'Rise' Lyrics

  • Dance The Moment
    Hard white rock, cliff and stone
    Rivers far below
    Here we build our final home
    Where the south winds blow

    Still the lizard 'neath the sun
    Magic are the days
    Here us brothers breathe as one
    In our simple ways

    Lord, Lord, we live for you
    Beneath the heaven's eye
    Sword, our sword, we give to you
    In castles we build in the sky

    Rome will send her fighting men
    To where the south winds blow
    March along the gorge and then
    The rivers far below

    With banners, crosses, axes, drums
    They storm our sacred hill
    But as the final moment comes
    Our hearts are strong and still

    'Cos Lord, Lord, we live for you
    Beneath the heaven's eye
    Sword, our sword, we give to you
    In castles we build in the sky

    Lord, Lord, we'll die for you
    Beneath the heaven's eye
    Our sword, sword, raised high for you
    In castles we build in the sky
    In dreams that we carve in the sky
    In castles that we build in the sky

    Hard white rock, cliff and stone
    Rivers far below
    Here we build our final home
    Where the south winds blow
  • Castles in the Sky
    When the moon dips her fingers into your bloodstream
    Paints your name on a windy sky
    When the moon dips her fingers with every moon beam
    Warms your heart with a haunting cry

    See she flies through the night as a ghostly rider
    Silver bright as the branches sway
    Time to rise, leave your pillow, and leave them snoring
    Lift the latch, and slip away

    Feel the magic, dance the moment, feel the magic curl
    Feel the magic, dance the moment, go dancing with her world

    Speak the trees, ‘here we sway with the old religion
    Pagan dreamers beneath the hill’
    Speak the trees, ‘thousand years of our love behind us
    Here you find us dancing still’

    Feel the night, live and breathe in the old tradition
    Ancient song lines that never die
    Feel the night, take your hand to the endless circle
    Silver bright as the spirits rise

    Feel the magic, dance the moment, feel the magic curl
    Feel the magic, dance the moment, go dancing with her world
  • Sleeping Rough
    Leave me alone, I'm already dead
    The moor's my home, the grass my bed

    Leave me alone, I can take the rain
    The moor's my home, it keeps me sane
    So don't be waking me again!

    I don't want the dole, or an easy night inside
    Darkness is a hole where I hide

    I've got no name, just a weary face
    You'd be the same in my place

    I got my coat, I got my shoes
    Now there's nothing left for me to lose
    When winter’s here the frost will lay with me
    And one day take me to eternity
    One day lead me to eternity

    Some nights 'neath the skies stars are every where
    But when I close my eyes there's no one there

    Take away your dreams, give up your disguise
    I can see my shadow in your eyes

    Many moons ago the man was just a child
    Then he grew to knew a world so wild

    I got my coat, I got my shoes
    Now there's nothing left for me to lose
    When winter’s here the frost will lay with me
    And one day take me to eternity
    One day lead me to eternity

    Leave me alone, I can take the rain
    The moor’s my home, it keeps me sane

    Leave me alone, I'm already dead
    The moor’s my home, the grass my bed
    Leave me alone inside my head
  • King of the River
    I am the King of the river
    My crown milky white, spinning round
    My throne peaty brown from the earth

    Caught by the watery magic
    Centuries of time spinning by
    My dreams peaty brown from the earth

    I feel life and death flowing through me
    To ocean from spring I will ride
    And I will return to the earth

    ‘Cos I am the King of the river
    My crown milky white, spinning round
    My throne peaty brown from the earth
    From the earth

    I am the King of the river
    My crown milky white, spinning round
    My dreams peaty brown from the earth
    From the earth
  • How can I compare thee?
    How can I compare thee to a summer's day?
    Thou art more lovely in every way

    How can I behold thee 'neath the heaven's eye
    When raven dark beauty shines more bright?

