Listening to Charles Ellsworth Smith's "The Bells of Alberon"

1.Look at them working,
Shining with sweat,
Going at it hand to plow, hammer and tongs,
Metal reflecting in the Mediterranean sun

2.This dance was made for you my King,
Fashioned to celebrate your awesome presence.
It will of course be only the start of the grand promenade
When we will all be moving still with our broken limbs
In time that was made especially for the little ones,
The song tailored to their sweetest expectations.

3.In the evening stillness rises from the mist the evening star
And the moon takes possession of the sea
Momentarily recapturing the splendor of creation
Anticipation, and time is passing, moving like a movie
Right before your very mind’s eye to be savored once again.

4.Can you hear me now?
I have been calling you for hours
When the sun was rising and the day beginning.
The song was already in motion
Flowing over landscapes of sleepy villages,
Calling out to wake up quickly
The dreamers whose slumber was no longer satisfying
. Listen to the chimes heralding the time of times arriving.

5.Playing like an interlude
In the middle of a melody
We pause and wait
The music of the spheres to fill our ears
As it did while we were sleeping.

6.Determination will only carry us so far
As will reason, as will rules, as will anything
Except being with your awesomeness.
Surely there is no other way but yours.

7.New land and the party goes exploring
What species is this that seems to have been waiting
For our arrival.
We are here, yes we are here at last.

8.Songbird sing; put your head back
Let your throat give way to the cries of your heart;
Let your melodies be not fashioned by the works of man.
You are free to fly; now fly low, fly high,
Fly like the streams of music that enrapture the sky.
Everything makes sense when you sing.

9.In the evening when the sun is going down
And easy winds flow down the shady streets,
You return to the path and see
the shadows branches have cast over stone
And make room for Luna’s quiet entrance.

10.Awake my heart to flee the cold and lonely dungeons of the past;
Proclaim again that we are here now.
And though we may not now embrace the days to come,
They are sum zero to the nearness of my lord.

11.Like a flamingo in flight
Slowly soaring silhouetted like a shadow beneath the golden sun,
Light returns amidst the rain
With colors that defy explanation.
We wait for resolution
To the phrases you have given.
Still plays the soft refrain of your timeless words of truth,
Mysterious and dark but full of promise and assurance.
To this rock we cling.

12.If it were not for you
We would all perish in the darkest mist.

13.Quickly now the tones grow slimmer;
We barely can believe our ears.
We have been deceived before,
But not this time.

14.Footfalls slapping in the desert heat
Caravan bells tinkling in the night
The path is plainly clear
But who can walk it?
No one on their own.
All my joys return magnified.

15.Refreshing raindrops fall against my face;
This journey is do-able if not challenging.

16.At last the great awakening.



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