
Several other crows
And even a finch-lark
With a great cacophony
Of screams and cries
Attempt to attack the hawk
They get close but never make contact.
The citizenry below
With single-minded determination
Ignore the distraction above.
The great hawk unafraid
Spreads its wings architrave
And takes flight
Bringing along its now-dead prey within its claws.
Ten crows chase after it
Their gestures threatening violence still-futile.
The hawk flies West
In a lumbering gait
Then crosses back
North towards the mountains
Flying ever higher
Towards the sun.
The higher it gets
The more the crows drift away
Until the hawk is almost indiscernible
Against the sky
And three crows
Become two
The last crow
Gives up and flies away to the East
And the hawk
With wingspan seven cubits wide
And the head of a bennu bird
Disappears on the other side of the horizon.
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Josh Haden Los Angeles, California
I play bass and sing in a band called Spain. www.spaintheband.com
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