The Shaman's Tale

I wrote this to be rad a narrative set to music. I was busy with other projects as the time and I think the language stands strong on it's own.

I listened long and hard but heard no spirits in the night.

I had a blind vision. One night I walked the sky.

 

What mythology is relevant to this land?

 

They taught us words to separate us from the land (the earth that bred us)

 

Movement # l

 

It was half passed 2am. The moon was

Full and I walked high

Into a tribal village. “Who are you?” They asked.

“Why have you come at this hour?”

 

I told them I came to find a healer for this pain.

It’s in the right side of my back.

They know not what is wrong with me

Or why I suffer so.

 

“I can help,” a man said overhearing as he walked by.

“I am the Shaman,” he said as he laid his hand upon him.

“I can feel the pain inside. Come with me I can help you.”

How do you plan to heal me?

Tell me what you know they don’t

He said, “Son you look hard for answers.

The muscles are tense, even in your face.

Lay back there’s a ceremony I will perform.”

 

Hmmmmm no.

Hmmmmm no.

 

“Great spirit healer it is me I call you,”

Then he said some words I did not understand.

“This will not happen overnight,

But I will trick those spirits that ale you away.

I will put this on you back,” he said and he grabbed his pestle

And set some herbs in his mortar.

He ground cinnamon and other herbs,

Then mixed it with hot water.

He spread it across my back and told me to rest

In this sweat lodge.

“Just close your eyes,” he told me.

“The spirit will do the rest.”

Hmmmmm no.

Hmmmmm no.

 

Just yesterday, I could feel a few muscles relax

But I have a ways to go.

This reminds me of patience.

Sitting back whiloe it gets worse.

It feels much later

But I must act in accord.

 

The roots must be relaxed.

It’s affecting the way I breathe.

The way I’m living

And the way I think.

 

My soul, too, has been afflicted.

And I’ve felt guilty.

And for that too I’ve come in search of healing.

“Your soul is in disarray,” He proclaimed

As we went into the night

With a new meditation.

Bound for a face to face

For the spirits of the land.

 

It was a process though.

First we had to open that world.

Then to get inside myself.

Maybe it was in reverse though,

Because time doesn’t exist.

But either way I digress.

 

Purge me of these daemons my mind has erected,

Into form in my reality.

I just don’t want to be scared any more.

I just don’t want to be scared anymore.

Hmmm no no no.

Hmm no no no

 

Ne kah kah kah

Nee kah kah ka.

 

Ummm…Nahhhhh

Ummm…Nahhhaha

 

Nico

 

Nico

 

(Music changes)

 

Make me one with the land great spirit.

I danced around a fire

With my shaker in my hand.

 

Havokkkk

Havokkkk

 

And I was left to endure,

For four days to fast upon the apus.

It was small like my spirit

But it called me, and here I am.

 

I hear the drumming,

And I fell into a trance.

I let the cold night guide me for

In it I see my past lives.

In undercurrents I hear words

Spoken in fear and in hate.

I’ve never seen more damage done

Than done for love.

 

Namm yo

Namm yo

Namm myoho

Namm yo

 

Movement # 2

 

On a level sand plane walking east.

Indulgent to the vision.

He led me far but he didn’t speak.

I know not if he had a language

But I knew that I should follow.

He knows the way

And he understands what that means.

He walked out at night

And the stars bent before us.

I saw fire in the sky.

I breamed as he did

And the sand came to life.

The message came before me.

Ummmm. . .This is your choice.

Don’t be afraid.

But I don’t know how to apply it.

I don‘t know what far is.

 

 

Movement # 3

 

You’ve got to go deeper

Don’t stop here go somewhere else.

Just wait.

Do you hear the voices?

Feel all of time in your hands.

Don’t let your body distract you.

It knows no distance from your mind.

Don’t give in and don’t give up.

I know the roads.

I feel their essence in my muscles

When I hear the voice.

Then I hear the fear of habit

Nagging at my soul

And somehow it’s winning.

So I can’t go forward.

 

So back to the heartache?

I refuse to go.

I’m just stuck here somewhere in the middle.

Through the night I called the spirit.

 

Great spirit of the night.

Great spirit of the night.

 

In the plants of the gods

Roaming through the desert night.

I lost my guide some ways ago

But I am guided from inside.

I am one with the energy.

I am the night I am in.

I hear the drumming begin.

Then the shakers resume.

 

 

Movement # 4

 

“Why can’t I get back to the

Place I was before?” I asked.

“Because,” he said, “It’s not

There anymore.

You’re different now,

And there’s a new set of rules.

Your needs are not the same

Because you’re exactly who you want to be.

It seems like you’re stuck in between.

You out walked the tight rope

On to an open floor.

You like the freedom but you miss the direction.

Stretch a little

But the key is to wait.

To forebear the lures

That arise from within you.

Ask yourself why,

And don’t let the fear get in your way.

Dissolve the past,

And let your soul flow among the river.

And you know so much

But tradition makes you a stranger.

And you grasp on to what’s left. Holding out for much less

Than you ever thought you could accept.”

 

Then the spirit came to life

As a beautiful woman.

“Trust not what you see.

Feel what you hear.

Taste what you think.

 

Hammmm yo

Haammmm yo.