Darkest Light

Hihache

George and Gwen McCrae - The  Rub (soul69 re-rub)

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Another year, another pilgrimage.
To the shrine of the plastic tree.
Welcome to the liturgy...
of looking away.

Hello all you saints in the hallway,
Lined up like icons in the light.
You’ve hung your halos on the coatrack,
though they're all but out of sight.
I smell the incense of the kitchen,
I smell the ritual of the roast.
This is what I hate the most.
Together,
not together,
because you've all forgot.
you've all bought,
presents for everyone,
but her.

Aye, oh, 
the sacredness of small talk,
The holy scripture of the "how-have-you-beens".
every smile painted in gold,
this, here,
a silence that I hold.

Hello all you saints in the hallway,
Can’t you see the altar is bare?
You’re singing carols to the ceiling,
To avoid the empty, aching chair.

St. Peter’s checking on the gravy,
St. Martha’s counting out the forks.
A Socratic silence in the study,
While we’re just pulling out the corks.

Not a single murmur,
possibly not even a thought.
I am sure,
not even,
Judas himself,
would have forgot.

Is it a sin to want to scream?
To break this porcelain peace?

To tell them all
"have a merry christmas"
"Now kindly go and eff youselves"

This is just a slow-motion police Of my heart. 
I would happily be merry not to take part.

We have a saying here that
"Family is the worst".

blessed as such,
but such a curse

The theology of the tinsel,
The doctrine of the "let it go".
You’re all prophets of the mundane,
on a pilgrimage of snow

little star on the tree,
is it me that you see.
could you grant me,
one little wish,
it would be only this.
let her come here,
let the carrols,
all merrily sing,
Oh little star,
I would do anything.

Hello all you saints in the hallway,
I hope you’re happy in your shrines.
But the wine tastes more like vinegar,
bare to your confines.

The silence, unbearable and wrong,
Is the loudest hymn you've ever sung.

Hello all you saints in the hallway, 
and merry christmas to you all.
I hope you don't fall,
on your way home.

Summer In New York

Michael Franks

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