The Messenger at the Gate

[Intro | mist over a mountain graveyard | sub-bass drone | wind in bare trees | one distant church bell | no drums] [Kneading pulse | single deep shaman frame drum | slow strikes like hands pressing dough] [Chant | low male choir doubled an octave down | drone only underneath] CARRY IT OVER CARRY IT OVER [Verse 1 | deep half-spoken chant | bodhran enters softly with wooden tipper] At the gate the poor man waits hands open to the fog she gives him bread like crossing bones still warm from last night's fire [Chant | choir doubled an octave down | bodhran and frame drum hit together on each word] CARRY IT OVER bread for the living word for the dead CARRY IT OVER [Verse 2 | deep chant | drums denser | bowed lyre four-note motif enters low] White flour for her table dark flour for the gate even mercy had a colour even mercy knew its place [Verse 3 | half-spoken | drums drop to single slow frame drum strikes] Small grave by the wall half a year of breath she asks him for one prayer for the son she could not keep [Chant | full bodhran march returns | choir swells] CARRY IT OVER bread for the living word for the dead CARRY IT OVER [Stop | full silence for two seconds | no drone | no breath] [Ritual build | many bodhrans and deep shaman frame drums at full force | massive low choir | never shouted] Now a thousand lights are burning and no one at the gate glass and plastic in the morning memory sold by WEIGHT [Return | drums ease back | lyre rises an octave | warm open drone] Knead it, shape it, carry it out to the door next to yours ask her who she remembers let the story come back HOME [Outro | one last distant frame drum strike | choir hums low | drone opens warm and fades] An address on both ends an address on both ends [End]