Subject: Epics
POWER LINES
Lines divide, lines connect
Lines expose, lines protect
Lines contract, lines expand
Lines supply, lines demand
chorus:
Lines—– dividing us
All these lines—– one-siding us
All these lines––––— are guiding us
All these lines
Lines unite, lines exclude
Lines are right, lines are rude
Lines withdraw, lines engage
Lines entice, lines enrage
chorus:
Lines—– restraining us
All these lines—– containing us
All these lines––––— sustaining us
All these lines
Lines—– protecting us
All these lines—– redirecting us
All these lines––––— disconnecting us
All these lines
Lines enforce, lines erode
Lines encrypt, lines decode
Lines entrench, lines command
Lines advance, lines withstand
chorus:
Lines—– instructing us
All these lines—– corrupting us
All these lines––––— obstructing us
All these lines
Lines—– refusing us
All these lines—– excusing us
All these lines––––— amusing us
All these lines
Lines are walked, lines are skipped
Lines are chalked, lines are sniffed
Lines are straight, lines are curved
Lines are clear, lines are blurred
chorus:
Lines—– excluding us
All these lines—– including us
All these lines––––— deluding us
All these lines
Lines—– inciting us
All these lines—– keep fighting us
All these lines––––— uniting us—–––
All these lines
Lines are traced, lines are signed
Lines inform, lines will find
Lines are spiked, lines are flat
Lines persuade, lines combat
Lines are drawn, lines are read
Lines feed life, lines go dead
THE LINES OF SIGHT
The houses dot the landscape
Boundaries marked by fence and tree
The spaces that comprise
Our civilized society
A balance of organic charm
And uniformity
Nature and Humanity
At last have called a truce
And the houses stand in harmony
With the maple and the spruce
But underneath the tranquility
Under the days of sunlit rest
The faint but ever growing sound
Is a soul beating its chest
chorus 1:
Angles meet and lines converge
Patterns form and start to merge
Into the lines of sight
The houses hug the hillside
Borders flush, compact, and tight
A bright young girl with life in her veins
On a cold and rocky height
Surveys the hillside homes
In the early morning light
The person and the property
Are not to be defaced
But the lines that separate the souls
Are savagely erased
And every tear looks more like blood
And a chance to quench the thirst
For the carnivores of consciousness
Who are quick to move in first
(chorus 1)
chorus 2:
Shadows fall and shapes are freed
Colors run and start to bleed
Into the lines of sight
The houses line the lake shore...
THE DYNAMO
Breathless from the run
We eyed the atmosphere
All above condensing and churning
Two hearts, we flee as one
So freshly driven from
Our prisons of silence and yearning
I can hear the low-pitched hum
Feel the built up momentum
Of the dynamo toiling and turning
The school day flows and nobody knows
Of our brazen truancy
So many ways to release the days'
Pent-up energy
Scale the rocky hill
Adrenaline is high
Pass the ancient mill
Decrepit and run dry
The dead leaves clog the floor
Of the dried up river bed
The foreman's by the door
Of the grey utility shed
She can feel the low-pitched hum
Sense the built up momentum...
chorus:
Our eyes are galvanized
By the gleaming power source
And the music of mechanics
Wields a mighty force
New found energy
Unlimited and free
Applied thermodynamics
Works its worldly course
The old foreman says "The world won't be the same"
As we bid goodbye and brace to brave the rain
Electric flashes charge the skies
In a fusillade of spears
The lightning echoes on her eyes
Then thunder in my ears
Stately power lines
In dynamic pose
Trace our headlong flight
To where the power goes
On the outskirts of the town
The company linemen pause
For a hearty, homespun round
Of rainy day applause
(chorus)
The old foreman sees the price of progress high
And the impact on society so large
Now we market electricity to buy
When the beating of our hearts is free of charge
I can hear the low-pitched hum
Feel the built up momentum…
SMOKE PLUMES
On a high flying wagon train
Feel the sun through the window pane
Ran them black hats clear out of town
Hired a posse and gunned them all down
So let 'em raise a big dust cloud
You did good and your Mama's proud
No telling what the truth will find
But you're sky-high now with an open mind
chorus (X2):
And it's funny how the views can change
Thirty-thousand feet up and way down range
Are those smoke plumes in the air?
Or a line of clouds in the predawn glare?
Not sure what you really did
'Til historians lift the lid
Will a new world war dance cut it?
Open Pandora's box or shut it?
Is the world now a better place?
Did it just fall flat on its face?
No telling what you left behind
But you're sky-high now with an open mind
(chorus)
Why does Time always grant us sight
Of what we did wrong and what we did right
When it's too late to change a thing?
When the swan has sung its song and taken to the wing?
How long can Wisdom survive
Unwanted: Dead or Alive?
