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above the portico - jane siberry lyrics

[intro]
instead of a village it was a temple. and above the portico were the words, “know thyself.” mmm.

[verse 1: ascending]
magic and i climbed the cool marble steps following the indentations of thousands that had climbed before us. and there we stood in the temple with a beautiful breeze coming in off the ocean. in, inspiring us. making us feel like we could write the most beautiful song in the world, paint the most beautiful painting.
and then because we know that thesе are times of greatеr discipline, we understood that we must feel the air also moving out. so we felt the vacuum starting. and we felt sick. we felt nauseous as the air moved out of the temple and we heard the splintering of glass and the smashing of wood and we heard a voice say, “flat line, second time tonight.”

[verse 2: harmony]
and in this temple, as we reminded each other of harmony—the harmony that we send out in every single thing that we do: me as a musician, you as a mover of the earth, as a tiller of the people. and harmony is not just a pretty chord. harmony is the sequencing, the release at the right point into something beautiful.

[verse 3: bodies]
and we pursue the greater understanding of harmony by using our bodies to run marathons and to lift weights and to burn the dross off. and then we do the opposite, of course. we sit on our couch for two weeks and eat junk food and watch tv and take into us a value system that puts forward lies and intolerance and—as acceptable. and even worthy of primetime viewing when the children can see it.
[verse 4: hair]
and we experiment with our hair and we, we twist it tightly on top so it is a, a topknot and it spurs the aggression in our system. and we look a bit like a samurai warrior. and we shave the sides so that venus cannot get a foothold. and then of course, we do the opposite. we shave the top and we let the sides grow until we look like someone of a hermetic order.

[verse 5: order]
and as we try to order the universe in a way that will give us the security that we need, we add the signs on top of each other. “do not do this!” “do this!” “drive according to conditions!” until finally we can no longer see the view. and so of course we do the opposite. we get rid of all the signs. and we wobble and warble until finally we find the path of least resistance and a feeling of common sense that guides us. the middle of the river, equidistant from the shoreline. and the view now! and as we stand here in this temple, the columns, the sp*ces between the columns perhaps even more beautiful than the columns themselves.

[verse 6: descending]
and as magic and i descended the marble steps i looked back and i saw that the words above the portico had changed: “that thou mayst know god.” mmm.

[verse 7: headlines]
we feel the headlines starting to crowed in again, as they must. “the highest cause of death in a modern day war is—suicide.” one lone veteran stands in salute for his fallen comrade, alone on the street as the coffin goes by. office workers see this and join him the following week. a young man is brought back from a far away war.

[verse 8: teenagers]
six o’clock news: another war veteran, school bus driver, bus shelter, teenagers. and as i turned to leave they stood up to give me a hug. and the hair fell away from their eyes. and i saw that now their foreheads were open and their eyes were bright blue and warm brown and brimming with intelligence and humour.
and i said to them, “whenever you find someone open, glom onto them like a little barnacle until you get safely through being a teenager. and be careful with the drugs and alcohol because your temple—every now and then you will need to walk through the darkness alone.”

- jane siberry lyrics

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