1. |
Have You Seen My Ghost?
03:46
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A vandal of the linens you were swift
But results were deep and lasting
Just wait until the morning you’ll forget
But you’ll never leave the show
Where you go she will follow
To the end and to your grave
In the chase your hunger trapped a swallow
To the debt of both our days
Have you seen my ghost?
Does she haunt you where you grieve the most?
Have you seen my ghost?
‘Cause I drink with yours beneath my clothes
And I sleep with yours though no one knows
Nostalgia never got me very far
And you’re not trembling near enough
Counting off your missteps coin by coin
Is the way she always knows
Where you go she will follow
To the end and to your grave
In the chase your hunger trapped a swallow
To the debt of both our days
Have you seen my ghost?
Does she haunt you where you grieve the most?
Have you seen my ghost?
‘Cause I drink with yours beneath my clothes
And I sleep with yours though no one knows
(instrumental)
In the chase your hunger trapped a swallow
To the debt of both our days
Have you seen my ghost?
Does she haunt you where you grieve the most?
Have you seen my ghost?
‘Cause I drink with yours beneath my clothes
And I sleep with yours though no one knows
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2. |
A Candle is a Protest
05:05
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Autumn’s grief
With the last of the leaves
In the harvest sun
Falling fast
This weighted branch hangs over us
We’ll hold the shadows close
Neglecting what we know
Stealing threads from strangers beds
To weave a mat for sleep
A lonely foreign gleaner humming softly at your feet
You’ll shield me ‘til the morning
Still I crave the warmth and light
A candle is a protest every night
A candle is a protest every night
There’s a case for our time in this place
You’re tired and so am I
Of the lines we’ve been assigned
This weighted branch hangs over us
So cast your soiled cloak
Of linen turned to smoke
Stealing threads from strangers beds
To weave a mat for sleep
A lonely foreign gleaner humming softly at your feet
You’ll shield me ‘til the morning
Still I crave the warmth and light
A candle is a protest every night
A candle is a protest every night
These fields and trails aren’t of my home
But still they can nurse the life we’ll sow
Enough to forget his burning pyre
But not enough to strike and light desire
Stealing threads from strangers beds
To weave a mat for sleep
A lonely foreign gleaner humming softly at your feet
You’ll shield me ‘til the morning
Still I crave the warmth and light
A candle is a protest every night
A candle is a protest every night
A candle is a protest every night
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3. |
Now & Then
03:37
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I think this time you've said enough
To make me want to leave this place
Still I keep coming back for more of
The same to fan the dying flame
Here inside these walls that seem
To move a little closer every day
There must be a way out of
This crazy game we play out to the end
Let us just pretend a while
Think about the good things now and then
I think this time that was the best time
That we two had ever known
We tried the handle of the house
Upon the shore and found the open door
Once inside we found a curious moonbeam
Doing dances on the floor
We were only playing like two children
Who had stayed away from school
Two of us could not be wrong
Heaven knows who keeps the golden rule
I think this time we've learned enough
To know that nothing is the same
But still the pounding of my heart
Hasn't changed and leavin's so strange
Here among my thoughts of you
I find a gentle longing to be free
There must be a way out of
This crazy game we play out to the end
Take away the in-between
Think about the good things now and then
We will see the day when you
Or I will stay or face up to the end
Let us just pretend a while
And think about the good things now and then
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4. |
An Expanse of Stars
03:43
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An expanse of stars
Lives above my head
Lives above my head
And I’m below
And this willow’s stream
Will flow into the sea
Eventually
While I’m behind
If I loved you more
Would you love me more?
Here the sparrow builds
A home to lay her young
A home to lay her young
It’s what she knows
In her nest she wastes
Her song an aural maze
Of multiplying days
As the sand
If I loved you more
Would you love me more?
I could love you more
Will you love me more?
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5. |
The Wolf & I
02:28
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My body’s aching and the wind has claimed me
I feel the frozen crystals in my bones
The road is lonely as the forest sleeps
It’s just the wolf and I
He said I’m pleased to find you on my journey
I’m awfully famished and you’ll do just fine
My belly’s empty and I’m close to fainting
Won’t you climb inside?
