backworld

THE FORMER THINGS 
HAVE PASSED AWAY
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth
For the first heaven and the first earth
Were passed away 
And there was no more sea

And I saw the holy city the New Jerusalem
Coming down from God out of Heaven
Prepared as a bride 
Adorned for her husband

And I heard a great voice 
Out of heaven saying
Behold the tabernacle of God is with man
And He will dwell with them
And they shall be his people
And God himself shall be with them
And be their God

And God shall wipe away 
All tears from their eyes
And there shall be no more death 
Neither sorrow nor crying
Neither shall there be any more pain
For the former thing have passed away
~ Revelation 12:1-4

THE CHILDREN OF EDEN
The Children of Eden
Play in the yard
Flying over the hedges
To follow the stars

Whispering in the tall grass
Moving shadows of clouds
Songs of innocence lost
And innocence found

And the Western Faeries come
To call the children home
Carry them far away
Beyond the thrashing sea
Beyond the thrashing sea

The Children of Eden
Stumble and fall
Into Blessed Mary’s arms
To crush the Serpent’s skull
And through the darkness
A shimmering sound
Songs of innocence lost
And innocence found

And the Western Faeries come
To call the children home
Carry them far away
Beyond the thrashing sea
Beyond the thrashing sea

ALL THINGS
On the first day in the morning
Lightning struck without warning
Birds filled the trees and greeted the dawn
Opened the skies with their morning song

The second day came in a fire
Flames filled the air like a choir
Singing a song and ringing a gong
Adorned in resplendent attire

All things return to thee
All things return to thee
All things return to thee

A chorus of trees like echoes in rows
Serpentine smiles and eyes all aglow
Confessions and screams before the Fall
The smallest of things speak clearest of all

All things return to thee
All things return to thee
All things return to thee

On the third day there was silence
We watched the moon rise beside us
Dreamed a new age and a new dawn
Opened our eyes and 
Our wounds were gone

All things return to thee
All things return to thee
All things return to thee

ASHES TO DIAMONDS
In the age of the alchemists
Lived a mage who sought the emerald mist
And he sailed into the great abyss
To the land of the alchemists

Turning ashes to diamonds
Turning ashes to diamonds

So he made burnt offerings to Chiron
And he magnetized a crucifix of iron
And he moved like a man possessed
By the ancient dance of the alchemists

Turning ashes to diamonds
Turning ashes to diamonds

In the age of the alchemists
Appeared a mage enrobed in hieroglyphs
And he proclaimed the 
Transubstantiary myth
By the grace of the alchemists

Turning ashes to diamonds
Turning ashes to diamonds

 

SPIRALING
That day will come 
Visions of wonder and blue
I imagine the light
The magic of colors and hues
Circling through paths of clouds
In a passage of time
I’m just passing, wandering through

Drops of tears from my eyes
Gather in oceans of time
I imagine the sight
Expanding in shimmering quiet
I’m still suspended in life
On the spiraling path
I’m just wandering, passing through

Observing the earth from above
Patterns of chaos come true
I inhabit the night
While flowers devour the moon
The meaning of earliest dreams
In the circular mind
I’m just wandering, spiraling, spiraling

THE RETURN OF THE BURNING TIMES
Her feet are bare and her eyes are gray
Her feet are bare and her hair is gray
Looking out through the firelight
The years just melt away
Like a ravaged bride on her wedding day

In hearts sealed black and white 
Are shadows made
By hearts steeped black in Christ 
Are fires made
Looking on from the sideline, 
Eyes turned away
The crowd yearns for a part in 
The Passion Play

The Return of the Burning Times
The Return of the Burning Times
The Return of the Burning Times

The trees are bare and fires rage
The streets are bare and the sky is red
Watching over the skyline behind eyes of gray
The blackened sun on her ashen face

The Return of the Burning Times
The Return of the Burning Times
The Return of the Burning Times
The Return of the Burning Times

