The Grammar of Light

June 25

I Still Remember Love by Nova J

I wake up in a room I don’t know
The curtains bright, the light is low
She smiles at me and says my name
I don’t recall hers, I feel ashamed 

She helps me sit and brings my plate
I try to eat but barely taste
She holds my hand and doesn’t rush
And somehow it feels just enough

I still remember love
Even when the rest fades out
I still remember love
And that’s what life’s about

A man walks in and calls me “dear”
His face is kind, his voice is clear
I don’t know the place or day
But feel safe with him anyway

I get confused out in the hall
Forget the way, forget it all
They find me there and bring me back
No one laughs or gives me flak

I still remember love
Even when my mind’s not right
I still remember love
Like a porch light in the night

There’s a song that plays inside my head
I hum along though words are dead
I don’t know where the tune came from
But singing it still keeps me calm

I still remember love
Even when I lose my place
I still remember love
When I see a caring face

So if I forget your name
Or don’t know where we are
Please don’t feel ashamed
Just stay right where you are
I forget a lot
But when push comes to shove
I still remember love
I still remember love

I STILL REMEMBER LOVE

[Verse]
Some dig deep
just to stay afloat
Hands all blister
still no coat

Some rise slow
before the sun
Give and give
‘till nothing’s done

[Chorus]
Some people work to the bone –
and go home cold
Others glide
and still strike gold

[Verse]
You're told it counts
to do things right
But right don't pay
on Friday night

[Bridge]
It’s not about how much you give –
but who gets seen
and who gets to live

[Chorus]
Some people work to the bone –
just to survive
Some wear crowns
they never tried

[Verse]
Hands worn thin
Truth cuts stone
Some keep bleeding
Just to own

[Outro Chorus]
Some people work to the bone –
and go home cold
Others glide
and still strike gold


Work To The Bone

The Light Never Lies

[Verse]
We don’t touch, we resonate
Through silence bent by distant weight
A charge, a pulse, a field we share
You turn, and I am almost there

[Chorus]
The light never lies
It flickers, but flies
We’re spark in the dark
Writing truth across skies

[Verse]
A photon passed between our hands
No sound, no plea, just what it understands
A grammar etched in wave and spin
We reach, collapse, begin again

[Chorus]
The light never lies
It flickers, but flies
We’re fire without flame
We’re question, not name

[Bridge]
Not bodies, but signals
Not answers, but signs
The world is a whisper
In vacuum lines

[Chorus]
The light never lies
Though shadows may try
We burn just to know
That to be is to glow

The Light Never Lies

[Verse]
You looked away, but your hand stayed still
Like a page half-turned against your will
Coffee cooled, the light turned red
But something more was left unsaid

I moved my chair a breath too near
Not to speak, but just be here
Your fingers twitched, a silent sign
And I read the space between your lines

[Chorus]
It’s not the words we throw or catch
But sparks that jump without a match
The hush before a lover leaves
The weight of what no tongue believes

[Verse]
She wiped the table, wiped it twice
As if to smooth out sacrifice
He checked the mail, then checked again
As if to name what can't remain

[Chorus]
It’s not the words we throw or catch
But sparks that jump without a match
The hush before a lover leaves
The weight of what no tongue believes

It’s not the words we throw or catch
But sparks that jump without a match
We speak in drift, in glance, in breath
A grammar wired beneath regret

[Bridge]
Like radios tuned in distant rooms
We hum, we pulse, we share our wounds
No alphabet can hold this thread –
But still, it ties what’s never said

[Outro Chorus]
It’s not a voice, but still reply
A field between the you and I
We’re not alone, not when we try
The light between us doesn’t lie

A Grammar

This Is The Path [No Beast Has Touched]

[Verse 1]
I walked the edge where silence grows
Among forgotten bones and crows
Not north, nor south – just in-between
Where memory hides what might have been
A path untrodden, undefined
Where no shadow ever screamed clarity
No claw has scratched this ancient dust
No hunger dares disturb its trust

[Chorus]
This is the path no beast has touched
Too still for fear, too deep for blood
A whispered thread through time's collapse
Where breath is birth and loss, perhaps
You who seek – remain, endure
Where no anger forms a cure
The path unfolds beneath the skin
Where nothing ends and none begin

[Verse 2]
Not made for kings, nor for the lost
It winds beyond all gain and cost
A light that rests without a name
A flame that sleeps in body's frame
The hunter's eyes can't pierce this field
No trap is set, no prey revealed
This isn’t peace, it isn’t war
But something vaster, without shore

[Chorus]
This is the path no beast has touched
Too still for fear, too deep for blood
A whispered thread through time's collapse
Where breath is birth and loss, perhaps
You who’ve loved and you who bore
A silence larger than before
The path is carved in shadow’s kin
Where all you've lost is held within

[Bridge]
And if you hear it – like a call
Not loud, but not quite silence, all
Then walk, but leave your weapons here
For truth won’t fight, and truth won’t fear

[Final Chorus]
This is the path no beast has known
Where silence sings and self is sown
A path that glows beyond the seen
Where every step is home unseen

This Is The Path [No Beast Has Touched]

[Verse]
I walk the edge of a yawning void
Only Nijinsky dares to hold my hand
You fell asleep upon the stairs
And woke with a crushed orange in your palm

You said you speak with those long gone
That their answers cut deeper than mine
Their silence wrapped in solemn grace
Outshining my faltering lines

[Pre-Chorus]
You said I wasn’t good for her –
But what the hell do you, do you know of that
Everyone who’s scared
Just bends their story to fit the facts

