1. |
To fall
02:27
|
|||
|
to fall
to fall
all is powder
an infinity of gems
or like water
to be in place and falling
as all falls
through the universe
the dandelion clock the blue
lit earth
the flower of light
where you lie
in the tall grass
at rest on everything
where all rests falling
parts of the snowflake
veins of the land of the leaf of light
suspend you
their delicate touch
connecting you
|
||||
2. |
Four riddles
03:53
|
|||
|
4 riddles
1
I am the tree with a single silver leaf
I am the strong wall surrounding the butterfly
I am the voice of fire
I am the teeth of a loving vixen
I am the daydream of the axe
I am the rose in an army of briars
I am the stone that holds the river
I am the bright heart of a black oak
2
I am the shepherd of the golden oak leaves
I am the dancer in the rain
I am the archer of a thousand petals
I am the audience of the bee
I am the hunter with two green hounds
I am the partner of the wren
I am the weaver with green needles
I am the smith of a thousand green spears
3
I have been alone on the mountain
I have been the manuscript of fog
I have been the watching forest
I have been the tongue of a boar
I have been hunted and escaped to safety
I have been the starving gold
I have been the silver salmon
I sang with the mouth of ocean
I have drowned in golden pollen
I made the music of wind over ice
4
I am the sleeper by a running tide
I am water that you cannot drink
I am a castle ruined by forgetting
I am a story where there are no mouths
|
||||
3. |
Mist on the barrows
03:58
|
|||
|
mist on the barrows
the tall grass seethes with messages
in this running mist
nothing is there
everything is there
soundless invisible things come close to us
as if the earth
the whole earth
were a spring
the grass
moves
trembling
they come
in the music
of flies
and crickets
lost
remaining
voices
in the distance
of their voices
passing
the mist runs with them
these graves are monuments to the body
to the greatness of the body
|
||||
4. |
The deep park
05:41
|
|||
|
the deep park
the deep park
abandoned to growth
left to abandoned things
to abandon
what will happen?
no ideas but in things
but a long wait
for things to wake
the song:
sleeps exposed
as if in a bare wood
in the act
of the rook landing
silent on the chimney pot
sleeps in the boy
shouting over a busy road
in the gull miles from the sea’s edge
sleeps in the witness
sleeps in the green daylight
vast polluting inertia
plucked
in strong wind like
the circling hands of the chestnut
wakes
called
harp
wakes
the park strung
with windlines
of pelting leaves
and rain
this buried
idea? only
acorn
opening heavy doors
of cloud
hints without body
a weather forecast
preparing though the leaves
are all ready
to fall
I want to fly
relaxing into the future
what gravity they hold
|
||||
5. |
A lesson
02:34
|
|||
|
a lesson
watch jackdaws
curving out on the cliff’s updraft:
there is a shape
only known by attending
it changes
but does not fade
though gulls pass through it
a path
in all dimensions
they laugh about
and write
black calligraphers
on blue-silver distance
to sit a
part
of this
|
||||
6. |
Hunting stone and light
03:53
|
|||
|
hunting stone and light
hunting stone and light
immobile
under shadow
as music
plays on stone
under smoky rainclouds
the washing slaps in a flood of wind
some suddenness
of sun and shadow
to focus the flickering
arterial
ray of birch
the buds
know only to attend
to fill with the big bang’s
unceasing star tide
to flood into leaf
into the tree’s dragon
into the lava-flow of spring
down the forest-side
keep silent
in the mystified green
the birds will speak bird to you
a great burden
to carry back to cities
and to sense
who remains in the flood of sun
but the sun’s vessel?
who can bear the terror and grace of the beech tree
but a falling seed?
armies come to the border sleeping
i cannot turn them aside
who will burn in their fires
but the wood’s submission?
