Get all 12 Rosa Francesca releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of !Oh !Oh !Oh, Carols for Humans, Carols for Computers, I-Statements, Snowbia, Outtakes and Demos, Uncomfortably Festive, Red & Green, and 4 more.
1. |
Lichtenberg Scar
05:29
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The memories branch out like a Lichtenberg scar.
If you know what they mean,
you can take it thus far:
See the dreams written out on your skin, like tattoos.
Like your words are a play,
see, the dreams are a ruse.
You’re racing a storm. You are not going to win.
You’re at points on a map
where you’ve yet to have been,
And the clouds follow fast at your heels, at your heart-
You don’t want them to, and they never will part.
Lightning strikes us across our heads.
We hit if off like a slap in the face.
Lightning strikes, thunder claps,
Claps as we bow,
Says, “Farewell, well, and well done.”
If you leave things behind, well, they always catch up.
Some are withered and worn,
but prepared to match up.
Send me away in the post, like a letter.
If you never feel better, you’ll never feel better.
Don’t stop for breath.
Don’t pause for thought.
Don’t drop your sword,
when you’ve yet to fight back.
Lightning strikes us across our heads.
We hit if off like a slap in the face.
Lightning strikes, thunder claps,
Claps as we bow,
Says, “Farewell, and well done.”
It rains so hard,
I cannot see.
Pull yourself away from me.
You think I don’t know, but I know who you are;
you’re all over me like a Lichtenberg scar.
You blossom and bloom like a Lichtenberg scar.
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2. |
Nevertheless
05:32
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My love lives two lives away.
We write songs and talk in rhyme.
I don’t ever try to elaborate,
because I fear he hasn’t got the time.
When we appear to each other’s eyes
my throat is bound in a collar of fear.
Just once a year can we allow ourselves,
but a year that’s chased is still a year.
And the sun comes out around September-
lights my way onto the train.
“I cannot wait,
I cannot say that I do love you anymore,
anymore, anymore, oh, I…
I cannot stay;
my heart, it beats against the handle of your door.”
Every time you smile as if
you’re caught up in the sky itself,
and if things go wrong, should we complain?
We have our art. We have our health.
If I hang round like a ghost,
my breaking heart breaks yours as well.
I wake up early, listen to the cats.
Their voices ring out, loud as bells.
And I like to be out when it’s cold,
and I like to feel that I’m not alone.
He’s an old friend. It is not intended.
He’s not to be claimed as my own.
And when you shout I can hear it,
across the land that
We tread along like founders,
across its length, and
Through the parks, and through the houses
and through their attics and
Round this circle of fifths in this circular argument.
I’ll cut him off, just like I should.
This game I’ve played for far too long,
it’s time to admit, was never won;
he is not mine, he is not mine.
And the sun goes down around December-
casts a shadow on the lies:
“I cannot stray,
I cannot say that I do love you anymore,
anymore, anymore, oh I…
I cannot say, I cannot say…”
Nevertheless, it isn’t true.
Nevertheless, I’ll carry on.
You’re caught up in the sky itself.
Nevertheless, you know it’s you.
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3. |
Locked and Left
05:34
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She wrote you all these letters
in the midst of all this weather,
Stormy, from the dark fall,
And your love was freshly broken,
But a door locked, left, unopened,
is not much more than a wall.
The worst overreaction.
Oh darling, what was your plan of action,
Other than a catalyst of golden sun reduced to mist?
You were missed.
Darling, you were missed.
If there is a slate that needs to be cleared
of equations and poems accounting your fears
as the lonely one,
as the lonely one,
Well, she would bring water and she would bring shade
to the one who in words and in sentences paid,
as the only one,
the only one.
She needs your excuses. You leave her mistakes.
Your words are her bruises, and left there to take,
and alone to run,
all alone to run.
She could hold your hand, if you want her to.
She could say the things she'd advise to you,
but what good could that do?
She'd be a substitute valentine;
A reminder of older, less eloquent times,
But the threads have already, and will soon unravel
down the line.
Down the line.
If there is a sky that needs to be cleared
of the clouds and the lightning igniting your fears
as the lonely one,
as the lonely one,
Well, she would part weather and she would bring shade
to the one whose impatience and privacy made her
the only one,
only one.
You need her excuses. You leave her mistakes.
Your bruises, her bruises, and left there to take,
and alone to run.
Left alone and gone.
***
"Darling, where's the fire?
Did you not see your heart for hire?
Well, my heart has never been broken,
Bur a door that is locked and left unopened
can still be broken.
Should we break it open?
Darling, help me out.
Can you not see what this is about?
Well, it's one strike to her (in terms of you),
And I can run faster than you can strike any blow
that you have in you.
Do you have it in you?
***
"I could hold your hand,
If that's something you would like me to do.
I could understand,
If that's something that you think she would do.
"Oh, is there a sky that can be cleared
of the clouds and the thunder applauding your fears
as the lonely one,
as the lonely one?
Well, if I could part weather and bring you some shade,
Well, I would in a minute; unevenly made
as the only one,
the only one.
Your news is my news. Your mistakes, my mistakes,
And my heart, out of reach, further south, left to take,
and alone to run.
All alone, and gone.
The only one."
She wrote you all this, opened up her mind,
but a door still closed
is not much more then,
At all.
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4. |
Ten Years Ago
03:55
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Ten years ago.
Six feet of snow.
Where did that go?
What did that show?
How did we meet?
How do you know me?
How did I know you,
ten years ago?
And my world is changing,
slower, faster,
As if by some wild disaster.
Count the turns and hear it creaking-
how it replicates the beating of your heart!
He'll never know what he has done.
You brought me things
(No wild dreams).
All as it seems.
Glued at the seams.
You take my hand.
You don't understand me.
Ten years ago...
I can't let go.
My world is changing,
slower, faster,
as if by some wild disaster.
Count the turns and hear its creaking-
how it replicates your speaking!
He'll never know
how this will end,
how it begun.
And my blood is flowing,
flowing faster,
as if by some new disaster.
Count the rate your heart is beating at,
until you start repeating.
He'll never know what he has done.
We'll never know
how this will end,
how it begun.
What have we done?
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5. |
What to Say
05:15
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I don't know what to say
that'll make sense while I'm in this state.
I don't know what to say
that'll make sense while I'm still in this mistake.
Bones they break, and ties untie.
I still read your letters every day.
I don't know what to say,
without falling apart or bursting into song.
I don't know what to say;
I'm wasting away
all the time that we had.
And bones they break, and ties untie.
I still read your letters every day,
And I don't have a picture of your face;
all I have is an imprint of your hand in mine.
Can you hear me? I'm thinking so loud.
Can you hear me? I'm thinking so loud.
Can you hear me? I'm wishing so loud.
Bones they break, and ties untie.
I still read your letters every day.
Bones they break, and ties untie,
I still read your letters, I do.
And hearts, they break,
and eyes, they cry.
I still think I missed you, I do.
And I don't have a picture of your face;
all I have is an imprint of your hand in mine.
All I have is an imprint of your hand in mine.
All I have is an imprint of your hand in mine.
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