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1. |
Wind the Clock
02:53
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when I was young, a boy of ten
while at my father’s side I learned to travel time
my eager mind was his to bend
we worked until the dawn
i dreamt amongst his dark devices
I wound the clock
I sealed the door
I sent my father back for more
the sharpened crack
the smoldering air
his young assistant pries his red and bleary eyes
not gone for long, but gone for good
i wait to hear him speak
he talks to me in tones advanced
I wound the clock
I knew the score
I sent my father back for more
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2. |
Perfect Time
02:23
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so what did i see in the machine — in twelve years time?
I was upset
we were estranged
and some fault was mine
had to speak my mind at the perfect time
now, presently placed, I can erase
I can hit undo
I can reset
I can restore
make the world anew
I can reset time
take us back to fine
with a well placed line
though i think there’s a force against me
pushing back, like the timeline is sensing
it’s so
and every time that i straighten the record
a new argument springs to life from the ether
it’s so strange to me
can it be that our fates are both sealed?
that the power you gave is a false one to wield?
and if so, it affirms my fear
whatever path i clear
only buys us years
so what can i do
living now with truth —
time won’t yield or bend?
each moment we pass
inches forward to the last resolutions end?
maybe get on fine
live in my own time
celebrate what’s mine
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3. |
Little Wars
02:37
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4. |
Rigid Math
03:28
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my father rang for me when he was feeling low
awash in lantern light
obsessing in its glow
I played my part
and gave him faith in his own path
but saw the hell it wreaks
this world of rigid math
and at the time, couldn’t hope to understand
what consumed my old man
I watched the flick of the plume in his hand
as be pursued some master plan
as he pursued some kind of ancient key
unifying everything
it all comes together
who could sleep?
the answers nearer
crawl to his side
and look in the light
I must have faded then
’cause night turned into day
I saw the lab transformed
his work was brushed away
I grabbed my coat
and went upstairs to draw a bath
and tried to think of anything but rigid math
and in time
lost the urgency to prove
the endless proofs consuming you
and found a way to digest and understand:
i hate the math
but love the man
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5. |
Dust
02:29
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my mother came to my bedroom, parted the curtains at first light
i turned away under covers, shouted invectives
GOOD GOD WHY
she said: my son, you know why
she said: my son, you know why
she said: my son, the dust also awaits us
any day could be the day you die
and i just thought, well ain’t that something morbid?
to go each day, expecting it all ending
but went along
i went along
my father took to the study, guzzled his coffee as he aged
i saw him sleep in the parlor
work every hour in a daze
he said: my son, you know why
he said: my son, you know why
he said: my son, the dust also awaits us
any day could be the day you die
i left for school
traversed a lonely ocean
i watched my friends
i monitored their motions
i came of age
i asked the aged and wealthy
they couldn’t tell me where you’d gone
i held the bars of the manor
hoping to get some sense of home
and said: good god, I know why
I said: good god, I know why
I said: good god, the dust also awaits us
any day could be the day we die
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6. |
Before Iping
04:27
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I knew him well
long before trials and tribulations
long before hurt and accusations
he’d traveled miles…
I took him in
said there was “room to spare”
lit a fire, fed him pie, and tried to find meaning behind his stare
recalled our time in the Governor’s Square and said:
“I’ve seen the curve of your cheek,
so what’s the use, hiding beneath
your spectacles blue in the light?
I know your skin and you know mine.”
day after day
I’d find him occupied.
mumbling, grumbling, fumbling, over lost fragments of his mind
and when he failed to work through the night
I’d wrap him up in my arms
trying to calm the steady alarm said, “If anyone can bear the weight, I trust in us,
I trust in fate.”
“This is not your weight to bear,
I’m just a ghost of a man that you cared for,”
he gathered his things in a blur,
and as he left I heard him curse
the gods and viles and the bottles in his case
the powders, the tonics, the code he couldn’t break
I closed my eyes and imagined his face
a distant arrangement of textures and shapes
I heard him go
the floor creaked and I was alone
his speech was soft and morose
a still silhouette of a hat and a cloak
I clung to the warmth of the bed
uncertain of whether it was all in my head
sometimes I wish he was here
but for all I know…
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7. |
Mister Marvel
02:01
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8. |
In Iping
02:01
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I pack my bag
ring my brother
tell him i’ll be home tonight
board the train ten after two
take a seat
pull out the paper
from the suitcase at my feet
and read a strange report from Iping
sources say chaos and bloodshed erupted in the streets of Iping
even the witnesses question the truth that they’re telling in Iping
they don’t mention a name but i fear for your life
I take a cab
make conversation
collect my luggage, rap the door
arrange my face to hide the fear
distant thought
ever-nagging
echoes in my worried mind
If only I’d been there in Iping
perched at the foot of your bed talking you through the crisis in Iping
would anybody be dead if you’d told me you were bound for Iping?
I cannot say it with certainty, but I know..
it’s simply an article, I should let it go
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9. |
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once i woke in the dark
double beat in my heart
and i called for my mother
she came and she gathered me up in her arms
laughed it off — as i cried
wiped the tear from my eye
told me “child, the sounds up in the attic
are far from only sounds in your mind
there’s a man at the top of the stairs
so you stay on the landing
it might seem like you’ve seen him before but
that’s a misunderstanding
things change
and people seem to lose all reasoning
but you’re safe
trust that i’ll protect you
and if you see the man call for me
i’ll be there
comforting
don’t be scared
mothers here
things change
and people seem to lose all reasoning
but you’re safe
trust that i’ll protect you
and if you see the man
pay no mind to what he says
pay no mind to how he lingers
if you see the man, move along
call for me
i’ll be there
don’t be scared
mothers here”
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10. |
Governor's Square
02:07
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he kept a lock from the millionaire inside his coat pocket,
inside an old tin
i turned it over and pulled out a hair and begged for forgiveness,
but I had to ask why he couldn’t say —
not to his only son —
was perhaps some day he’d have the need to “grow one of his own”
we jarred the fingers of a known local thief
we studied those prints and the joints underneath
he bought me tobacco and an elixir to heat
told the green grocer’s brother to get far more sleep
but he couldn’t say, not to his only son
was it’s a bad day, when he couldn’t keep with the seeds he had sewn
i took the ferry from Governor’s Square
bought a book on the landing and bottled the air
and stared at the city from a terrible height
watched the water grow dim and the gas lanterns light
it was just then, me looking down on the city below
i was with him and i felt the need to “grow one of my own”
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11. |
The End, Firsthand
02:40
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i’ve seen the end firsthand
and can say with certainty the year that we’ll be making our last stand
and it’s sooner than you think
but feels farther in my mind
though the moment we collapse is on a permanent rewind
and after that it’s space
and silence in our stead
and there’s no one left but me to estimate the tally of the dead
and estimate i have
back in my own time
and i feel a tiny shiver when that number comes into my mind
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