02. Princess Among Provinces
03. Hills Humbled, Mountains Made Low
04. Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes
05. An Empire Razed (A Kingdom Raised)
06. Basilea Basilea
07. Onward, to the Garden
08. Banners Over Us
09. Wonderers or Wanderers
10. Hosanna
11. As the Waters Cover the Sea
Album Presentation: "Things We Can See and Things We Cannot"
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And it springs forth! Do you not perceive it? The dry creek below your feet will fill with water and lead to the sea. I’m afraid your peasant head still rolls around in the riverbed as justice and mercy come up to meet your legs. Are you a small bird trapped, this land a mighty redemptive hand, far too vast to trust that it would direct your path? Look at the roots extend from the banks, a ladder of truth to set you on your way. Look upon what you can’t touch, pray the ground you stand is love. Look upon what you can’t touch, pray the ground you stand is love.... Cause a river flows in the desert, I swear, somewhere. O and there is life in this desert, I swear, I swear. There may be beasts drinking from the river, but we aren’t scared. No, we aren’t scared. ’Cause there is peace, o there is peace, hiding in this desert, and the river will take us there, it will take us there, it will take us there. O the river will take us there. And o when we get there, o when we get there...
(feat. guest vocals by Todd Reese)
The sun sets pink, yellow, glorious, shined on that city always reverent on its hill. But either we are too close or too great a distance, to see its foundations giving way, its plants full of decay. But I could see, I could see, I could surely see that crippled man every morning hungry, drunk, and homeless on my street. And I could hear, I could hear, I could surely hear a thousand thirsty people calling (but I will never be that crutch or that drink). But if we rape and pillage the earth, take it for all that it’s worth, and ring religion’s salvation bell…the sick and imprisoned will find liberation in robes and wine, and a hell far worse than the one where they dwell! And I think I burnt my hands giving out fire, calling it a lamb. I gave armies swords to kill, an empire to build. And that solid crown, that mighty tower, I pray that it falls down, and it crushes me like a mustard seed, and spreads me out…a field white for harvest. *And I smell the stench of a million men headed in my direction. And I hear the sound of their boots on the ground; let’s plow the field with their weapons. Or just leave, let’s scale those walls, and just leave. We’ll just leave. But who holds and cradles the earth, and gives every bit of it’s worth? Who raises us along with the dead? The sick and imprisoned will find men’s systems won’t keep them, and they will have liberation in the end! *Lyrics by Todd Reese
I raised my daughter on wild honey and locusts. We prettied her up with a camel-skin dress, the good book to keep her focus. And I love her grandfather, but he don’t like the struck-down oak I’ve made my home. I keep telling him “you need to sit back and just watch my garden grow”. O the cost of simplicity, woe to the attention it brings me! This land has left me maimed (I swear I’m not the same) as its harsh winds sweep across my face. But I’m just waiting for the rain (to prove I’m right) to put me in my place. O God, I told my mother she needs to hit the road. “Leave that empire behind cause my wife and I…we’ve got God on our side!” I’m just lighting a candle to see if the sun is risen. And if this hill is a mantle to display the courage I’m missing…the cost of simplicity isn’t costing me a thing…O not a thing! This land has left me maimed (if it’s even changed a thing) as its harsh winds sweep across my face. And I pray you have remained (I pray you have remained) a carpenter sanding down my edges ‘til I am full of grace.
She’s a good, honest woman full of class and decency…it covers everything she does. And he’s a passionate man with an artistic hand, he got sick, left her a widow with no one to love. O to breathe, to breathe in the brevity of things, the finality of peaceful sleep. Oh to believe, to believe, this can all be cured with time…but you swear there’s something there to reconcile, to reconcile. Good God! If we’re not alive then you’re all we’ve got! We forgot the rain-clouds took from the sea to make their drops. Dear God! If we’re not dead then you’re all we’ve got! But my God, we’ve not the eyes to see or the feet to wash. And he was the lens I saw everything through. I looked upon her a wreck and a mother of two. And I am a bastard, I am a bastard with an awful tongue. But I was that way long before I was a fatherless son. Oh to breathe, to breathe in the finality of things, oh the brevity of peaceful sleep. Oh to believe, to believe this can all be cured with time. And you swear…you swear there’s something there to reconcile! But I don’t see it… You said death is a broken seed and it gives birth to a living tree. Your banner over her, over me, is love. And if he transcends all the above, when do you restore us? Good God! If we’re not alive then you’re all we’ve got. We forgot the rain-clouds took from the sea to make their drops. Oh God, if we not, if we aren’t dead then you’re all we’ve got. Oh God, we don’t have eyes to see or any feet to wash.
