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And Then There Are The Saints (A Requiem)

from The North Wind by Helvella

/

lyrics

Caught on a heel, a flash crossing grey lines.

The winds take their chances
hammering at the stained glass,
which is how you exist
in an outland empire
of Old Town painted waters and forgotten boarding houses

like nowhere, like no-one.

Inland at my feet
God’s house looming sees
a thousand years march by
marked by floods, invasions,
indifferent to change enduring the many visits of Kings and Queens.

One stark afternoon the dust rising
in the boatyards a heavy spring-jacket
clung to us. Leaning against everything sacred -
like a kid listening to shells only to hear
his own blood racing - our eyes fixed.
Breathing slowly, heads swimming in the dull light
and there not so secretly you said there was nothing you wouldn’t do.

I listened.

And what need. Travelling any arterial roads
undiluted gathering at the most northerly point.
No distance too great. What are those odds.

And still. And still.

Weeks later gripped by the plane reaching its zenith,
clawing at your teenage tattoos, soothing, you breathed in my fear.

And then there are the saints dozens of effigies
blurring. Headless, stone eyed, worn out.
Holding books, pointing at carved air where
there’s none to take.

Their perching birds are the same. Sick and maimed, studied with some disdain or awe.

And when in Copenhagen, London and against your harbour’s
low moon, we, running through abandoned rooms, breathless
when your hand cupped my face. Smoothing
away sorrows and confirming our beliefs there’s
only one thing that will rid all this grief.

Then happiness’ guarantee;
a death knell. The gaslight of change.
Threads unravelling in a shifting of shapes
and bones, the widows peak not widowed,
a stranger to the world. And just like that, nothing more. A quiet defeat.

Now in the late dark, tethered invisibly,
down they sit neatly. Over my raincoat,
a cloak of the saints drapes,
shrouding latent doubts pale.
Until when, unhanded,
jolted
into action crossing the street, breathing returns.

And still.

credits

from The North Wind, released April 9, 2020
Vocals and lyrics: Eliza Gregory

The players:
Guitars: Will
Drums: Dan
Bass: Chris

Recorded by Joe Garcia at Joe's Garage Bristol
Instrumentation written and mixed by Will Turner-Duffin
Image by Andrew Gale

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all rights reserved

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about

Helvella image

Helvella UK

Helvella is the performance name for Eliza Gregory; a UK songwriter, musician and writer. For all news and updates: Insta/Twitter @helvellanoise

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