The Autumn Effect

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Musical Accompaniment:

10 Years - The Autumn Effect

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We are of three pieces: body, mind and soul

If one were to die, we no longer would be whole

Some people are just rabbits but a few of us are the fox

And we find out who is who at the autumnal equinox

When the world coldly turns away from prospect and sunshine

Then the simplicity of life begins slowly to decline

The scent of death is in the air as the winds begin to pick of speed

And even the mightiest of oaks eventually will concede

The storms wrack the coastline and put a chill into our bones

And the rabbits among the sailors are given to Davy Jones

Silence and beauty flee, replaced by withering decay

Hardship, fear and hunger will form this night's soiree

To make it through the autumn is never a guarantee

It is indeed a test of our inner trinity

Of body, mind and soul, each of them must survive

For a person's not a person if even one of them is deprived

Yet Nature will do her best to rob you of all three

This is the way of life; it's easy to foresee

Each year it is the same as we prepare for the long haul

And yet countless is the number of those that take the Fall

They've lost one of their pieces and are now considered doomed

That's why there's so many rabbits: to make up for those consumed

For when the night sets in, it's the foxes that prevail

And they are not obliged to help the ones that fail

The Pursuit

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Musical Accompaniment:

Noah Gundersen - Honest Songs

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Sometimes it seems a mystery how people get along

If we are single music notes, how'd we ever make a song

For we are all so different, we're all going different ways

And no one can agree upon how best to solve the maze

So we make the same mistakes all over when we should've learned from them

We're quick to quick to take offense but even quicker to offend

And the song we sing is more than multilingual

It's the meaning of life and it's actually quite simple

We've become champions of survival and so possess more time for the pursuit

But the way out of this maze called life we constantly dispute

The answers to our questions have grown too hard to ascertain

Everything that's fed to us is laced with vanity and cocaine

Our lives are over-salted and we've forgotten the real taste

The way we deal with loss is to have our things replaced

But emotional investment makes no two things ever the same

With each loss, a tiny piece of us is given to the flames

And our physical possessions, our connections great and small

They will be the reasons for our eventual downfall

The words of all our prophets are constantly ignored

Or even worse: misunderstood and accredited to a lord

Thousands of years it's been like this, we don't know any other way

We worship our false idols though they're leading us astray

And yet the problem isn't difficult, we just have to take the time to think

We're so close to the solution but we must replace our vices with instinct

Entlieben (II)

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Musical Accompaniment:

Josh Groban - Now or Never

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Desperately searching for something I haven’t already said
There are much better things one could do on a bed

We’re still lying awake at 3AM
All of my arguments, you still condemn

I know in the morning this will start up once more
Our passive-aggressiveness has become a cold war

So I throw in the towel and go to bed bitter
Wishing that I could call in a pinch hitter

I don’t see how either of us can be considered mature
It’s at times like these I don’t see the allure

A family and kids, a house with a garden…
This might sound awful but if I may beg pardon

Love is a socially-accepted form of insanity
It’s a plague inflicting all of humanity

I kicked the habit, I think it was long overdue
It was a battle but I eventually pulled through

Falling out of love was an alleviation
Indeed the highest form of emancipation

My heart and my mind belong solely to me
You can't own them any more than the shade of a tree

Though I may still loan them if I feel inclined
They remain with me when you leave me behind

I’m happy like this, honest I am
And if you don’t believe me, I don’t give a damn

Because love is a drug and it’s so hard to quit
I learned a lot about love when I fell out of it

Entlieben (I)

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Musical Accompaniment:

Mike Patton - Snow Angel

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Es gibt Teile von mir, die immer fehlen werden
Weil das Leben weitergeht wie die Wanderung der Herden

Einen Teil hab ich vom Herzen selber rausgeschnitten
Das, was du mir eins bedeutet hast, muss ich mir jetzt verbitten

Ob dus glaubst oder nicht, warst du doch irgendwie anders
Wir passten nicht zusammen aber trotzdem wars besonders

Denn mit dir war ich ein Mensch, den ich mir heut' nicht vorstellen kann
Ein völlig anderes Ich versteckt jenseits der Tann'

Rückblickend sollte es klar sein: das Leben geht nie aus wie geplannt
Deswegen ist es ärgerlich, denn ich hab es nicht geahnt

Und was gibt es dann zu tun, wenn man keinen Plan mehr hat
Ich musste mich absichtlich neu erfinden – wohl keine leichte Tat

Nun gibt es sogar zwei von mir und häufig wundere ich mich:
Wer von uns hats besser? Wer ist das glücklichere Ich?