Those myriads who raised the pyramids, that bottom that built for the top. And they scaled those walls to see the blessings I said I’ve got. Then I realized my deserts only better if the good Lord deems the necessary plight of weather. Oh how I hoped, o how I’d gloat, for a wicked escape from their homes as if I had it all, as if I wasn’t still drinking from that moat. They fixed their eyes on a god stuck in the sky. They kept their gaze on the rooftops, not the death inside. They fixed their eyes on a god stuck in the sky…some place for escape, but eternity began before our time. And there stood truth in the darkest night, maybe the tyrants had fallen by the wayside. And I watched from my mountain what I thought was a holy light. They’d brought down the priests, they’d brought down the priests and their religion with fire. They burnt the churches where they’d worshipped...not a single heart contrite. And I burnt a cigarette, drank the kings whiskey to help clear my mind. They set it ablaze like desert brush on a summer’s day. We could have dirtied our hands and washed the lies away. For truth exists, and oh how it exists…But like my mother said, “We’ll probably have it all wrong in the end.” And I fixed my eyes on the sun stuck in the sky. I kept my eyes on the source of that light. Oh I... I fixed my eyes. I fixed my eyes.
(feat. guest vocals by Daniel Simmons of All The Day Holiday)
All the earth is a fair violin sitting alone, ignored on the floor. It longs to sing a song, the song it was made for. We’re surrounded, we’re all surrounded by an overflow of love. When it’s quiet, when it’s silent, you can hear creation’s groan…its song. All the earth is a tall glass, a chalice sitting dusty on the shelf. And it longs to be filled with most expensive wines, to touch their lips and give drink again. We’re surrounded, we’re all surrounded by an overflow of love. But when it’s quiet, when it’s silent you can hear creation’s groan, its song to be made known that all will be new again. Let’s partake in the renewing of them…until I am new again.
7. Onward, to the Garden
I saw the rush of a bumblebee’s wings stir up the ashes of a fallen city. The exodus clear from the marks on the floor, a lily poked out his head to show his world restored. Through the wilderness I passed to see the cattle graze on every grass. I looked to the river and saw it complete, the grizzly bear cub lie down with the calf. Yours was everything I could and could not see…Yours was everything I could and could not see…Yours was everything I could and could not see…Yours was everything I could and could not see…Yours was everything, yours was everything, was everything…Yours was everything, yours was everything, everything...Yours was everything…the field white for harvest, the wind, the past, the present, the first time I made love to my wife, the first breathe of my brother’s newborn child. Theirs is the house without the door. And I am the carpenter that refuses to pass idly by. Theirs is the house with a hole in the roof. And I am the builder that makes it a window for the sun to shine through. Yours was everything I could and could not see…Yours was everything I could and could not see…Yours was everything I could and could not see…Yours was everything, everything…
8. Banners Over Us
Marry a love they say. Bury your dead they say. Carry a name they say. Carry it to your grave they say. And if no one is there on the other side, when we all arrive at that place when we die…we’ve done alright. Marry the ground they say. Bury them not to escape. Carry not a single thing, but his banner over you, his banner over me. And if no one is there on the other side when we all arrive at the place when we die…we’ve conquered time.
9. Wonderers or Wanderers
Rest assured, I loved that town with all that I am, but I couldn’t stay for fear I’d become less of a man. That closet we used to live in is missed, but I love how the rays shine through the branches and warm your lips before they’re kissed. And oh I hate to leave you alone, oh we can stay in for days when I get home. Oh I know you hate to see me go. Sometimes I feel I’m farming on my own. We painted that bookshelf made of particleboard. You fell asleep, I got drunk, spilled burnt-orange on the floor. God didn’t see me with the blinds of the windows closed, but out here, out here everyone sees, everyone knows. And oh I hate to leave you alone, oh we can stay in for days when I get home. Oh I know you hate to see me go. Now you’ve got your own seeds to sow. And oh I hate to leave you alone, oh we can stay in for days when I get home. Oh I know you hate to see me go. We’ve both got crops that need attention to grow.
10. Hosanna
A messenger laid facedown in a canal. Our parched mouths gave restoration, read his letter and it rescued us. (It said) “You razed that city to the ground, but I raised the dead! Your father has redemption, new lungs, and bones to hold him up. There’s far too much triumph in your planting. There’s far too much speaking in your love. The masses have found the flowing river, and they’re welcoming the flood. And this water is fire to the most precious gold, to purify and scrape off the imperfections before it’s sold. With praises, hymns, and songs, the oppressed will raise their city made of psalms. The orphaned play their horns, wave palms. The imprisoned have their freedom that is love, love, love, love, LOVE! For love bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things, love endures all things!”
11. As the Waters Cover the Sea
It springs forth, like sap from the maple tree. Like atonement cascades blood red down the bark to the rushing stream. And I was so young when I first saw the fruit of the canopy. The orchard I’ve planted I pray it grows mercy and peace. Your banner over me is love. Like a flood, let it wash over us! When we get there, strip me (strip me), strip the trees bare. Adorn us with the garments (garments) we were made to wear. It’s obvious we’ve never belonged here. We’ve always existed some place between where the ground meets the air. Your banner over me is love. Your banner is love. Your banner over me is love. Like a flood, let it wash over us. And a river runs in the desert, but I never felt its presence. A tree stood tall in the desert, but I only saw its surface. And a river runs in the desert, and I will live within its presence. And that tree stands tall in the desert, and I hope to God I see the fruits of harvest. And a river flows in the desert, but I never felt its presence. And a tree stood tall in the desert, but I only saw its surface. The future bursts into the present, I feel the ground and its marriage to heaven. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.... Your banner over me, Your banner over us, let it wash over us, Your banner is love! Your banner over me, Your banner over us, Your banner is love! Your banner is love!
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