Recordings made at the dress rehearsal in March.
>
Once, in my arms,
I carried you and you were weightless
Once, in my sleep,
I looked at you and you were weightless
So often, in my love, I’ve listened to you and you have been weightless
So it is now,
as I turn you to the wind,
as I turn you, turn you, turn you to the wind
you are…
a boy in the river a boy on the sand beneath the sun
you are…
a girl
in Kandahar shouldering a sheep
I’m sorry
I failed you both – I am no man
Always, in my blood
and bones, I carry you both for life, for life
“the strangers we are
the secrets we have
the tales for telling
but still we will
Call him home
we’re calling him home –
we need our son,
our soldier”
but the only sound
that came to me
was the falling call
of a crow
calling and falling again
falling and calling
calling and falling again
What can she see: an act, a need?
I give her a grin, I do, she’s safe with me:
I am, I know (I believe), a man of valour
But still she stares deathly to the back of my head,
the wretched black
We’ve lost him,
he’s gone
he went in winter
She doesn’t say who,
but I know, I know
Above: a crow,
if I could …
We fired again
the enemy went down
but so did she, the girl, the girl
with her sheep
[The girl went down…]
A feeling of falling
in my chest
my guts
my legs
my head
my mistake…
my bullet
that tore open
a girl’s
throat
the other
my brother
who felt too alone
to live
Black shadows
I’d run with you…
Father, I know this to be true:
my life is violence
and the dearest,
the most innocent,
are gone
a demon
is stealing
my reasons
for fighting
my reasons
for being
I don’t want
to be broken
Son,
my son,
as the rain comes down on the iron
What a word it is:
a bird
a mist
a whisper
Yes, I say,
I will
Carry me
carry me
carry me close
Carry me
carry me
never let me go
I won’t let you down
For now we are:
a breath
a seed
a plea