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Apocalyptic Dreams

by The Hills and the Rivers

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1.
See I was standing in line for the reckoning, had a secondhand grin on my face saying "time will tell but I think it'd be swell for to walk away winning the race." Biding my time for the stars to align, gotta get myself outta this place, well I don't know what's over the horizon but I'm going at the conventional pace. A shadow on the wall is all that I saw but I know what I found by standing on the ground Stuck in the mud just chewing on my cud bud, chomping at the bit to get free I can't tell ya what I'll do when I do, but it don't much matter to me. An angel of the Lord appeared in the sky, and this is what he said: If yinz are just standing 'round waiting to die then you are already dead. A shadow on the wall is all that I saw but I know what I found by standing on the ground. How do you know what you know? Did you see it on a T.V. show? Did you search for it in the dark? Did you know it from the start?
2.
The Tower 04:36
Back and forth between your ears like your gaze is stuck inside a mirror I don't want to tell you what you don't want to hear, but I think you know it anyway What goes up must come down, the Tower you built, your wealth and crown the higher you go, the farther you fall until you hit the ground Castles of sand tides wash away Green leaves turn brown, blue skies turn grey All that you love, all that you hate All you've become will crumble When it all comes down and it all will fall down yes it all will come down You got your science and technology, your bright and shiny fast machines, but you're living in a rusted fantasy that doesn't work anymore. You think that you are free, but I don't think you know what that means, even the bankers are bound to their greed, there's no way out but down Nothing you do can take away the fact that you will die some day All that know, all that you've made, all you have seen will fade When it all comes down and it all will fall down yes it all will come down With bricks of denial, with the mortar of lies, on the foundation of a fantasy, you build to the skies. The cold hard ground is calling you down, it will cradle you in your grave You clutch what you hold dear so close to you chest Watch it fade through your fingers til nothing is left That for which you hunger hungers also for you Death is a debt to Nature due That Tower you built all your life has become a sacrifice to human pride and avarice, so what will you do now? Your visions are all obsolete, all you've got left is reality standing in the rubble of yesterday's dreams, what will you build now? Now that time has burned away all your ties to yesterday what will will you find? What could remain, now that you've surrendered? When it all comes down and it all will fall down yes it all will come down
3.
The Collapse 03:58
As it all falls into place, there will be gnashing of the teeth But put no ashes on your head, let the World be infinitely sparkling instead A wind blows through the World, in ripples of cellphones and concrete and oil What I saw yesterday will not be here tomorrow When I was just a boy, I would play with the salamanders in the woods, eat blackberries in July, make up stories for the clouds as they moved through the sky. Last night I had a dream, I was in the backyard of the house I grew up in. Past my garden, on the ridges of the hills, there were machines removing all of the earth. I had a dream last night, I saw the Moon fall right out of the sky. I was standing in a crowd by the sea, as the waves crashed through us I felt at peace. I remember yesterday, acting like there was no tomorrow. There will be no Judgement Day, but there will be a tomorrow.
4.
Sorrow 04:20
I wake up in the morning from dreams that I don't remember. The weight of my memories suddenly crushes me into surrender. Sorrow, sorrow release me. Take your weight from my body. Forests burn inside of my skin, my blood is oil on the ocean. But Judgement Day has come again. Lay down beside me the weight of the man that I don't know. What can be as heavy as the weight of my soul? I suppose nothing's as heavy as the weight of the World but I, I know as light as a feather, as heavy as stone. Hopelessness get behind me, I will not be moved by you. Your fantasy is not reality, these thoughts will not become my tomb. I begin my journey again and again, one foot in front of the other. To dissolve into the ocean, to finally become no other. But Judgement Day has come again. Lay down beside me the weight of the man that I don't know. What can be as heavy as the weight of my soul? I suppose nothing's as heavy as the weight of the World but I, I know as light as a feather, as heavy as stone. Sorrow, sorrow release me, take your weight from my body. Let my heart be full again, let my soul be whole again.
5.
Lift the Veil The longer I go the more I do not know, linger, listen, follow inner vision. Looked through a dresser drawer, saw into a new world. Riots, earthquakes, chemicals, angel food cake. Lift the veil Grain fields, empires, desert, Gilgamesh, forest fires Over fished fisheries, fish are filled with mercury. We are living in an apocalyptic dream passed down from generation to mass extinction Lift the veil Rising from the bottom, rising from the Earth, we will survive. Out of the ocean, out of the sea, a seven headed angel, a seven headed beast. We are living in an apocalyptic dream passed down from generation to generation. Bitter medicine, better than resurrection. Empty cities topple the government please lift the veil.
6.
Lot's Wife 04:03
poem in winter, song for the sun of asters in autumn, of Judgement Day come I saw the way your eyes turned back like pillars of salt. removed from the World like the Stars up above I enter my anger and feast on my fear embrace the anxiety, let what's here be here but I saw the way my eyes looking back turned my body to salt removed me from the World like the Stars up above weighed down by anger, held back by belief isn't there something to give me relief?
7.
Wild Wolves 03:55
8.
Misery's company is all you can share as you add an empty bottle to the pile at your chair saying "Life is meaningless, life is unfair." You look me straight in the eye and tell me we're all gonna die. You view the World through a screen in your head A separate self cut off from the rest You see everything living and think that it's dead but tell me now what'll you do when the World looks right back at you? So what is the self that you wanna be? The Thinker? The Willer? The Watcher? The Beast? A bundle of senses and anxieties? The Doer of all to be done? The Player of games to be won? 'cause you look at yourself through a dark dirty mirror waiting for something different to appear. Will you sit there forever alone in your fear or stand up from down on the floor, walk over and open the door? I am not afraid of the weight of my body I am not ashamed of being human for surely what is born will return to the compost but I do not think that is all that I am. I could be the wind moving down through the valley, I could be the sun looking down through the trees. I could be the forest alive in tongues mouths and eyes of a multitude of realities. I am not alone in a cold dark cosmos, I am just an atom of a much larger Self. For surely what is born will return to the compost, but the body that will rot is not all that I have. I am not afraid, I am not alone.
9.
Folk Steady 03:30
The soil and the seed, the rain and the breeze, the sun looking down through the trees are what I love, are who I love. The people in the street dancing to the beat of whatever it is they love is what I love, are who I love. The birds and the bees, the old growth trees, the mountains moving slowly to the seas are what I love, are who I love. The people in the fight to do what's right, and willing to sacrifice for what they love are who I love.

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released November 12, 2016

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The Hills and the Rivers Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Post-apocalyptic river folk. From the roots to the branches, the springs to the sea.

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