song lyrics 2 The Guests One by one, the guests arrive The guests are coming through The open-hearted many The broken-hearted few And no one knows where the night is going And no one knows why the wine is flowing Oh love I need you I need you I need you I need you Oh . . . I need you now And those who dance, begin to dance Those who weep begin And "Welcome, welcome" cries a voice "Let all my guests come in." And all go stumbling through that house in lonely secrecy Saying "Do reveal yourself" or "Why has thou forsaken me?" All at once the torches flare The inner door flies open One by one they enter there In every style of passion And no one knows where the night is going ... And here they take their sweet repast While house and grounds dissolve And one by one the guests are cast Beyond the garden wall Those who dance, begin to dance Those who weep begin Those who earnestly are lost Are lost and lost again 3 One by the guests arrive The guests are coming through The broken-hearted many The open-hearted few. 4 Humbled in Love Do you remember all of those pledges That we pledged in the passionate night Ah they're soiled now, they're torn at the edges Like moths on a still yellow light No penance serves to renew them No massive transfusions of trust Why not even revenge can undo them So twisted these vows and so crushed And you say you've been humbled in love Cut down in your love Forced to kneel in the mud next to me Ah but why so bitterly turn from the one Who kneels there as deeply as thee Children have taken these pledges They have ferried them out of the past Oh beyond all the graves and the hedges Where love must go hiding at last And here where there is no description Oh here in the moment at hand No sinner need rise up forgiven No victim need limp to the stand And look dear heart, look at the virgin Look how she welcomes him into her gown Yes, and mark how the stranger's cold armour Dissolves like a star falling down Why trade this vision for desire When you may have them both You will never see a man this naked I will never hold a woman this close. 5 The Window Why do you stand by the window Abandoned to beauty and pride The thorn of the night in your bosom The spear of the age in your side Lost in the rages of fragrance Lost in the rags of remorse Lost in the waves of a sickness That loosens the high silver nerves Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love Oh tangle of matter and ghost Oh darling of angels, demons and saints And the whole broken-hearted host Gentle this soul And come forth from the cloud of unknowing And kiss the cheek of the moon The New Jerusalem glowing Why tarry all night in the ruin And leave no word of discomfort And leave no observer to mourn But climb on your tears and be silent Like a rose on its ladder of thorns Then lay your rose on the fire The fire give up to the sun The sun give over to splendour In the arms of the high holy one For the holy one dreams of a letter Dreams of a letter's death Oh bless thee continuous stutter Of the word being made into flesh Gentle this soul 6 I Came So Far For Beauty I came so far for beauty I left so much behind My patience and my family My masterpiece unsigned I thought I'd be rewarded For such a lonely choice And surely she would answer To such a very hopeless voice I practiced all my sainthood I gave to one and all But the rumours of my virtue They moved her not at all I changed my style to silver I changed my clothed to black And where I would surrender Now I would attack I stormed the old casino For the money and the flesh And I myself decided What was rotten and what was fresh And men to do my bidding And broken bones to teach The value of my pardon The shadow of my reach But no, I could not touch her With such a heavy hand Her star beyond my order Her nakedness unmanned I came so far for beauty I left so much behind My patience and my family My masterpiece unsigned 7 Un Canadien Errant (The Lost Canadian) (by Antoine Gerin-Lajoie) Un Canadien Errant Banni de ses foyers, Parcourait en pleurant Des pays etrangers. Parcourait en pleurant Des pays etrangers. Un jour, triste et pensif, Assis au bord des flots, Au courant fugitif Il adressa ces mots: Au courant fugitif Il adressa ces mots: "Si tu vois mon pays, Mon pays malheureux, Va dire a mes amis Que je me souviens d'eux. Va dire a mes amis Que je me souviens d'eux. O jours si pleins d'appas, Vous etes disparus... Et ma patrie, helas! Je ne la verrai plus. Et ma patrie, helas! Je ne la verrai plus. [A wandering Canadian, banned from his hearths, travelled while crying in foreign lands. travelled while crying in foreign lands. 8 One day, sad and pensive, sitting by the flowing waters, to the fleeing current he addressed these words: to the fleeing current he addressed these words: If you see my country, my unhappy country, go tell my friends that I remember them. go tell my friends that I remember them. O days so full of charms, you have vanished... And my native land, alas! I will see it no more. And my native land, alas! I will see it no more.] 9 The Traitor Now the Swan it floated on the English river Ah the Rose of High Romance it opened wide A sun tanned woman yearned me through the summer and the judges watched us from the other side I told my mother "Mother I must leave you preserve my room but do not shed a tear Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you it was half my fault and half the atmosphere" But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever and the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame She said at last I was her finest lover and if she withered I would be to blame The judges said you missed it by a fraction rise up and brace your troops for the attack Ah the dreamers ride against the men of action Oh see the men of action falling back But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still My falsity had stung me like a hornet The poison sank and it paralysed my will I
