Cosmic Trifle and Gestalt may or may not share a songwriter. (It's a bit confusing sometimes, even for us.)
In any case you can read some of their lyrics here!
(Kaichang)
Plant no poppies where I lie.
Let there be no celebration
of the moment when I die.
Let no bands play marching songs,
There’s a place for music, but this is not where it belongs ...
Plant no poppies in the field
where they sent us out to fight and die
our fates already sealed.
Let no wisdom adorn our grave,
there are wise men somewhere but this is not how they behave ...
Let no flags fly at half-mast
for the future is what matters now
And we are in the past.
Make no speeches about our deeds,
there’s a world in anguish and we have nothing that it needs ...
You will remember us for ever,
you say that every time
as you send another generation
to commit the same damn crime.
You honour us, you glorify
the example that we set,
but if this is how you remember us
we wish you would forget ...
Plant no poppies any more.
Spend the time and spend the money to put an end to war.
Reach out boldly to your foes,
try to tell them all the simple truth
that each one of us knows:
There is nothing great or fine
about throwing human lives away
to hold some battle line;
so when we heroes all are dead,
plant no poppies--
plant no poppies--
plant no poppies--
why don’t you sow
the seeds of peace instead!
(Suncat, Orville, Korynn)
Sometimes it's not so bad,
sometimes you can get through a day without
remembering what you had
and how it all slipped from view and all about the
time when you thought you knew
time and a word that made you feel so agile.
What was a girl to do?
When all of the games you played just left me fragile?
I see you standing there amid your displays
clinging to fragments of your past future days.
No-one can save you now, you're lost in the haze
of dreams ....
when everything is what it seems.
Now it's a different age,
now we all see the sails upon the ocean
black as a father's rage,
a fury that keens and wails her dark devotion,
even the blackness pales,
even the score with magic as a player.
Time to rewrite the tales,
time to reclaim the badge of the relayer.
I see you falling, going down on your knees,
ravaged and broken by your own foul disease,
choking and striving as you fight to release
your screams ....
when everything is what it seems.
Ah ...
Never coming home never coming home never coming never never never
Ah ...
Thought you were so smart thought you had it made thought you had it did you did you did you
Ah ...
Should have seen it coming shoulda seen it coming shoulda seen it shoulda shoulda shoulda
Ah ...
Would have put it right woulda put it right you woulda done it woulda woulda woulda
Time to rewind the thread,
time to return in triumph as a hero,
man with the horns is dead,
Theseus won, the Minotaur a zero,
now when your heart is high
now is the time you need to be much calmer,
drama is drawing nigh,
one more demise to feed the die-o-rama.
I see you lying there with pain in your eyes
helpless and fearful as a part of you dies.
You beat the monster but you can't analyse
the themes ...
when everything is what it seems.
(Tollain)
No, you're not wrong,
I've been hiding out here for too long.
I should come back and join all the people who've come here for me.
Yes, I'm all right,
just got tired of the noise and the light
and I needed to find somewhere quiet where I could just be.
No, I'm not ill,
if I were I could just take a pill,
but there's no medication to cure a disease of the soul.
Yes, yes I've tried
to get free from this prison inside,
but the guards can't be bribed and they just shove me back in the hole.
There's a wonderful world just outside of my skin
and if I could get out I would love to get in,
if I had any choice this is not where I'd choose to stay.
And you all want to help me, you've made that quite clear,
you'll never desert me, you'll always be here,
but sometimes I wish you would all just get out of my way.
No, I'm not proud
that I can't be at home in a crowd,
I don't like being special, in fact it's a bit of a strain.
Yes, I do know
people love me wherever I go,
but there's one who just won't be convinced that I'm worth all this pain.
No, I'm not mad
and it's not that I'm just a bit sad.
It just takes so much effort to see you or hear you at all.
Yes, it is hard
when the doors are all bolted and barred
and the windows look out on the endless expanse of the wall.
There are wonderful people just waiting their chance
to welcome me into the great human dance
and they can't understand why I'm still sitting still in my chair.
But the chasm between is infinity deep
and the dream of my freedom just troubles my sleep.
So sometimes I can't help but wish there were nobody there.
I say No, I say Yes,
but the feeling behind them you never will guess
it is here, it is real,
and you never could handle the truth of the way that I feel ...
No, I won't leave,
that's a promise that you can believe.
I have too much to do and to say to give up on the game.
Yes, I love you.
Of all things you must know that that's true
but I dare not deny I have negative thoughts all the same.
It's a wonderful life that I still long to share
and I still hope for that, I still dream, I still care,
and the brightest, most beautiful part of my dreaming is you.
