1. |
Benjamin
03:13
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Benjamin tells me,
the boat for the mainland
comes at five, or at six
or seven
or sometimes at eight.
He says, “Wait,
And you’ll see when it comes.”
The light starts to fade
and he switched the generator on.
Benjamin’s island is just two k’s around,
circled with mangroves
and water like slow liquid glass.
In the past,
His great-grandmother swum
these very same waters
and so will his children to come.
It comes,
Comes when it comes.
Benjamin tells me,
the name of the island
means a break from the wind,
a place to take shelter at sea.
As for me,
It’s a port of safe call.
I’m halfway across,
and I’m scared I won’t make it to shore.
It comes,
Comes when it comes.
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2. |
Bones
04:00
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Go, my darling, to the river
Go, my darling, to the shore
Take my bones unto the water
Make my suffering no more.
Where the southerly is blowing,
Out beyond the white-tipped break
Float me out upon your rowboat
For the water me to take.
Go, my darling, to the river
Go, my darling, to the shore
Take my bones unto the water
Make my suffering no more.
When your dad and I were younger
We built this house with our four hands
Dug the earth and cut the timber
On this salt-covered, low-lying land.
Now that I am just a memory
Won’t stay confined in these four walls
I want to float upon the ocean
‘Til I become sand and salt.
Go, my darling, to the river
Go, my darling, to the shore
Take my bones unto the water
Make my suffering no more,
Make my suffering no more.
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3. |
Home
04:25
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Ask the grandmothers at Marovo Lagoon,
They'll say,
"Daughter, the water is rising."
Ask the young men who fish down in the bay,
They'll say,
"Sister, the weather is changing.
But you, you can go home."
Everyone here comes from some other place
And they'll tell you,
As soon as they meet you.
"My mother's Makira, my father's Marau,
And I'll go, soon as I can afford to.
Oh yes, I'll go home,
Can't wait to go home."
We drove out one Sunday to Visale beach,
To find,
All of the sand had eroded.
And people spilled out of the church doors,
At noon,
And rose voices to heavens exalted.
Singing, "Go home.
Oh Lord, let us go home."
As soon as I set one foot down in a place
I am thinking,
Of what's round the corner.
I've stumbled my way around half of the world,
And I'm still not quite sure,
What I'm after.
Maybe I should just go home.
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4. |
The Wait
03:30
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The sky is a silver-white haze,
The sky is a silver-white haze.
It dazzles the days.
The water runs warm from the pipes,
The water runs warm from the pipes.
Even at night.
We wait.
I talk to my love through a screen,
He’s pixels and plastic, not skin.
I’m trying.
I find myself counting the days,
Calculating the distance through space.
There’s no trace.
We wait,
The rain.
The rain.
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5. |
Alight
04:37
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Hark now, over there in the distance,
No, it don’t make no difference,
We’re coming on.
We are not soldiers, fearless and brave.
The mountain that looms up ahead
Makes the boldest afraid.
But see now, there are sparks in the night.
Days like these it feels harder to keep them alight,
But we keep them alight.
Hark now, over there in the distance
No, it don’t make no difference
We’re coming on.
Hear me, good people will you hear me?
If you can’t hear me, feel me.
We’re coming on.
You will find no assurances here.
Victory’s not guaranteed,
And the way is not clear.
But this murky water is where hope resides.
Uncertainty makes us kick harder since we still just might,
We still could turn the tide.
Hark now, over there in the distance
No, it don’t make no difference
We’re coming on.
Hear now, hear the giant that’s waking.
The ground’s trembling and shaking,
We’re coming on.
And, oh, this too,
This too will pass.
The future is plural,
And so is the past.
And it’s true,
There’s no light on the path.
But each step is a movement,
And we step into the dark.
Hark now, over there in the distance
No, it don’t make no difference
We’re coming on.
Hear us, good people will you hear us?
Dusty, battered and glorious,
We’re coming on.
We’re coming on.
We’re coming on.
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Anna Smyrk Melbourne, Australia
With a voice described as ‘truly astonishing’ by Rolling Stone, Anna Smyrk is a powerful singer and song-maker from
Australia.
Her songs are anthemic indie bombshells, pairing vulnerable lyrics with explosive arrangements and ear-wormy hooks.
... more
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