A lone voice 'mid the home team cheers -
"I give you these for they have no ears"
Final toast on a midnight plane
In full stealth mode and free of blame
It all went like you said it would
Took on the press and you fooled 'em good
Heading home with a loaded chest
Oiled Stetson and a cowboy vest
You know, you really robbed 'em blind
But you're sky-high now with an open mind
(chorus)
SUBSCRIPTION
didn't order all the pain and the fear
didn't order a single shedded tear
i have yet to see a victim-less day
on this planet we call civilized
didn't order all the scandals and schemes
rogue principalities and two-bit regimes
daily doses of the bloodiest scenes
we've prerecorded and televised
pre-chorus 1:
didn't order a peace treaty signed
when a hand shake should have sufficed
didn't order the prospects for peace
so extravagantly over-priced
pre-chorus 2:
didn't order the cameras to close in
when countless could have been saved
didn't order the heroes to hang back
when waters could have been braved
chorus:
cancel my subscription -
it's a world of contradiction*
this was not your ads description
i ordered paradise!
cancel my subscription to this life
cancel my subscription to this...
didn't order all the terrorist cults
lives led astray and the fatal results
children caught up in the crimes of adults
brainwashed to pray and praise suicide
didn't order all the racist dot coms
psychotics tinkering with homemade pipe bombs
lone assassins quoting scripture and psalms
to prove their actions were justified
(pre-chorus 1+2)
(chorus)
the tension only breaks
when a dream within awakes
and the human spirit takes
a new form
irrationality
floats like so much loose debris
carried clear across the sea
in a storm
in a storm
didn't order all the bubble-gum pop
mass market divas and gangster hip-hop
updated versions of the same old crop
of vaudevillian song and dance routines
didn't order all the crime on tv
turned entertainment for the citizenry
i'm not a lawyer so why should i be
so transfixed on countless courtroom scenes?
(pre-chorus 1+2)
(chorus)
*Line substitutes.
First, second and third run-through of chorus:
1rst: It's a world of contradiction
2nd: It's a world of dereliction
3rd: It's a world of mass affliction
CONCORDIA
Intro:
Near an island of secret, untouched by disease
In waters uncharted, unknown
I guided my ship to an alien shore
A failure in love and in war
Dreaming of life at an easier pace
I found myself amongst an alien race
Who worship at the altar of Concordia
Verse 1:
Wandering cities of dream dripping landscapes
Crater filled cosmos of shattered linguistics
Vendors sell fictional fates of all kinds
Clairvoyant transports ship goods between minds
On oceans of prismatic patterns of color
Dyed by the thoughts lost in strange atmospheres
Causeways are crowded with deaf multitudes
And gesticulations of mute auctioneers
Tag 1:
I hear the distant drums of Discordia!
Chorus 1:
And what have I found in this wondrous place?
Where nobodies feelings are hurt
Where Patience in value is equal to gold
And Anger, the value of dirt
Verse 2:
Seismatic rumblings awaken the temples
Symbolic armies pound pandemic streets
Lovers take solace in cumulus clouds
Creatures seek sunlight where canopy shrouds
And dine on the discarded musings of men
Stinging reflections in mirrors of Time
The armies assemble and brandish their shields
Emblazoned with tears on graph paper design
Tag 2:
I hear the sounds of war with Discordia!
Chorus 2:
And what have I found in this curious place?
Where tears are more precious than blood
And warriors shrug off the worst battles wounds
But words leave them face down in mud
Verse 3:
Opening volleys of titanic rumor
Shred the elite of Concordian lines
Silver-tongued snipers unleash from the trees
Deadly barrages of obscenities
Dispersing in clusters of chaotic clamor
Concordian ranks are cut down in retreat
Heroic resistance in corners continues
In desperate defiance of dawning defeat
Tag 3:
I raise the fallen flag of Concordia!
Chorus 3:
And what kind of world do I find myself in?
Where hate leaves them gasping for breath
Where smiles are instant restorers of Life
And tears are the bringers of Death
Tag 4:
I shed a final tear for Concordia!
SHATTERED THEORIES
From time to time we hear reports
Of dazzling machines
And now and then we capture them
On film and radar screens
With high-tech eyes we scan the skies
For any cosmic sign
And never sought or gave a thought
To travelers of time
chorus:
Cruising through clouds
Shining bright lights
Climbing to insurmountable heights
Shooting for stars
Closing in fast
Spanning the gaps between
Future and past
Exploring this planet of ours
From place to place the views can change
But no one can deny
That here and there we catch the glare
Of lights up in the sky
If Darwin solved how we evolved
From pre-historic time
We could be them little green men
Down evolution's line
chorus:
Soaring through space
As time unfurls
Thousands of inconceivable worlds
Reaching quasars
Closing in fast
Spanning the gaps between
Future and past
Exploring the surface of Mars
outro (twice):
And they broke onto the scene
Shattered all theories and what they mean
Just when we didn't hope anymore
Someone with the knowledge opened the door
COPYRIGHT
All songs are copyright protected. The right of Michael Centra to be identified as the author of these works has been asserted by him in accordance with Copyright, Design and Patent Acts.
All rights are reserved. No part of any lyric published may be reproduced, stored or transmitted by any means without the permission of the author.
