Home Life
Shearwater
ROOK
Howard Wei
[00:11.60]
[00:27.29]By Howard Wei
[00:42.81]
[00:43.19]when you were a child,
[00:48.21]you were a tomboy
[00:52.63]and your mother laughed at the serious way
[00:56.41]that you looked at her
[00:59.95]and from your window at night
[01:04.27]there were the star's little fires
[01:09.71]and the armory lights
[01:13.83]
[01:17.72]you were tracing the lines
[01:19.51]of a globe with your fingers:
[01:27.58]cool rivers, white wastes
[01:30.55]desert shores, and the forest green
[01:34.61]and a limitless life
[01:39.49]in the breath of each tide
[01:44.62]and each bright mountain, rising
[01:52.21]
[02:33.48]but now the boys are away,
[02:38.27]and such kicks they are having;
[02:43.65]slashing away at the forest walls,
[02:46.74]with their bitter knives.
[02:49.15]sparks bloom in their eyes,
[02:54.40]and they never look tired.
[02:59.43]will they never look tired?
[03:06.36]
[03:07.68]on cliffs that tower from the rising seas
[03:11.46]their bonfire glow
[03:15.23]where a tiger lies
[03:19.02]and, cleaning their weapons,
[03:21.44]claws, and all:
[03:21.82]they laugh at his useless
[03:24.35]it is a beautiful night
[03:29.30]to be born to this life
[03:34.50]and grind his every bone to powder!
[03:45.59]
[04:34.79]do you remember
[04:44.30]do you remember
[04:48.96]
[04:56.39]she carried you down to the edge
[04:59.31]of the dark river and said:
[05:13.82]though the water is wide,
[05:18.74]you will never grow tired
[05:23.83]you are bound to your life
[05:28.84]like a mother and child.
[05:33.97]you will cling to your life
[05:39.06]like a suckering vine
[05:43.98]and like the rest of our kind
[05:49.44]you will increase
[05:55.52]and increase
[06:03.57]past all of our dreaming
[06:11.35]
[06:24.05]horse without rider
[06:33.70]lungs without breathing
[06:43.53]day without light
[06:51.73]song without singing
[07:03.34]a song...
[07:06.06]