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Dangerous Eyes
The song of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, one of the Greek commanders on his
way home from the ten year long Trojan War, the “man of pain”
takes another ten to arrive home. Not all the delay is because of bad directions
or bad weather...
I’ve got a secret to tell you
Though it won’t be any news
No matter how much I think I’ve learned
Or how firmly I refuse
To let one more glance persuade me
To take another foolish chance
I look too deep again
Dangerous eyes, dangerous eyes
The future holds me
In the arms of a dream
Even when I waken
It follows me unseen
Just when I think it’s lost the chase
Or given up the prize
I walk into a trap
Dangerous eyes, dangerous eyes
If I struggle to avoid them
Turn your gaze aside
Can I steer clear of hurricanes
Of shipwreck prophesied
Meet the thunder with a calm heart
And ignore the siren cries
I hold my breath
Look into dangerous eyes, dangerous eyes
No matter how much I think I’ve learned
Or how firmly I refuse
To let one more glance persuade me
To take another foolish chance
I look too deep again
Dangerous eyes, dangerous eyes
I look in the mirror
To see where the matter lies
And I come face to face
Dangerous eyes, dangerous eyes
Sacrifice
Tiresias, the oracle Odysseus must consult in the Land of the Dead, tells
him whether and how he will get home to Ithaca. But oracles never tell you
just what you want to know.
Welcome to the kingdom
Of the underworld
How nice of you to call
From the other world
You think I have something to offer you
Do you think it’s true
How true
You say you’ve never been here before
Take a look around I’m not so sure
Yeah I see the future
Falling down around your ears
Falling down around your ears
Will you ever reach your home
You ask of me
He who has offended earth
Sky and sea
You wish to be free of your poison past
Sailing home at last
Safe at last
If the land of the dead is not yet for you
You may long for it long before you’re through
Can you change the future
Can you steer without the stars
Will you heed the howl in the dark
You pollute the seas with greed
You take much more than you need
The air’s foul with your lies
Will you now listen to the fear of death
Will it make you wise
Gonna take a sacrifice, sacrifice
Gonna take a sacrifice
At Night
Penelope, Odysseus’ wife (assumed widow by all except herself) and
queen of Ithaca, weaves a shroud for her father-in-law during the day, which
she by custom must finish before she can marry again. But at night she secretly
pulls out the weaving, holding off—for a while—the unwelcome suitors
who have invaded her home.
At night unwind the thread
I find no time to shed
The fear that everything’s going down
And I will never know
Have I a world to shape
With my hands
Have I been given wisdom, endurance
With no stomach for a plan
Is this my moment
My courage unbound
To stop the plunder
To make my voice heard
To slip the knot, to show my face
The risk is great
Yet to wait leaves Ithaca to the wolves
At night
At night unwind the thread
I find no time to spare
Years have wound around my eyes
Yet I may come to know
What I decide defies
Sharp despair
With or without hope, defenses
A world not beyond repair
Is this the turning
From endless yearning
To take my life up
To meet the present
To trust myself to lead the way
It’s nearly day
And a day in Ithaca with the wolves
And If I Ever (Roll Through the Foam)
The few remaining men of Odysseus’ crew foresee a bleak future.
Still, having survived so much, they row on, remembering all they have been
through, and why.
And if I ever get out alive
And if I ever get out alive
I will not be shamed
Of the course that bears my name
No I will not disdain
What I did to survive
And if I ever tear my soul
And if I ever tear my soul
I will not conceal
The scars that never heal
I’ll drop my shattered shield
Like a seed that will not grow
Roll through the foam
Roll through the foam
Are we always the fodder
To feed your taste for stolen gold
We break our mortal bodies
On the lies our captains told
We will get nothing
But a sleep in a watery grave
We will die wanting
To seize the price that generations paid
And if I ever get out alive
And if I ever get out alive
I will not be shamed
Of the course that bears my name
No I will not disdain
What I did to survive
Roll through the foam
Roll through the foam
Roll through the foam
In My Net
Odysseus, shipwrecked and alone, falls into the arms of Calypso, a goddess
who dwells on her own isolated island. At first content to fall under the
spell of her song, after seven years he will long for home.
All quiet now
Stars are all out
You are in my net
You slipped off asleep
Inside my circle of keeping
You will not regret
All flesh is doomed to forget
The hardship and bones creaking
The hunger and the angry speaking
Are banished here
A vanished tear
Year after year after year...
All quiet now
Stars are all out
You now share my fate
Away from the world
Live as if nothing else matters
You will not escape
Your gift is mine to take
Forsaking the braver way
The slaying of faithful sailors
Abandoned here
Your conscience clear
Year after year after year...
All quiet now
Stars are all out
You are in my net
My net, my net, my net
Release Yourself
Amphinomous, one of Penelope’s many suitors who hope to win both
her and the kingdom of Ithaca, seems to be the only decent one of the pack.
How lovely and prudent
And wary and wise
Inviting yet tempered
Like water and wine
Pour me into your arms
Dear Penelope
Captive of memory
Unhappy your fate to be
Wedded to phantoms
How starlit and tear-kissed
and burnished by time
How long you have held back your
heart song from mine
Pour your old sorrow down
Dear Penelope
Captive of memory
Unhappy your fate to be
Wedded to phantoms
Release yourself my dear
There’s no one holding you here
The sky awaits you tonight
Let loose your tether for flight
The Home Waltz
Odysseus and Penelope, each in their own predicaments, years and oceans
apart, imagine being together at last.
What a sweet thing it would be
to have you home
With you I can let my heart be known
Tired of armor and old lies
Stolen comfort soon flies
Braving the winds of the world
with a faithful ally
What a sweet thing it would be sailing home
We’d dance to the seasons’ ebb and flow
Laughing demons away
Keep the invaders at bay
Furl the sails one last time
Is this a fantasy that fades like foam
Will I find there’s nothing left
But rag and bone
Are you still my home
What a sweet thing it would be
to have you home
Your memory is the gift of my long hope
No more rocky shoals
Dark nights of the soul
Done with narrow escapes
Outlasted even the Fates, the Fates
What a sweet thing it would be
to have you home
