Out of the corner of my eye
a strange friend coming
Out of the corner of my eye
a strange friend waits

So soon
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty
Taking me over the empty river
Will you show me no mercy?

Step out of the twilight house
the door is open
Out of the twilight house
through the open door

So soon
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty
Taking me over the empty river
Will you show me no mercy?

August and the golden sky
fade to blue now
August and the golden sky
fade

So soon
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty
Taking me over the empty river
Skeleton, will you show me no mercy?

Who is that on the other shore?
I feel like laughing
Who is that on the other shore?
Who is that on the other shore?
I feel like laughing

Awful Good

Empty River

Cold and dark in the gray wood
wait, silent
harvest comes at dawn

Boy, that's the way you will shoot the gun
walking tall like your daddy in the dark
She goes down with one last breath
Never see you coming, you do just like your daddy said

Lost time drags you home from school
no-one notices the boy, the fire, the gasoline

Yes, that's the way I will destroy your town,
as their dull eyes are wandering aimlessly
Set down before great plastic arms,
how could they ever embrace me?

The sun sets below the power lines... lost time

Followed the lullaby into your mouth,
and awoke inside a never ending movie

Fluorescent lights from beautiful pills
out of the hand of your savior
That's the way I will remember you
as I walk away through the cold and the dark

That's the way I will shoot the gun

Lost Time

Fool's fire
Where did you go?
Fool's fire
Where did you go?

You think that I don't see you now
How you are burning from the inside out
You think that I won't hold you through
all the grief that you are lost without
It was so long ago when it began
by imperceptible degrees
Louder and louder in your head,
the less and less you could show

I know you
I know
I know you

When I wore tangled branches
When I spoke with falling leaves
The warm light through the window behind me
cast my shadow
I knew you would not answer,
still I said your name
You think that I don't see you now,
how you are burning

One kiss for you
I can wait

03 Fool's Fire

Come the ghosts now to the edge of the great broken machine
This hollow world of wanderers where the lone girl waits for darkness
He comes riding with the gloaming, a fair hand to his ear
Her eye upon that dagger as she sings

Down, down the spiral stair
I go, I go with thee
Ah, Maskmaker
What will you take from me

I remember the setting sunlight through my mother's hair
As she bent to swing me up into the open sky
And the lake was still as glass, the sparks flew ever upward
There is the milky way, there is the north star

And all the tender words, so delicate and so bright
That I gathered to my chest, to see me through
Your love upon a razor

There is the bridge where she is standing
Did you here her calling?  Did she say my name?
From behind this false face how can I keep from falling?
How will I find you again?

In a house of hidden rooms, 
knocking on the walls
Ah, Maskmaker... waiting
But the mourning dove is speaking

Mask Maker

When You Were Hungry - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak 
Album - MaskMaker

Said the wild dog
Ooh
Outside the window
I remember long ago when you were hungry

Said the wild dog
Ooh
I remember
you used to sleep without a dream

You did not need that devil's fire
long ago
when you were running with me

Said the wild dog
Ooh
Outside the window
Do you remember the mountain talking?
Do you remember the black wind roaring up
from the south?
I remember
you were looking at me
with blood in your mouth

How long have you been here?
With your belly full
and your fear, sister,
you know it's only thunder

Was it worth it?

Said the wild dog
Ooh
Outside the window
I remember
when you were hungry

When You Were Hungry

Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Album: Mask Maker

It was never any use begging me to wake up
and beware
as trouble came to braid the yellow primrose
through my hair
By Lyra's spring murmuring a maiden's lullaby,
it was no use hanging on to me

as I fell through the gold ring of a wild dog's eye
Oh to reel with such sweet and treacherous joy
How he laughed and he laughed, Coyote,
within the skin of a beautiful boy

I took his hand through the barbed wire
for a tear in my blue dress
and time would slow to stand still 
for the secrets I'd confess
Before me only green and the palace of July
and he would know me,
he would know me,
like no other

But away, away, cried the thrush
And follow me home
The hour is late and your father is drinking alone
Who'll set the table?
Who'll pick him up off the floor?
Who's going to care if you are not there anymore?

One foot in front of the other
Hush little bird
One foot in front of the other
Hush

It was never any use begging me to wake up
and beware

Coyote

Tenzin Chopak
                                  "An unmistakably singular sound"
                                                No Depression
Tenzin Chopak is an artist, indie singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist composer based in Ithaca, NY.  He has self-released five studio albums of original music since 2012 and composed scores for various conservation documentary shorts such as "Fragile Legacy" by David Brown, "Big South Fork: Generations", and "A Day on the Lake Clark National Park Coastline" for the National Park Service among many others.  He regularly performs solo as well as with backing band.  Reviewers have referred to his work and concerts as "stunningly beautiful" and "mesmerizing".  Most recently, Tenzin released the album "Awful Good" with a band in November of 2016, and the solo album "Alone in the House" in March of 2017.

Tenzin Chopak

Popular tracks