the hall of the wood of the inner
eye
stays
a moment
its roof of green light constantly reforming
the song stands you there beneath it
the song remembers you unbroken
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
Who but i ate the fruit of your lips
i am dead and a voice sings me
who but i ate the fruit of your lips
i sing spinners to shatter the sycamore
run naked on the bare hill’s pelt
found again and flayed
i choose to die as myself by the sea
i fought coal and mud on the pointless tightrope
those that pursue me once were men
nevertheless i have not been broken
nevertheless i sing in the meadow
i have wrestled with the commands of oak
i have burnt in the skin of a tulip
i have laid down ready to die
and yet i live and breathe
i have been lost in the winter thorns
yet i walk here on the high downs singing
i am lost and a voice finds me
soaked to the skin on an empty highway
shocked by the realm of rain passing
ghosts of ice walking empty pastures
i found fire in the breast of a raven
i was the fox whose mouth was outlawed
i was the mouth of nine raging elms
i put my head in the dandelion’s mouth
i was the danger of the iris
sword of silk at the throat of the king
who but i escaped long labour
to feast on blackberries and dew
|
||||
8. |
||||
|
I travelled north to hide
I travelled north to hide
in the long light’s white skeins
the cities
frozen puddles
scratched crystals
all things stand naked
all things cast shadow
the dirt itself
I travelled north to hide
in the black gale
a long drag lit with take-aways
the cities in rivers of scent
night has no stories
only the precious muck
of now
I travelled north to hide
in the loving silk of rain
miles of iron horizon
the road reflects rags of sky
under the trees a drumming of feathers
wet camouflage of beech bark
wet star-chart of ferns
a solo crow’s reminder
I travelled north to hide
in the ghost-park
on the abandoned bandstand
to sing this ditty
into all the universe
jets etch the flawless sky
wet leather of the bright oak’s leaves
magnesium piercing over snow-moor
I woke from long terror
my face on the grass
after all things were looted
I woke to all things
I was an axe broken on stone
I was a massacre of ants
I was a dimension filled with death
I broke on the city like surf
yet I woke and danced through leaves
by the decrepit factory
whatever I did I could not starve
words ran to me for protection
I held close to angels while the traffic fought
I saw the absolute moonlit fox
walk through the streets like a forest
I was a treasure smuggled past x-rays
by remembering
I saw the same open sky’s cathedral
every day for a thousand years
I slept and woke again and slept
and still the garden persisted
still my love cut me living from the gallows
and healed me under a roof of thorn
|
||||
9. |
On nine barrows down
05:46
|
|||
|
on nine barrow down
bright orange frills of funghi
on broken gorsewood: apricot/fireheart/lilypad
the gorse in bud yellow as buttercups
below: mist oozes round pineblack islands
and onto the harbour
raises white peaks and long dragon’s backs
inland on the river
the larks come close
playtime sounds clear across the valley
rooks gliding and calling
circle away northwards
i walk the nine
wavering necklaces of high larksong
the ghosts sleep
it’s soft
words of birds i can’t decipher
rhythmic whisper of two rooks wings
passing
earth sings
I am the lover of all I see
|
||||
10. |
||||
|
where the blue goes dark and birdless
where the blue goes dark and birdless
among animals of air i was
waiting i was empty
for the wound of the world
up here only blindness
and acceptance
the single falling seed
on the seedhead of worlds
half-erased white ghost-shapes
high in blue space
veer and spread
unfurl like faded messages
a hand has torn
the sky open
its lining silver-beyond-blue
where you fly
lost in the universe
all your pain forgotten
distracted forever by the endless
painless fall over blue
|
||||
11. |
||||
|
I am the gatherer of excited moons
I am the rider of green ribbons
I am the caretaker of white
I find paths for the soft to blunder
I am the familiar of brown women
I have seen the lie of the land
I am the leader of delicate dragons
I bring the future safe to market
I have walked the empty downs
|
||||
Discus Music Sheffield, UK
Discus Music was founded in 1994 by Martin Archer. The label releases leftfield rock music, free jazz, extended songform,
electronics, improvised music, and other sounds which defy categorisation.
EU customers! Your purchase will be shipped to you from within the EU. No unexpected import charges!
... more
If you like Army Of Briars - 30CD (2007), you may also like:
supported by 6 fans who also own “Army Of Briars - 30CD (2007)”
I love Graham Collier Music!!!
go to album
Never Never Land
by Henry Lowther's Quarternity
supported by 6 fans who also own “Army Of Briars - 30CD (2007)”
There is something about about the way the strings and the winds talk to each other in this album that is attractive. The relaxed pace of many of the pieces also fits my taste.
go to album
Revisiting Tanglewood 63: The Early Tapes
by Mike Gibbs
supported by 6 fans who also own “Army Of Briars - 30CD (2007)”
Really enjoying this album, thanks to you guys, I will play and pass on the good word. Excellent stuff. Shaun
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Mar 12, 2024
go to album
The Great Reset
by Milton Man Gogh
“Prog-jazz” group Milton Man Gogh’s latest pairs their skewed take on the form with a darkly comic graphic novel.
go to album
Folk, ambient, and jazz swirl together on the delirious new album from Sam Wilkes that’s hushed & gorgeous.
go to album
Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows: Live '75
by Neil Ardley
supported by 6 fans who also own “Army Of Briars - 30CD (2007)”
Love love love 🙃😂♥️♥️♥️🙏💯🙏👋🌟👍
go to album
