My Dying Bride A Map of All Our Failures 1. Kneel Till Doomsday I drank the meaning of her words, as theft She danced for Chopin, but his request was that she left The sea gave up his daughter for the moon So weary she looked, as my arm lifts at noon The fate of you and the world hung on his lonely choice I cannot, but I would love to bury the dead again Reward and punishment are the walls of a city bare And it is within you comfort I show the mirror A panic of rich desire leaps up from your burning face The face that shows your eyes was my sole victim tonight It’s for you, Christ, that my bodies’ here You’re bold with your anger and your love is shrewd He is quick so beware The cold pool waits just for you Pierced to the soul by heavens blade of dire shadows Where she speaks with her lord Her maker sits all alone Deeds are fruit, words are leaves Long shadows cast by old sins She spoke of Christ to the deaf and the poor The woman of fatalism is here now Her heart creeps among shadows of sick children The dying, graceful snow breaks her simple back 2. The Poorest Waltz Across the cedar covered river Within the night that covers them Up the hill toward dark gates An approach so sweet yet again Proffer the sightless with wine Crank the old gramophone To go up and dance with the blind girls A secret so holy and dire To waltz in the arms of innocence Hushed delights from the choir Shadows long and playful Cast with broken old candles Gowns worn and stressed Yet graceful in tired old sandals Strike up the scratchy old music Tonight they won’t dance alone Alas, the music does fade Back to the village they creep And leave the sanatorium Its bars and rules, Just so 3. A Tapestry Scorned ‘Twas a frosted morn in winter deep When Rosey left for wood The fire was low just barely a glow When Rosey left for wood Upon the wall a tapestry hung A farmyard, brook and lane A pleasant scene, Naïve theme With wheat and hay and grain No figures old or young The artist did include But now upon that landscape fair A woman rough and crude Each day the image differed The woman here and there Then close like a portrait It was Rosey standing there I met a maid one summers day I thought to make my wife On getting home, the picture red ‘Twas Rosey with a knife! My new love I took to see The rocks above the lake And to my sin I pushed her in The smile on Rosey’s face Days did pass and I grew old But Rosey looked the same My bones were stiff, and hair was grey But Rosey looked the same Upon the bed and almost dead She looked down on me From the tapestry threads her hand did reach My spirit now set free After a time my friends did come And were sorry to see me pale The priest said what he thought was right And they carried me away My home was cleared, history sold Empty was my place ‘Cept a picture on the wall Of lovers in embrace 4. Like A Perpetual Funeral I reach for my shadow in horror Envy eats but its own cold heart Some friends, the few I have left Set sail out of the frame I’m in He begins to die, That loses his desires All are not merry that dance here lightly Fear follows those who live by the sword and fire My heart was my weapon, and the death of me I saw the evening anew, all lean and red of hue It’s a lonely ocean out there, watched from my shore of despair So unto the sea my grief set sail, in disbelief Fevers and time burn away, Nothing is allowed to stay There is nothing new underneath the sun The moon with its long arms, reaches into the sea My eyes were towers high, in my heaven And from my body drew a cold breath and final clue The sun made clear its thoughts, It was never coming through I saw the evening anew, all lean and red of hue It’s a lonely ocean out there, watched from my shore of despair So unto the sea my grief set sail, in disbelief Fevers and time burn away, Nothing is allowed to stay 5. A Map Of All Our Failures I’m unaware of a response From my errant dark red soul Too deep to be spoken aloud I bury a word right in my heart Frost etched the tall windows I have been cold for a long time Borne upon winters shoulders There are wolves here, many of them I am staggered at their hatred of me I lie in complete fear I call the moths to tend me I forget the form of my sins And drained of motion, the air itself avoids me And void of notion, unable to perceive Mouth barely open, almost fearing to breathe And there is no other sound at all Just there, to the left, his shadow rose I always knew he was coming Takes the vacant chair beside me With golden hands he moved the hair from my face 6. Hail Odysseus He surely sails on tameless seas With idle hours in devils hands One hundred men on tameless seas Always searching for sacred land Rain lashing raw shoulders So heave, onwards, and heave again! With wrists bangled in scars again From below, she watched only him Secretly, she watched only him Stowaway, she crept so grim He surely sails enchanted seas Hearing voices he believes Hail Odysseus, come to us So heave onwards and heave toward us With wrists bangled with gold and stars And from below she screams out ‘No! Odysseus, please don’t go’! And you must fear the voice you hear Already now, they’re so near ‘And you will fall at the sirens call, into their poisoned claws!’ Fearing loss she watched them go The sirens, she thought, take me From below, she leapt into the sea From the sea to the land, greeting her, a golden hand ‘Welcome child, to our isle, become one, take my hand’ So it was, a new voice sung aloud from the sand ‘So now sing, lure them in, Odysseus can be your king The only way to love him, dear child, is to sing them in’ And so it was, the crew were lost, even brave Odysseus Into her arms forevermore, she sings no longer on the shore 7. Within The Presence Of Absence Your eyes speak more than More than your lips More than your mouth Bare were your summer Shoulders and arms And slender neck She rose up beautiful before me And bare she walks the morning anew It is the wound she gave me Through my heart, drives her rain Her face under the sky is full of golden sun I drew her through the midnight sky on iron leaves There is no name for you You fed me wine on a tender voyage Within your silk, I love to forget I step around you softly Drown away your little hatreds Your pain is just a memory As your summer fruit decays My fire for you stays Your body is a legend I launched into her as the earth began to die It is within her, my name is now known The hand draws slowly back to the poor art of my eye These are not fingers I have Put off your air of tragedy The art of light on your body Falls apart in the moonlight Your eyes speak more than More than you lips More than your mouth Bare were your summer Shoulders and arms And slender neck 8. Abandoned As Christ And me kissing Christ, with one eye on his crown I came killing through the dark My victims, please take a bow With great thought, my words are launched Right into the baying crowd The lies drop off my tongue As I wept before the fight There is no help in heaven Waste me unto your rotten kin Your words are those very thorns Your last lie still fresh on your lips And me, with a finger of glass pushed through your heart I’ll hide your name in a dying church for your shame You see, I want to come in first peace oh my lord Where was God when I most needed him? Andrew Craighan ? Guitars Aaron Stainthorpe ? Vocals Hamish Hamilton Glencross ? Guitars Lena Abé ? Bass Shaun Macgowan ? Keyboards, Violin Shaun Taylor-Steels ? Drums, Percussion