THE HIDDEN ORDER OF THINGS
When a child in it’s mothers womb
Has received the spirit in accordance
With the secret order and will of God
In the same way the earth reveals itself
And brings forth its crop of flowers
When the dew has fallen upon it
In the same way that the sun, 
Overcoming night
Climbs until the middle of the day
So man too, rises ups by 
Avoiding corrupt deeds

And just as the sun declines 
In the afternoon
So too the soul make accord with the flesh
And as the moon is rekindled by the sun
So that it does not disappear
So the flesh of man is sustained by the Powers of the soul
So that it does not go to ruin

And I saw in the midst of 
The southern region three figures
Two were standing in a 
Fountain of great purity
Surrounded by a round stone 
They appeared rooted in it
Just as trees appear to be rooted in water
One was clad in purple the other in white
Yet of such a brightness I could but look at them directly

The third was standing 
Out of the fountain on the stone
She was clad in the white robe 

And her face shone with such radiance
That my face flinched from it
And the first figure began to speak

I am the radiance of the living God
Through the light that I am the brightness 
Of the blessed angels blazes
For just as ray flashes form a lamp
So brightness shines in the blessed angels
Nor could it do otherwise
Since light cannot help but shine
So too I am the living fountain
Because all things that have been made
Were like a reflection in me

~Hildegard von Bingen, Book of Divine Works, 



 

WALK THROUGH THE GARDEN
Back to the garden my fears at night
Only mine
Walk through the garden 
In silver star light, lonely time

Come walk through the garden together
Walk through the garden with me
Together forever together
Together forever or never

Back to the garden we used to play here, Always quiet
Walk through the garden
My love lies here, silent

Back to the garden my fears at night 
Lonely time
Walk through the garden 
In silver star light
Only my love

I am always alone but you’re in my heart
I fall from your arms forever apart


ETERNAL RETURN
Tall sheaves of grain bowed by the sun
Stand before God at the trumpet call
Fields are overgrow, the leaves 
Have turned to gold
And the sheaves are gathered home

Sifting with our hands through 
Endless drifts of sand
Somethings never change 
But nothing stays the same
Rivers over flow, cities turn to snow
And the sheaves are gathered home

Around and around in circles we go
Hourglass turning releasing the flow
Powers above and powers below
The eternal returning, the eternal return

On the river bed, I rest my head
Where the caverns reach 
Deep beneath the land
Streams are running cold 
Wounds are turned to gold
And the sheaves are gathered home

Around and around in circles we go
Hourglass turning releasing the flow
Powers above and powers below
The eternal returning, the eternal return

FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD
Horses are crossing the border
Alight with the fire in the sky
Stop at the edge of the water
Burning wings rise as they die

Born of the darkness divine
Shuttered away from the light
Each isolated in our little world
Hollow and longing inside

For the Life of the World
For the Life of the World
For the Life of the World

On the first morning in Eden
Eschaton bleeds into time
Something dissolves into nothing
Dispelling the darkness of night

Then the sun rises again
Announcing the light of the world
Heaven descends on the face of the water
Caressing the shore like the tide

For the Life of the World
For the Life of the World
For the Life of the World

THE LAMB AND THE LION
The world is a pool of beauty
With troubled waters 
On which you have sailed
For so long in time so short and drawn
It breathes it last and goes to sleep
To sleep, to sleep, to sleep

In the golden palace that you shall rule
Child my child with eyes of jade 
And hair of silent gold
You shall rule the storm and the night 
And the darkness
And play with the sad stars
That rule your setting

By turquoise lakes 
Where the hares run proud
By ocean cliffs where the sea rises 
To kiss your body
Arched on grass and jet and earth
And dreams of clouds

The lamb and the lion my child
The lamb and the lion
God is love who speaks in words

Sometimes blurred by 
The storms last gasps
In the evening God is love
And takes the child to joy,
To rest, and to sleep, to sleep

And to wake in the blazing brightness
With which he creates the souls 
Of the seahorse and the sparrow
And the angels who rush to bring you 
To your long home 
God is love and you sleep, and you sleep And you sleep, and you sleep