The Required Referendum

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Musical Accompaniment:

Trevor Hall ft. Matisyahu - Unity

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Anglo-Saxon, Zulu, Cree

Punjab, Maori, that is me

I am a citizen of the Earth

I've traveled her from Nome to Perth

And nowhere did I, far or wide

Find evidence of human pride

Instead we sort ourselves into nations

With no regard to the implications

  Our movements are constricted, our hearts and thoughts are bound

The loudest and the strongest are idolized or crowned

We can bind together to achieve miraculous things

Humanity has no need of races, castes or kings

We must put aside our differences, they are inventions of our own

Ultimately we are all just sacks of blood and flesh and bone

If you fall, I'll help you up and expect the same then in return

It's a simple enough concept but apparently hard to learn

Humanity is troubled but our potential exceeds our flaws

Love all and do no harm, there's no need for other laws

For who's to say that I'm not you, or you aren't me?

We are essentially all one soul sitting under the Bodhi Tree

Universal Soul

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Musical Accompaniment:

Astronaut Ape - Alive

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Floating through the cosmos, I am weightless and without form

They say space is cold and lonely but passing through this nebula, I feel warm

This close the light's spread thin, the color's lost to me

But I need not my eyes to enjoy it, it's my heart with which I see

Thousands of square light years: this nursery, my home

All the time which I have spent here, my thoughts could fill a tome

One day I'll reach the threshold and drift back out into deep space

But I'm in no hurry to get there, this is a journey not a race

I must learn as much as I can so when the time comes I'm prepared

For the next journey's even greater and I'll fail if I am scared

To transnavigate the void armed with nothing but my thoughts

When the mightiest of galaxies appear as nothing more than dots

My mind my lead me astray or help me to find my goal

But it all depends on how I've lived if I'm able to keep control

For the Bardo is truly frightening and it's easy enough to lose your way

But the real trick with the Jāti is just how much you take away

Because each life begins anew and we must learn everything again

And this is why it's crucial to seek enlightenment through zen

That we might this time make it further or even reduce the distance

That we may finally reach the edge and escape the suffering of existence

Dying (III)

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Musical Accompaniment:

Clint Mansell - Emotional Connections

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The stars in the night sky
Countless in supply
Answers to the why
This life passes us all by

There are people just like me
Wherever they may be
Few and far between
Slipping by unseen

That jogger in the park
A mother crying in the dark
Our minds made from the same spark
A ship waiting to embark

And no matter where we put to port
Things always tend to go athwart
Our ambitions we abort
For the dream is far too short

So we listlessly set sail
Desperately wishing for a gale
To take us beyond the Pale
To find the Holy Grail

This is the sleep that never ends
Where everything transcends
A time to make amends
A place for only friends

Shackles of Humanity: The Tale of Kneeknock Rise

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Musical Accompaniment:

Matthew Perryman Jones - Stones from the Riverbed

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It was always cloudy at Instep but only seldom fell the rain
And when then on occasion, nothing ever was the same

For the village was haunted by some wicked unseen monster
Who, in the summer storms, down from the peak would saunter

The townsfolk had their lore which told how to keep the creature at bay
A candle in the window would see the beast move on its way

For this reason it’d been generations since the wraith had taken a life
But upon my arrival in the Mammoth Hills the time was far past ripe

A cretin or a simpleton, so was my uncle known
A poet misconstrued, from the village he had flown

Two storms into the summer and he was yet to reappear
My Uncle Ott had paid the price of those who don’t adhere

I couldn’t understand why nobody seemed to care
So I mustered up my bravery as god rained out the summer fair

Up the mountain I ran and when at last I reached the top
Two things there I did find: a cave and my Uncle Ott

It was then I heard the howling echoing up out of the blackness
But when Ott explained its source to me I was overcome by sadness

It was just a geological oddity, the tales weren’t true at all
T’was the whistling of a hot spring which had the villagers enthralled

As I listened to the sounds, I had an awful realization
The tradition of the beast was for the village a foundation

Could I, in good faith, explain that which made them so unique
Was nothing more than a vent of steam up on the mountain peak?

For days Ott had been debating very much the same
But for me the answer seemed then actually quite plain

The village must learn of this, I thought, as I raced back down the slope
To know the truth comes first, with the repercussions they must cope

Soaked to the bone eventually at Instep I arrived
And the townsfolk were amazed that I had made it back alive

Then I unmasked the Megrimum with only somewhat reservation
But to my surprise, instead of shock, I was met with agitation

Stop spinning yarns, they told me, who would believe such a still story?
I couldn’t understand their doubt so I just told them I was sorry

Then I was cast out of Instep as the summer drew to a close
For when faced with faith and reason, it was the Megrimum they chose

I was an outsider and wasn't raised in the mountain’s wake
It was less obvious to me how very much then was at stake

To denounce all you’ve ever known is never an easy thing to do
But it’s wise – even imperative to enhance your field of view

It’s ok to say goodbye to the things you once held dear
Of enlightenment and change there’s no reason to have fear

There’s order in the chaos, life’s beautiful all the same

And whether by god or happenstance, the difference lies only in the name