[Chorus]
You always told me who I was
Never cared to really know
Over and over – your damn questions
Till I gave the answer you came for

Over and over – the same demands
I wish I'd walked away back then

[Verse]
You stole the most precious thing we had
Refused to share what never was yours alone
Even knowing they'd break apart
If we didn’t leave them the peace they deserved

Just a fair chance to grow, to heal
To feel the love they were worthy of
But you chose to repeat your hell instead
The childhood you blamed for everything

[Pre-Chorus]
You said I wasn’t good for her –
But what the hell do you know of that?
Everyone who’s scared
Just bends their story to fit the facts

[Chorus]
I wish I’d fought, told you off long ago
You never thanked the fear we showed
We bent, we broke from every word
This pain was never what we owed

[Outro]
I miss my daughter every single day
But a heart turned cold took her away
Nijinsky said – cold is where death begins
And warmth was something they'd never let in

Miss My Dandelion Girl

 [Intro] 
 Let them talk, let them stare 
 You're not a flame meant to beware 
 You’re the storm, the calm, the sea 
 You're everything you're meant to be
 
 [Pre-Chorus]
 They say be quiet, say be kind
 But your voice is not a crime
 Feel it deep, cry if you must
 Even your tears are made of trust
 
 [Chorus]
 You're allowed to take up space
 To move with light, not just with grace
 You’re not broken, you’re just bright
 In a world afraid of honest light
 
 More than okay
 You are more than okay
 
 [Verse]
 You stand alone to feel the peace
 Recharge your soul in gentle ease
 They call it weird, they call it shy
 But it’s the way you touch the sky
 
 [Bridge]
 It's not your fault you feel too much
 It’s how you love, it's why you trust
 Even if they laugh or turn away
 You’re still the sun at end of day
 
 [Chorus]
 You're allowed to take up space
 To move with light, not just with grace
 You’re not broken, you’re just bright
 In a world afraid of honest light
 
 More than okay
 You are more than okay
 More than okay 
 You are more than okay
 
 [Verse] 
 You don’t have to fold to fit the frame 
 You're not too much, you're not to blame 
 The world moves fast, it calls you strange 
 But you, my love, don’t need to change
 
 [Chorus]
 More than okay
 You are more than okay
 More than okay 
 You are more than okay

You Are More Than Okey

This is about Dementia. If you know, you know.

Lyrics:

To me you were a giant.
The King of the Jungle.
It's hard to watch my hero crumble.
Away, away you go

Nice to meet the old you,
the young you, a new you
in the old you, a child again,
away.

You taught me to make a flute,
from a willow stick.
Told me never touch your guitar,
but were proud when I did.

Taught me to find my feet,
helped me find my pride.
Built my strength and character,
my best friend and guide.

You tell us tales we’ve never heard,
A childhood laugh and a voice that cracks.
You run and play, your vision blurred,
with bent old knees and broken back.

I’m sad and glad you’re that child tonight,
Thoughts drifting off to now and then.
Like willow shoots that spring to life,
I wish you’d start from where you’ve been.

Your willow heart still beats, still bends,
Roots strong till the end.
I'll hold your hand,
as you start again.

Willowheart

SEE YOU IN HEAVEN

A Song A Saturday is a project by myself, Katie Archer, to release a live take of an original song every Saturday (well, most Saturdays) until I run out. Having just moved to Cape Town to do a master's, this was my way of making sure I played music at least once a week. It's a decidedly rough and ready process, these takes are far from perfect - but who/what is? It's all good, it's all good, and it's all music.

Lyrics: 

The sun at least a white blur behind clouds 
The rain exhausted her supplies 
Restocking now, no doubt 
For the next time she cries

Tents are fickle creatures 
Held up to the light 
See where they've eroded 
For every time she's cried 

The urge to adulter 
The urge to interfere 
With nature, oh cruel nature of man 
Will bring on all her tears 

And when I go away 
Wonder what harm I'm doing 
And should I go to stay 

For all the fun I have 
I wonder who is losing 

And nature is my queen 
But for all her beauty 
She's not here for me 

So take a look and walk on 
Take a look and walk on by 
Oh, take a look and walk on 
Do you hear her when she cries?

My body is broken 
My mind, it is fatigued 
Its not that I don't love them 
Or that they don't love me 

But I am the enforcer 
I fear that I am feared 
What they don't see is behind these eyes
Sit waiting all her tears 

She cries for the unseen 
She cries for the ignored 
She cries for those who suffer through 
The coloniser’s war 

And when she stakes her claim 
I wonder who will see it 
No, she’s not gone away 

For all the harm we do
It will be us who feel it 

Nature is our God 
But for all her bounty 
She's not here for us

So take a look and walk on 
Take a look and walk on by 
Oh, take a look and walk on 
Do you hear her when she cries?

She Cries ~ Demo

Note: In light of the recent AI breakthroughs, we feel it's important to clarify that we've been working with voice modulation since the mid-1990s – originally inspired by David Bowie's album Outside. Our approach predates AI-driven tools and is rooted in treating the voice as an instrument, shaped and sculpted through earlier technologies.

We fully understand that questioning authenticity may not be the intention – but it's worth remembering that all electronic music is, by nature, mediated and transformed. Even Nietzsche pointed out how modern tools shape us: inserting paper into a typewriter already creates a distance that handwriting does not. Perhaps birdsong is the only truly authentic sound. 🐦

Writes original song lyrics and takes custom lyric requests under the artist name La Wi. This platform is also home to the creative collaborations of the Psychonaut Collective (The Psychonauts). Thank you for your support and appreciation.