There's howling in the factory yard
There's pounding in my head
I'm swollen up with unshed tears
Bloated like the dead
Somebody stands in the window
Watches the river roll
Trains rumble by in the fore ground
With the weight of the approaching dawn
Blood and ashes
Time is burning
And the high vault of heaven
Looks far away and cold
Come down healing x2
Pale moon in cold blue sky
Frost in grass like winter stars
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
The air around smokes with myth
Light is thickening
You can feel it in the gut like the warmth of absyinth
Feel it in the veins like the rush of love
Like the winds swept through the wounds of chaos
Blow blessings from the mad
Come down healing x2
On those monkeys huddled in waves of rain
On the politician monkey gobbling what the cow left
On the pundit monkey paid to interpert his belches
On the ones who in the mirror see only what they hate
Who in other tribes see only what they hate about themselves
On the shadows and doorways who turn out once to be human
On the ones who have to live with the memory of torture
On those who must die when the plaque angel flies
On the warlocks and gene splicers who would grope each others emptiness
On the hills of the mother world emptied of breath
On the 7 cooling towers of the cancer apocalypse
On the 7 billion dreaming souls
Come down healing
Musicians
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Vocal
Production
Produced by Bruce Cockburn
Recorded at Studio Comfort Sound, Toronto in 1995
Demo recording by Bruce Cockburn, previously unreleased.
Editors Note: 2022: Re-released on digital album Rarities
Lyrics transcribed by Bobbi Wisby with help - January 2023
Known comments by Bruce Cockburn about this song, by date:
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This page is part of The Cockburn Project, a unique website that exists to document the work of Canadian singer-songwriter and musician Bruce Cockburn. The Project archives self-commentary by Cockburn on his songs and music, and supplements this core part of the website with news, tour dates, and other current information.
