Gethsemani

Through the fire, through the fire,

through the marvelous fire

you were standing erect with a sword clenched in your iron fist.

Who am I, who am I in relation to you

when my soon broken body is prostrate

from this thorn in my mind?

 

Yet you don’t seem to see a thing at all,

you seem aware yet apathetic, and oh it shows, oh how it shows.

 

Through the night, through the night,

through the long tepid night

I was shouting your name in the midst of an otherwise silent garden.

Who are you, who are you who denies me reply

in this deafening chaos Father I am going to die,

I am going to die

 

yet You don’t seem to see a thing at all,

You seem aware yet apathetic, and Oh it shows, oh how it shows.

 

In younger days I would placate myself with theology,

the words of my father and contemporaries.

 

Eloi, eloi, eloi, eloi lama sabachthani, lama sabachthani?

 

Gethsemani

Archaeology

Is this strange?

Is this unnatural?

I didn’t understand what I was doing before.

I don’t want to be,

the friend whom you kiss.

I want to be your possession in a room that’s filled with people.

 

From the start of me,

to right here where I end,

a gambling man is all I am it’s all I’ve ever been.

So if I risk losing you

by singing what I’m thinking,

darling understand you’re dealing with an honest heart who wants to be…

 

Oh I want to be the man

that you cling to with your naked hands.

 

Oh I want to be the man,

the man who brings you all you need.

 

While you spend your time,

discover what it is you want,

I’ll be wasting mine,

in the arms of someone else,

but darling know in spite of all this,

I still want to be,

 

Oh I want to be the man

that you cling to with your naked hands.

Oh I want to be the man

the man who brings you all you need.

The man in me will fight

until he’s brought you everything.

The man in me will fight

till he’s become your everything.

Archaeology

Empty Promise

I can feel you

hiding underneath it all

-every motive, every noble goal I have.

Death you move me now

more that you’re gone,

to be a better man, to be a better man. Oh Israel.

 

I am seated at the table of the holy one.

I rest my weary head upon His weathered chest.

Teacher teach me how to be,

in my sorrows, to be a better man.

 

An empty promise, yet Lord Your fire burns through the night.

I’ve tried to love you but I could never do it right.

Oh Holy Phantom you’re deconstructing all my lies.

When you return Father

I wonder what it is You’ll find.

 

You are gracious

in intervention and in between.

My love is sacred, feel it press against your feet.

What alarms me is the thought that I’ll never be,

never be a better man, never be a better man.

Make me a better man, make me a better man.

Empty Promise

What Man Hath Joined

Forgive me for that morning when your prophet came

I was asleep or indifferent but it doesn’t make a difference, no.

My affection once created is a moving train,

a light that’s burning into darkness that I’ve never been able to contain.

 

I created what I can’t control, I created, I created, now I can’t control.

Lord I hate it but I can’t destroy, Lord I hate it Lord I hate it, why won’t you destroy it?

 

So I drank your blood.

I feel it course through me.

And I ate your body,

divine mystery.

And I’ll never know, never know,

just who will separate on the last of days.

 

I showed a wanting

then a waiting deferring the decision,

the construction of a plot line

with far too much exposition.

I’m like King Henry on his knees before the papacy

with my daughters close behind me and my scepter in jeopardy.

 

I’ve consummated now I can’t annul,

I’ve consummated, consummated, now I can’t annul.

Lord I hate it but I can’t destroy,

Lord I hate it, Lord I hate it, why won’t you destroy it?

 

Oh I drank her blood, I feel it course through me.

And I ate her body, divine mystery.

And I’ll never know, never know, just who will separate,

but I’m longing for the last of days-for the last of days.

 

India Music