Jonathan Shayfer
Sword and Shield
I look out to the grey horizons as far as I can see,
and all I discern are my folk on the turn
and they're yearning to be free.
There's a changing in our homeland
and our lives are not the same,
and the poor are poorer than before,
and the wealthy have no shame.
CHORUS:
Awake, Awake, Arise, Arise!
There's a war for the land to be won.
Awake, Awake, Arise, Arise!
We'll bend the knee to none.
For we are the sword and we are the shield,
through storm and fire, we'll never yield.
There's a war for the land to be won, my friend,
a war for the land to be won.
I remember the past with glory,
when we fought to defend the oppressed,
and the tides they turned and the bridges we burned
for the legions of dispossessed.
Now my brothers and sisters are rising,
with the blood of our kin in our veins,
Godspeed to the fighters for freedom
as we take up the gauntlet again.
CHORUS
BRIDGE:
For we march with the ghost of Wat Tyler,
and the Tolpuddle Martyrs too.
And a heart of oak of old John Ball,
and the spirit of Peterloo.
There's a darkness spread out before us,
but there's light when you're doing what's right.
We brandish our torches for justice,
and go forth with all of our might.
For they planned a rich harvest to suit them,
but remember you reap what you sow,
for the ground will tremble at our approach
and our righteous anger will grow.
CHORUS
Avebury
Was the hour before dawn, on a midsummer morn,
and the sky was a-turning.
I made my way west and I couldn't have guessed
at the test I'd be learning.
I arrived at the place, found a mystical trace
as the sun started risin'.
So I sat by a stone, but I wasn't alone,
saw a lady a-smilin'.
CHORUS:
She haunts me still, at Avebury,
I still see the sunlight in her hair.
She haunts me still at Avebury,
I call out her name but she's not there.
Over muffins and tea, this warm Lebanese
spoke a tale of her dreamings,
and I listened enrapt, at the stories unmapped
and i pondered their meanings.
We drifted through crops till we suddenly stopped
at a circle of wonder.
So we dozed in the maze in a warm fuzzy haze
and the world lay out yonder.
CHORUS
We climbed Silbury Hill and the air was so still,
but the day it was ending.
We shared a soft kiss in mutual bliss
and a moment transcending.
Many years on and her touch is long gone
save the memories of glory;
that beautiful pearl of a Lebanese girl
and a part of life's story.
CHORUS
These Four Walls
I see the sun rising
from the corner of my mind,
a new day is dawning
but I leave it all behind.
I find a lovesick portrait
from the memory on my phone,
and my guts are twist 'n' turning
and I'm lying here alone.
Her image stares and stares
and she never seemed so pale,
and her eyes they may be shining
but she's smiling through a veil.
CHORUS:
It's a mockery
a travesty
a parody
a tragedy
as these four walls are closing in,
closing in,
these four walls are closing in.
We're floating on a river
and the scene is so serene,
but the Trickster is devising
to undermine my queen.
It's life and love as usual
but there's poison in the air
and the fickle gods are laughing
and I haven't got a prayer.
So she listened to her demons,
she reacted to the call
and she left me standing naked
in the tomb o' these four walls.
CHORUS
Renegade Lover
She speaks in a whisper but her voice can cut glass,
she's warm as the summer but you know it won't last,
she's a warrior rising and deep as the sea,
but she's always a mystery to me;
she's a warrior rising and deep as the sea,
and she's always a mystery to me.
She's a speck on the skyline and right in your face,
she's the fire in your spirit then gone with no trace,.
She's a captive gone crazy and a wild refugee,
and she's always a mystery to me;
she's a captive gone crazy and a wild refugee,
and she's always a mystery to me.
BRIDGE:
Well there's nothing can change her,
she's a mind of her own,
and there's nothing can move her
when her heart's set in stone.
She's a force of wild nature
and cannot be tamed,
if you hold her to ransom,
she'll break off her chains.
She has eyes like a doe and a thousand yard stare,
she's with and within you but she's not really there,
she's a renegade lover and she wants to break free
and she's always a mystery to me,
She's a renegade lover and she wants to break free,
and she's always a mystery to me,
yes, she's always a mystery to me.
Ever Onwards
Where will you go and where will you wander?
What will you leave on the road if you must?
How will you find your one true direction?
Where will you journey from dawn until dusk?
I'll travel the lowlands and seek out the highlands
and find me a pathway that leads to the sun.
I'll kick off the dust and the leaves and the mud
and I won't look behind me to see where I've gone.
What will you do as you move ever onwards?
Where will you sleep as the skies turn to grey?
What will you see as you near your horizons?
What will you do at the close of the day?
I'll find me a spirit to share a warm fire,
and measure the silence when all has been said
and I'll rest up my feet when they tell me they're hurtin'
and choose me some sort moss to lay down my head.
With whom will you share your bread and your cider?
Which of them lost and which of them found?
Who will you meet on the path to salvation?
Who will you lift when they fall to the ground?
I'll shoot the breeze with a wandering stranger,
and listen to tales from the road still to come.
I'll lift up the beggar from where he has fallen
and the battles he's lost and the battles he's won.
I'll flirt with a lassie with eyes of light green
and she'll kiss me for luck and for fun,
and I'll stop by a house for a cup of ice water
and the old folks'll smile when we're done.
