lyrics

Quite unexpectedly here I stand among the last thousand left on earth
So far removed from the illusion we were born into
In all the dissonance will we understand
That a record of our footsteps is something we should hold onto?
And would we search for every scrap of what we once discarded?
Build a salvage-library to keep our fading knowledge safely guarded

But it’s all gone quiet
Though there’s no solace in the mud
We have to try it
Now all our systems and our crimes
Are lying scattered by the flood
There are paths to our survival in the new and the archival
A misjudgement in their balance a risk of nothing left
But a sun-scorched song of sorrow in a moment as we wander
Through the puzzles of the free and bereft

If we could realign the shards of what we used to think
They’ll be bound for annotation in the Institute of Things We Must Not Do
And in that mausoleum in the quiet dark
Illuminate our errors and our shame to inform the new
But for now all take a hold of every rag and every question that we find
So much truth to excavate and so many wounds to bind

credits

from Five Thousand Feathers, released October 4, 2024
Helen Bell: vocals, piano, recorders, viola
Xenogon: drums, bass guitar
Words and music by Helen Bell; arranged by Helen Bell and Xenogon

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