Red Snapper - Loveboat

The Ocean - Roots & Locusts

It is not for us to resolve things that are not of this world
A world with God would be even more disturbing than a universe without him
For if He tolerates atrocities
If he condones such cruelty
Who would want to worship such a maker anyway?
They locked her up for 30 days
In a dark room under the roof
They broke her will with the cane
She'll remember everything
You are trying to save me, but perhaps I am not lost
It is not God that I do not accept
It's this world of God's, created by God, that I cannot agree to accept
I dragged myself out to the Ocean
And stared all night into the sky
The only lights I saw were far below me: Black waters full of life
I too lived on roots and locusts
I too have been in the wilderness
I too was striving to stand among the elect
Among the strong and the powerful
You are trying to save me, but perhaps I am not lost
It is not God that I do not accept
It's this world of God's, created by God, that I cannot agree to accept
I dragged myself out to the Ocean
And stared all night into the sky
The only lights I saw were far below me: Black waters full of life
I too lived on roots and locusts
I too lived on roots and locusts
I too lived on roots and locusts
I too prized the freedom with which Thou hast blessed us
But I woke up and would not serve madness
The kiss glows deep in his heart
But the old man adheres to his idea
But the old man adheres to his idea
But the old man adheres to his idea
But the old man adheres to his idea
But the old man adheres to his idea
But the old man adheres to his idea
It is not for us to resolve things that are not of this world
I too lived on roots and locusts
I too lived on roots and locusts
I too lived on roots and locusts
I too lived on roots and locusts
I too

The Ocean - She Was The Universe

"Man is weaker and baser by nature than Thou hast believed him!
By showing him so much respect, Thou didst, as it were, cease to feel for him, for Thou didst ask too much from him - Thou who hast loved him more than Thyself?
Respecting him less, Thou wouldst have asked less of him.
That would have been more like love, for his burden would have been lighter."
--[The Grand Inquisitor to Jesus, in Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov"]

I had a dream which was not all a dream
The sun was extinguished
And the stars wandered darkling in space
Rayless, and pathless
And the icy Earth swung blind and blackened in the moonless air
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; And all hearts were chilled into a selfish prayer for light: They did live by watchfires
And the thrones of crowned kings
Habitations of all things which dwell
Were burnt for beacons
Oh Lord, I lack the strength
To turn and leave you
There's no confidence
In my hesitation
Happy were those who dwelt in the eye of the volcanoes
Their mountain-torch: A fearful hope was all the world contained
Forests were set on fire
But hour by hour they fell and faded
The crackling trunks extinguished with a crash - And all was black
The brows of men by the despairing light wore an unearthly aspect
The flashes fell upon them; Some lay down and hid their eyes
And some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smiled
Oh Lord, I lack the strength
To turn and leave you
There's no confidence
In my hesitation
And vipers crawled
And twined themselves among the multitude
Hissing, but stingless
They were slain for food
A meal was bought with blood
And each sated heart
Gorging himself in gloom: No love was left
Oh Lord, I lack the strength
To turn and leave you
There's no confidence
In my hesitation

From Exile - A Warm Place

Extremely competent EP of Nine Inch Nails' covers here:

http://fromexile.com/nin/

Non-violence In The New Century

Turning Swords Into Plowshares

And Albert Rosenfeld shall lead us. . .

Unexamined

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Here's how I'd say it:

If you don't examine your beliefs, they're not beliefs. And they're not yours.

Birds on our porch

So for the past week, we've been watching a pair or sparrows or finches (I don't really know what they are, but they're smallish) build a nest in one of our hanging plants on the front porch. The plants require watering every two or three days, or they become kind of wilted, so I've been trying to be careful. Yesterday, I noticed that I hadn't seen the pair, and so when I watered the plant, I pulled it down from the hook to see if there was anything inside. There is a tiny nest that could fit in the palm of your hand, and inside the nest is a small, speckled egg. I carefully rehung the basket, noting on which side the nest was, so I didn't cover it in water.

Then I noticed the concrete below the plant. There were the remains of a different, light blue, non-speckled egg, shattered around its dried yolk. Some other bird threw out the original pair's egg and stole the nest from them. I haven't seen the original pair again, and I also haven't seen the nest-stealing culprit. The egg remains.

There is an overwhelming part of me that tells me this is awful and wrong. But that's me applying my human morality to nature. The original pair worked hard for days to build that nest. They gathered weed stems and tender twigs. They plucked their own down feathers to line the inside. They gently placed the product of their love (see, there's some more anthropomorphism) inside that nest. And some other species that has learned to survive by conserving it's own energy and taking advantage of others destroyed that potential offspring and stole their spring home. Are these birds seething in rage? Are they plotting revenge? Should I lie in wait to find the intruder to enact justice? Or have they simply moved on?

The original birds are without our attachments, and they will trudge on. If there is time in the season, they probably have already started a new nest and new egg somewhere else. And the intruder will trudge on as well. They do what they do. I still feel sadness at the way in which the world sometimes works, but there is a lesson that little bird family can teach me.

Black Mountain - Old Fangs

Is it safe for the cowards to do what they've already done?
When the sun is electric and sparkles its way through your heart
Is it foolish to know what you want before you've begun?

When they're milking you dry and bemoaning the magical farce
You explain to the law that you're slaving over simple regard

A vow, I'm straight laced forever
A bow, I'm straight laced forever

When the glory arrives and takes shape over what you've become
and your world closes in and the power is all that you love
Is it foolish to know what you want before you've begun?

Bloody visions of a world so torn
I'll play with what can burn

Slowly the empire smashed the din
We'll wait for the open tea
And hold it together man
Until it's time

Bloody visions of a world so torn
I'll play those death wish chords

Slowly the empire smashed the din
We'll wait for the circle storm
Treat this like forever

Is it safe for the cowards to do what they've already done?
When the sun is electric and sparkles its way through your heart

A vow, I'm straight laced forever
A bow, I'm straight laced forever

Alain Johannes - Endless Eyes

Oh my heart
That you stole so long ago
Has returned to me this day
So full and empty

Oh this dream
That we shared through all extremes
In a hunt for what it means
To heal by fire

Endless eyes
The immovable did bend
In the presence of your strength
In the gifted joy of your intent

It's killing me that I must go on living
Just to fill this cup of promise
With meaning
It's tearing me apart we're so connected
It's the you in me
Each day I'm resurrected

Truth and lies
Melt away when something's real
To be blinded by your eyes
That is so twisted

Never swayed
Look at all the seeds you layed
Shamelessly so unafraid
To face the devil

Endless eyes
The immovable did bend
In the presence of your strength
In the gifted joy of your intent

It's killing me that I must go on living
Just to fill this cup of promise
With meaning
It's tearing me apart we're so connected
It's the you in me
Each day I'm resurrected

Graveyard - Hisingen Blues