RPT 1st Verse and Answer.
The Women at the Well
See Rachel, lost in the clouds
and drifting with the tide.
She's floating on a breeze,
she takes it in her stride.
The women at the well.
See Yasmin, plays dumb to the world,
her days have grown stale,
she yearns for the light
from the dark of her veil.
The women at the well.
See Matilda, she knows what she wants,
to hunt and pursue,
by hook or by crook,
her path is set true.
The women at the well.
CHORUS:
The women at the well,
their dreams and their schemes,
their smiles and their guile,
maidens and wives,
their loves and their lives.
The women at the well.
See Miriam, she pledges her vows
with discernible nod,
offers her heart
to the service of God.
The women at the well.
See Beatrice, she's bitter and torn,
at war with herself,
she'll never forgive
being left on the shelf.
The women at the well.
See Jocelyn with her man and her sons
and reciprocal treats.
Her heart is fulfilled.
Her life is complete.
The women at the well.
CHORUS. Rpt.
Borrowed Time
Maybe it's the time of year,
but I wrap my coat around me
like I never done before.
I could've stayed on longer,
but the chill wind numbs my bones
and I can't take any more.
Maybe it's a memory,
but I just can't help this feeling
that the ghosts are still the same.
I step into nostalgia,
but they're fading in and out,
a shadow with no name.
CHORUS:
Borrowed time,
I'm livin' on borrrowed time.
Face to face with mortality,
a poison pill of reality,
I'm livin' on borrowed time.
And maybe there's no grieving
for kindred spirits heading south;
it's a game of chance and fate.
Maybe nothing really matters,
and the rolling years have gone to waste
and it's all too fucking late.
It's all too fucking late.
CHORUS. Rpt
In the Land I Call My Own
From the chill of Winter's coming,
to the Spring of life reborn.
And the burning haze of summer days,
to a misty Autumn morn,
I have traipsed and rambled every mile,
across this blessed isle,
And I set my feet to random roam
in the land I call my own.
I met a fellow traveller,
he was weary to the bone,
and with kindred spirits on the road,
you'll seldom walk alone.
We sat around a fire bright,
told stories through the night,
Then I set my feet to random roam
in the land I call my own.
I saw the good folk in the fields
and I helped them till the land.
The day is hard from dawn to dusk
when you're toiling with your hands.
A maiden smiled and bid me stay,
but I had to go my way,
So I set my feet to random roam
in the land I call my own.
I found an ancient pathway
and a trail down to the sea,
I've wandered through a grove of oaks
and pastures emerald green.
I'll walk the length of Albion
until my day is done.
And I'll set my feet to random roam
in the land I call my own.
Yes, I'll set my feet to random roam
in the land I call my own.
A Man for all Seasons
I'm a giver of gifts
and a teller of tales,
a conjurer waving his wand,
a traveller here then gone.
I'm a singer of songs,
a weaver of words,
a voyager taking the trail,
a seeker of Holy Grail.
I'm a pyromancer.
a fire dancer,
a messenger selling a dream,
a prophet with stories foreseen.
CHORUS:
I'm all things to all souls,
beyond rhyme or reason,
I'm a saint and a sinner,
A man for all seasons.
a man for all seasons I am.
I'm a shadow stealer,
a vagabond drifter,
a sorcerer conning the crowd,
a ghoul with a welcoming shroud.
I'm a desperado,
a renegade of doom,
a Pied Piper misguiding the fools,
trampling humanity's rules.
I'm an oath breaker,
a spirit taker,
a cheap gambler selling a game,
a Trickster in all but name.
CHORUS.
Rpt 1st Verse
CHORUS
A Story Unmapped
On a bright Autumn day when the yellow leaves fall,
the woodland it beckoned and I answered its call.
My wandering path found a mystical place
as I entered a grove and a Sylvan embrace.
I stared, I stared, I stared at the clouds,
then the forest enfolded me like a lost child.
I heard, I heard a peregrine's cry,
and I listened enrapt to the song of the wild.
Yes, I listened enrapt to the song of the wild.
Then a wondrous thing happened in a scene so serene,
a lady emerged, an arboreal queen.
Her long cloak was fashioned from the hue of the leaves,
and she moved like a spirit in a warm summer breeze.
I gazed, I gazed, I gaze at her face,
and her eyes held a wisdom born of the land,
She smiled, she smiled with a look full of grace,
and the forest looked on as she offered her hand,
yes, the forest looked on as she offered her hand.
We sat by an oak and she captured my soul,
as she spoke of her dreamings and the folk tales of old.
The sun sank before us, the moon did arise,
and we danced by its glow and the light in her eyes.
I set, I set a fire burning bright,
and she lay down beside me and whispered my name.
We fell, we fell, we fell to the night,
and the forest looked on through the flickering flames,
yes, the forest looked on through the flickering flames.
And when I awoke on the ground cold as stone,
there was no-one to greet me, my night bird had flown.
She'd gone south with her kindred where the sun always shines,
and down in the earth for the cold winter time.
I wished, I wished she was here by my side
and the silk of her hair and the wings of desire.
But I'll wait, I'll wait till Spring comes again,
and we'll dance by the light of a welcoming fire,
yes, we'll dance by the light of a welcoming fire.