1. |
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/ Em C Em D / Em C G D / / /
Would you now learn the mysterious truth
That everyone knows and yet nobody tells
Of that festive occasion, beloved of youth
The Sandcastle Season we all know so well?
Then come with me, friends, let's go down to the sea
At the ebb of the tide, at the half of the moon
Bring buckets and shovels and afternoon tea
Slip across Shoreline Avenue, climb over the dune
/ G D Em D / C G Em D / C D G Em / C G Em D /
/ C D G Em / C D G Em / C D Em C / Em C D G /
And we'll build sandcastles, proud and tall
Cities for fairies to dwell in
And we'll spread our blankets and picnics, all
And watch 'til the tide brings the swell in
For civilizations rise and fall
And fate comes for us, be we large or small
The days dart past while the ages crawl
And the tale is revealed in the telling
When you build on the beach have you ever imagined
Diminutive fairies who come there to live?
Are they dwelling right now in the castles we've fashioned?
Look now and see, if you dare to believe...
With their smallness of size comes a briefer duration
The short span of time that we call a day
Is an age of the world for their civilization
Until the tide rises and sweeps it away
And yet think of the sandcastles they must build
That each breaking wave washes over
With what strange, brief creatures might they be filled
Too small for our eyes to discover?
And do they tell stories, as dreamers will
Of worlds yet smaller, or larger still?
Do you see at last what the sands reveal?
Within every world there's another
Now, who here has been to the capital city
And stood in the center of Origin Square?
Recall to your mind those colossal cathedrals
The spires and towers and palaces there
Our school-teachers take us to visit these towers
Whose age and whose makers, they say, are unknown
Not daring to name those mysterious powers
Much older than ancient and stronger than stone
Who built their sandcastles, proud and tall
Cities for people to dwell in
Are they watching still from the mountain wall?
Do they tell the same tale we are telling?
For worlds must end, be they large or small
And for men and fairies and titans, all
The days dart past while the ages crawl
'Til the turn of the tide brings the swell in
Our history begins with the works of the titans
The cities and nations they founded and taught
But legends still whispered 'round campfires at night
Tell of worlds gone before that were drowned and forgot
This world of the fairies we've built with our hands
Is more true and more real than a game that we play
Watch as their cities return into sand
You are titans to them — can you hear when they pray?
The end will come, be it swift or slow
And none can preserve what they fashion
When we shape a world we must let it go
Can we keep the waves from their crashing?
Can we save this world for the fairies?— No
If the titans still watch us, they never show
But things stand above as they stand below
So remember these worlds with compassion
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2. |
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/ G D C G / Em C (G) D / G D Em C / - - D - /
Tales tell of a Spinner who spins fates like thread
And speak of Her in whispered tones of pious dread
Whose simple shears cut across the years
Between the living and the dead
Yet, despite those words of warning, let the wise beware
That soul may find instead a source of comfort there
Who understands that a spinner's hands
Must work with patient, loving care
/ G D C G / - C G D / / G C D G /
Every inch of this thread passed between my Lady's fingers
From distaff to spindle, from bobbin to ball
Be it bulky or fine, every fiber is mine
And my Lady's fair fingers have twisted it all
Sometimes I close my eyes and watch Her sit and spin
And I see Her hands have guided me through thick and thin
And Her tenderness unties the tangled mess
I all too often wind up in
And as my days take shape beneath Her nimble grip
I know that every now and then a slub will slip
As she drafts me out, I place my days of doubt
In the keeping of Her craftsmanship
Every inch of this thread passed between my Lady's fingers...
/: Em - C - / Em C G D :/
And I hope and believe She will take it and weave
A web that wears warm in all weathers
And although it may fray — a twist of fate, don't we say?
No! — the twist is what holds it together!
For every ounce of yarn was once an ounce of fluff
And if our fates are fashioned from the self-same stuff
It must surely be by that same alchemy
That we can be so soft and yet so tough
For spinning tales, like yarn, is still a kind of spell
And if this yarn is one that She delights to tell
Then when it ends, I hope that you, my friends
Will say that it was twisted well
Every inch of this thread passed between my Lady's fingers...
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3. |
Wandering Pilgrim Soul
03:53
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/ G - - - / - - D - / G - - - / C G C D /
I was an islander in the Southseas
Who thought a few islands her world
And I was a mariner, blown by the breeze
Who crested the breakers as they crashed and curled
/ G - - - / C G C D / G - D Em - / C - D - /
In wide-eyed amazement I watched from the strand
As I beached my boat from some far-away land
And, because I was both of them, I understand
The wonder we're seeing unfurled...
/ G D C D / C - G D / G D Em C /[1. C - D - :/[2. C D G - /
The lives I've lived have carried me far —
Such places I've seen, such people I've been —
I can hardly dare guess what new life may begin
In the light of this falling star...
How is a person made whole?
In the meeting of hearts — we're the sum of our parts —
And every new day is another new start
For a wandering pilgrim soul
I've been a pilgrim since time was begun
And remember for many a year
Though my memories fade into legends, not one
Recalls anything like what we just saw appear
A thing like a house falling out of the sky
With a terrible light and a deafening cry
My friend, you don't have to explain to me why
You don't think that it's from around here!
From this height I see the horizon stretched out
'Round the curve of the bay — are there worlds far away?
Can a pilgrim not hunger to see them someday?
Isn't that what life's about?
And so I've made it my goal:
The smell of fresh air, a self I can share
Who knows what adventures are waiting out there
For a wandering pilgrim soul?
/ C - D - / Em - C - / G - D - / - - Em - / - - C - / - - D - /
The sky-house has landed
I see a creature step from the door
A stranger stranded
Grasping-handed
Walking on two legs, not four
And with only one body, not more!
But now I can see soldiers hemming it 'round
I would almost charge into the fray
Not to miss this chance meeting I only just found
Even knowing my selves may not all last the day
Now, well you might ask if I'm out of my mind
Though I notice you following not far behind
I do feel as much kinship as with my own kind
To these pilgrims from so far away
Today I'm Wic, Kwik, Rac and Rum
But selves come and go — we change and we grow —
And set out in search of new people to know
And new people to become
And, as the centuries roll
Though my selves be replaced, voice by voice, face by face
Through them all runs one ribbon of yearning and grace --
A wandering pilgrim soul
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