I will always have days when I wish I could die,
that's the curse on my heart I can never deny,
but I'm thankful each day for the friendship that carries me through,
and I'm thankful each day that not all of my wishes come true.
(Suncat)
There ain’t no fairy tale called ‘The Adventures Of Prince Charming,’
a fact which no-one seems to find especially alarming,
but talk these days can drive a prince to quietly facepalming,
’cos we’re never the ones the story is about.
When Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger, to her consternation,
the kingdom spent a hundred years in suspended animation,
and who am I? I’m just the guy who pruned the vegetation,
no, we’re never the ones the story is about.
People say
that princes have it all their own way.
But if you
think it through
we close the recital, we cue the end title, and that’s really all that we do ...
When Snow White ate the apple with the deadly poison in it
the dwarves preserved her body ’cos they couldn’t bear to bin it
and I was just a pair of lips dragged in at the last minute.
No, we’re never the ones the story is about.
You’ve been told
princesses are just goods to be sold.
That’s a shame.
All the same,
they get all the cheers and the sympathy tears and nobody remembers my name ...
Ask anyone about Snow White, or Belle or Cinderella,
a brave and good and noble girl gets married to some fella,
and after that, for all you know, I’m buried in the cellar ...
no, we’re never the ones the story is about;
no, we’re never the ones the story is —
the struggle for fame and glory is —
we’re never the ones the story is about!
(Orville, Tollain)
Soaring away, I can’t forget that I left you behind me
and I know if you were me and I was you
you’d tear the world apart to find me.
Girl, you see I had no choice
but I hope you can hear my voice
’cause I’m gonna make it right somehow.
Hear me now, hear me now, hear me now ....
From the ends of the earth, from the depths of the sea,
from the furthest reaches of the galaxy,
’cross the mountains of fire, through the rivers of ice
I will dare any trial, I will pay any price.
To the heart of the sun, to the last dying star
ain’t no journey too long, ain’t no distance too far,
till the end of my days, till my candle burns through
I’m coming back for you —
I’m coming back for you!
Girl, you know my love is true, no question about it,
and you know if I was you and you were me
you wouldn’t see a reason to doubt it.
Right now I got to get away
so I’ll live to fight another day
and that day will dawn before too long,
so hold on, so hold on, so hold on ....
From the ends of the earth, from the depths of the sea,
from the furthest reaches of the galaxy,
’cross the mountains of fire, through the rivers of ice
I will dare any trial, I will pay any price.
To the heart of the sun, to the last dying star
Ain’t no journey too long, ain’t no distance too far,
till the end of my days, till my candle burns through
I’m coming back for you —
I’m coming back!
Coming back from the war, coming back from the dead,
coming back with the pain of the blood that was shed,
coming back from the night, coming back from the dark,
coming back with the fire that we lit from a spark,
coming back from the harvest, coming back from the field,
coming back with the courage that never will yield,
coming back from the storm, coming back from the sea,
coming back to the place where it’s just you and me ....
Girl, I’ve let you down before,
but I won’t be doing that no more.
Just give me a chance and you’ll see:
We’ll be free, we’ll be free, we’ll be free ...
From the ends of the earth, from the depths of the sea,
from the furthest reaches of the galaxy,
’cross the mountains of fire, through the rivers of ice
I will dare any trial, I will pay any price.
To the heart of the sun, to the last dying star
ain’t no journey too long, ain’t no distance too far,
till the end of my days, till my candle burns through
I’m coming back for you—
I’m coming back for you!
(Verneen)
I watch you sleeping.
I would make your dreams come true,
but I don’t know how.
You seem so peaceful.
Should I spend this night with you?
Do the rules allow?
I was always shy,
never learned the reason why
we do what we do;
somehow sometimes we get through,
and the time passes us by ...
An autumn morning.
Brittle leaves beneath my shoe,
parted from the bough.
Winter is coming
and the sky no longer blue
keeps its solemn vow.
Will it snow or rain?
Will the summer come again?
And the birds that flew
find the nests that once they knew?
Do they somehow still remain?
You’re almost waking,
I feel your body stir anew
as I kiss your brow.
And in the doorway
wonder, did you feel me too?
Is it my turn now?
(Kaichang)
Dark, dark is the shadowed path,
cold, cold is the wind.
Tell me truly if you can
how have I sinned?
Long, long is the lonely road,
deep, deep is the snow.
Tell me, if you love me true,
how far must I go?
Far, far is the distant day,
cruel, cruel is the night.
Tell me, while my eyes still see,
shall I reach your light?
Cold, cold is my sundered heart,
dark, dark is the moon.