Hostage or pact
I know this place
The offer’s sound
But motive’s laced
Still I can’t stand the frost
A deal in struck
A tiny cost
So now the wolf is full and I’m not lonely
He’s had a feast, I’m sheltered from the cold
But only one of us will make it home
It’s just the wolf not I
It’s just the wolf not I
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6. |
Solitary Place
04:35
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It was twenty years ago
When I laid here all alone
Slowly freezing to the bone
As the river inched through ice and snow
The hiding was the way I lived
Where all the words were mine
On the far side of the moon between the pines
I would never say I’m lonely
‘Cause I don’t even know your name
All the memories come back slowly and mostly they face
This solitary place
Through the blanket of the night
You were cold and I was numb
I don’t remember what was said
Just the rush of guilt when you were done
Your footprints marked a shallow course
That traced my swift decline
On the far side of the moon in halted time
I would never say I’m lonely
‘Cause I don’t even know your name
All the memories come back slowly and mostly they face
This solitary place
(instrumental bridge)
It was twenty years ago
When I laid here all alone
Slowly freezing to the bone
As the words were slowly cast in stone
Your footprints marked a shallow course
That traced my swift decline
On the far side of the moon there was no crime
And I would never say I’m lonely
‘Cause I don’t even know your name
All the memories come back slowly and mostly they face
This solitary place
That time has not effaced
This solitary place
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7. |
Wilderness & Stone
03:00
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Sinking down to the city’s gate
Descend the mount and wade through viscous air
Until the oxygen stays prayer
If every voice in this town was still
The rocks would shout, the pebbles chatter on
They’d whisper secrets changed with dawn
But I wish before the fall
Writing still etched on the wall
With either the wait or the news
The saddest words drop when time is swift
I’m stiff and weep but lean towards his kiss
On leveled path, but still bemused
But I wish before the fall
Writing still etched on the wall
With either the wait or the news
Of ways we’ve been here before
Desperate with blood on the doors
And still all I long for is you
Whistful I’ve been calling for you
Caught between the wilderness and stone
All alone
All alone
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8. |
Still I Love
03:36
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I heard the stars fell for you
So I studied their dreams
But nothing was left in the morning
Except ashes and steam
I think of you only when I’m placed
Where we set the fire
Still I love
Still I Love
I read you left for the north
So I wrote you in ice
Returned as the sky inked you name
With the pigment of lights
Connected the dots but not the game
That’s just how it goes
Still I love
Still I Love
Our time with the weight’s been left estranged
The flight of our years has bruised the change
From when we were fire
Still I love
Still I love
Still I love
Still I love you
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9. |
Sugar Snow
03:26
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You know you're finished when your bones are aching
You know it's over when your nerves can't take the strain
It's tough to stand up when your heart is breaking
It's hard to give up on the life you've known
A young man's body doesn't last forever
An old man's mind can't believe how time's flown past
It's not you've ever longed for something better
It's just you've never thought it'd get this far
Trudge the sodden fields
See what the maples yield
And count the sweetness in the pail
Before you reap the seeds
You still have mouths to feed
And hands to pay and so you hope for the sap to flow
With one last sugar snow
You know the soul and pain of every acre
The children don't because we left so long ago
The city promised we'd have something better
The city makes up bleed with what we owe
Trudge the sodden fields
See what the maples yield
And count the sweetness in the pail
Before you reap the seeds
You still have mouths to feed
And hands to pay and so you hope for the sap to flow
With one last sugar snow
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10. |
Burn it Down
03:13
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Lay me down
Onto the salted ground
But hold on tight
‘Cause there’s a spark I’m ready to let go
Of the weight we’ve held so long
Time and again we said we’d burn it down
Tie the catch and light the match
Then send the foxes out
Watch the sky ignite into a storm
There’s no turning back now as we chase the rusty tracks
And shake the fading lights
Of this town
All our days
Are plotted on a maze
Stay on course
But when you can’t just crush your own escape
With the force you’ve held so long
Time and again we said we’d burn it down
Tie the catch and light the match
Then send the foxes out
Watch the sky ignite into a storm
There’s no turning back now as we chase the rusty tracks
And shake the fading lights
Of this town
Glancing fast towards towards the skies
We'll watch the dust and fumes float by
Intentions left exposed
We’re heading south
The last place left to go
Tie the catch and light the match
Then send the foxes out
Watch the sky ignite into a storm
There’s no turning back now as we chase the rusty tracks
And shake the fading lights
Of this town
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11. |
This Land is Not My Home
03:56
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Only room for one inside this town
He laid it on the line
Nothing but the sun to hide our tracks
We’ll take it as a sign
I’d do it all again for you
I’d say the words, I’d give it all, I’d bear the time
Water from despair, a tiny heel
Can mark where others kneel
The wild and the tame can’t walk the same
They barter different deals
I’d do it all again for you
I’d say the words, I’d give it all, I’d run the miles
Now a journey pressing lips against a stone
For a pharoah’s daughter in a land that’s not her own
This land is not my my home
Never room for two inside this vow
He laid it on the line
Raging at the way we sigh a name
It might as well start now
I’d do it all again for you
I’d say the words, I’d bear your bones
I’d do it all again for you
In this land that’s not my home
This land that’s not my home
This land is not my home
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Bri-anne Swan Toronto, Ontario
Music. Songs. Stuff I write when I probably should be doing other things...
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