“Not the Part, Not the Whole” Verse 1 I believed I was a fragment, some derivative, a start Held a distant, non-existent whole and worshipped it apart Every mirror, every metaphor convinced me I was small Told a story ‘bout a bigger glory I could never call But the seeking and the sacred and the sought were all a play There’s no wholeness way out yonder — it was never far away Pre-Chorus (vocal run — slow, suspended “ohh-eee-ohh” hover, weightless and deliberate) Undissolving, all-revolving Ohh-eee-ohh — the dream was always here CHORUS I’m not the part of the whole, I’m the whole as the part Not the finite, not the infinite — I’m the source of the start Always whole and never hollow, never broken, never small There’s no whole that I’m a fraction of — I’m the one and I’m the all There is nothing but this knowing, playing dress-up in a name I’m not a piece of the puzzle — I’m the hand that plays the game Verse 2 Thought the frame was bigger, grander, than the picture that I made Thought the painter was a phantom and the canvas was the shade But the dreamer never wandered from the dreaming to the real There’s no eye behind the seeing, there’s no distance to conceal Every fracture, every failure was the wholeness incognito Wearing time to taste the story, wearing shadow just to see so Pre-Chorus (repeat) CHORUS (repeat) BRIDGE (dense multi-syllable rhyme chains — witty, compressed argument) Unfractioned and unfractured, I’m undoctored, I’m undressed Undivided, uninvited guest that never was a guest Not a mirror, not a metaphor, not fallen, not a mess Just the wholeness wearing distance like a self-inflicted test The witness and the wondering and the wandering, confessed There’s no journey, there’s no other — I’m the answer to my quest (ad-lib break: “ohh-eee-ohh-way-ohh, ah-way-eee-ohh-way”) Final Chorus (harmony stack, key lift, last line doubled) I’m not the part of the whole, I’m the whole as the part Not the finite, not the infinite — I’m the source of the start Always whole and never hollow, never broken, never small There’s no whole that I’m a fraction of — I’m the one and I’m the all (I’m the all) There is nothing but this knowing, playing dress-up in a name I’m not a piece of the puzzle — I’m the hand that plays the game Outro (single voice, pre-chorus hover returning slower, then silence instead of a final note) No part… no whole… just this… just… home…