Tell me, oh my only love,
shall I find you soon?
(Suncat)
When you're lying all alone and lonely,
listening to the beating of your heart
and all the nightly noises,
you may hear your heart complain
"Day will never come again,
I'm so weary of this pain!"
Do not shudder, do not blindly start,
tell yourself it's nothing, say you're only,
only hearing voices.
On a sunny day when you go walking
and the darkness takes you unawares
while all the world rejoices,
something deep inside may say
"This will only last a day
till life steals it all away."
Banish all these pointless phantom cares,
tell yourself it's just your dark side talking,
you're just hearing voices.
Nothing lasts, the poets tell us truly,
everything must end and that's no lie.
But never let it get you down unduly;
someday it may yet seem rich to die.
Life is not forever, you must leave it,
sometimes with your dreams still unfulfilled,
but do the best you can as you conceive it,
just because the house will fall
that's no reason why you shouldn't build ...
and build ...
and build ...
Everyone has darkness deep inside them
waiting just to drown them in despair,
and mock them for their choices.
Each of us, a child of light,
has her own dark war to fight
against the powers of endless night.
Keep your passions bright for all to share,
face your fears and let no shadows hide them;
you were just hearing voices.
(tune trad., words X. J. Fonduepot)
For Argenthome, and honour fair,
all peril would we gladly dare.
Not merely that we might survive;
beneath our sun let freedom thrive.
For good or ill, our world we share
for Argenthome and honour fair.
For Argenthome, and honour bright,
we boldly stand for truth and right.
Though strangers with their cunning lies
pervert the ancient verities,
yet we shall bring their crimes to light
for Argenthome and honour bright.
For Argenthome, and honour clear,
we shall not falter, flinch nor fear.
Our courage brought us to this place
across the depths of unknown space.
Our promised land, we claim it here,
for Argenthome, and honour clear.
From home and kin when sundered far,
on alien soil, ’neath alien star,
remember then, and praise in song
the world that birthed and made you strong.
And high the banner blithely bear
for Argenthome and honour fair!
(Anon)
The dust motes in the dried up fountain
have formed into a pattern I recall.
The clouds are making shapes I find familiar;
there has to be a meaning to it all.
And as I try to map the madness
a sparrow sings the tune I wrote last year:
A more suspicious man might think
there was something going on
around here.
Last time I told you I was leaving
to try to find the truth behind my lies
you quoted me a dream that I'd forgotten
and the answer to my quest was in your eyes.
Now every time I read the tealeaves
the Morse code message shows up all too clear:
A more suspicious man might think
there was something going on
around here.
A more suspicious man might wonder
why the last time we had thunder
the lightning burned your name into a tree:
A more suspicious man might question
the insidious suggestion
that there's something between you and me...
There really isn't much to go on,
the evidence is tenuous, it's true,
I've no real reason for suspecting
the universe is in on this with you.
But yet I think I'll stay the winter
and test the omens out again next year:
And maybe then I'll know
if there's something going on
around here.
I'll stay right here,
till the meaning is clear.
(Anon)
Awake, ye lords of tyranny,
and rise up from your feather bed,
we’ll strip you of your finery
and whip you through the town;
the new day is upon you now,
your time is gone, your power is fled!
No more as slaves to you we’ll bow;
we come to bring you down!
You princes who by right of blood
have claimed dominion o’er the earth
shall crawl and grovel in the mud
and mourn your tarnished crown;
no patents from the olden time,
no accident of noble birth
shall spare you from the fruit of crime;
we come to bring you down!
We’ll trample down your barricades,
we’ll overwhelm your horse brigades,
with picks and mattocks, stones and spades
we’ll fight for our desire.
We’ll sell the symbols of your state,
the wealth you thought inviolate
will purchase food for every plate
and fuel for every fire!
You prelates who have told us oft
that God ordains the state of man
have held your holy book aloft
and quelled us with your frown,
we now proclaim a higher creed,
a fairer world, a nobler plan;
from those who have to those who need -
we come to bring you down!
We are no simple lawless mob
who come to pillage and to rob
but workers here to do a job
that long has lain undone.
And when the job has been fulfilled
we’ll work together and rebuild
the better world that we have willed
where all may live as one....
Come out, come out, ye masters all,
and face the judgment of your peers,
the world that you have held in thrall
is turning upside-down.
Come out and make your true redress
for all the black and wasted years
in which you ruled in idleness
unmindful of the poor’s distress,
the laws of God you dared transgress,
the suffering souls you did oppress,
the thievery and knavishness
that we will force you to confess -
We come to bring you down!