    Thy eternal summer shall never fade or die
    Nor shall death brag he shadows your light

    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see
    So long lives this and this gives thee life, this gives life to thee

    When the swallow's sleeping and heaven's lamps are clear
    Thee to my pillow will lay your day

    How can I caress thee without a secret tear?
    So deep is my burning in every way

    When the lark is calling, the rising dawn is near
    Then will thy starlight stir the day

    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see
    So long lives this and this gives thee life, this gives life to thee
    So long as men can breathe this gives life to thee

    How can I compare thee to a summer's day?
    Thou art more lovely in every way
  • Past Lives
    I was once a simple soldier fighting someone else's war
    I was just a cheeky farmer's girl serving in the kitchens of the lord
    I can still recall that day we met, my hair was wet from the lane
    Standing in the doorway in your uniform, with a smile so warm from the rain

    Don't you die on me
    Don't you leave me
    Don't you die on me

    I was once a simple soldier and I never got to use my sword
    I was taken by surprise on a bloody field, lost in someone else's war

    See you across the centuries
    Love you in a different time
    Live for the day when both of us can say, ‘my love now you are mine’

    I was an Egyptian tailor sewing pretty clothes in my room
    I was once the Pharaoh's sailor moving quarry stones for the tomb
    I can still recall that day on the Nile, for many a mile of blue skies
    Deeply in love we played and kissed, and sadly missed the waters rise

    The water's pulling me
    The boat is turning
    The water's pulling me

    I was once the Pharaoh's sailor and I should have known the currents and the sands
    I would give my life to save her, but she slipped away from my hands

    See you across the centuries
    Love you in a different time
    Live for the day when both of us can say, ‘my love now you are mine’

    I'm working as a textile printer in a noisy bright office in the town
    Me, I'm just a pizza delivery man, but least I get to travel around
    Here we are passing one day on the stair, we just turn and stare, and we say
    ‘Well, don't I know you…I feel so sure…from a river or a war far away?’

    Was I once a simple soldier?
    Was I once a girl in the rain?
    Can we meet tonight to talk it over?
    And the magic can flow once again

    See you across the centuries
    Love you in a different time
    Live for today
    Now both of us can say, ‘my love now you are mine’

    Yes I was a simple soldier
    Yes I was a girl in the rain
    But our spirits are wiser and older now
    So the magic can flow once again…once again…once again
  • Osney Town
    Thank you for your happy note, glad to hear that you're still sane
    Nice to know that you rise at dawn picking mushrooms in the rain
    Good to know that your gypsy boy is with you when you wake
    And your eyes hold reflections of the moon on the lake

    Good to know you're travelling far, dancing with the distant clouds
    Ancient symbols in the stars took you from the city crowds
    And as you weave your Wicca spell to catch the morning dew
    The sky will kiss the ocean and sing a prayer for you

    And when the waters sweep the bridge
    And the old oak tree comes tumbling down
    Then bring your love to Osney Town

    And, if winter brings you here, meet me where the water meadow ends
    Take my hand and hold me near, we walk in time and you say we're friends

    But as you talk the fields are burning and a thousand ravens rise
    And the wind will strike the mountain at the twinkling of your eye

    And when the waters sweep the bridge
    And the old oak tree comes tumbling down
    Then bring your love to Osney Town
  • God, where are you?
    I was baking Monday's bread when the soldiers took the town
    By Tuesday night my boy lay dead and the tanks were all around
    So we left, so we walk, never turn, never talk
    We lost neighbours, we lost friends, in a war that never ends

    God, where are you?
    Take my hand
    Here I'm walking in your land

    By Thursday we were caught in snow with heavy hearts and loads
    Mountains high, spirits low, on unknown muddy roads
    Saw a soldier kill a man, held a dead girl in my hands
    We lost neighbours, we lost friends, in a war that never ends

    God, where are you?
    Won't you take my hand
    Here I'm walking in your land

    Winter passed, summer came, in fear we travelled east
    Through our country with no name, still no word of peace
    Mountains high and sky so blue, never once we saw the view
    We just ask, tell us true, ‘Oh Lord God, where are you?’

    God, where are you?
    Won't you take my hand
    Here I'm walking in your land
  • Rise, Sister, Rise
    I was baking Monday's bread when the soldiers took the town
    By Tuesday night my boy lay dead and the tanks were all around
    So we left, so we walk, never turn, never talk
    We lost neighbours, we lost friends, in a war that never ends

    God, where are you?
    Take my hand
    Here I'm walking in your land

    By Thursday we were caught in snow with heavy hearts and loads
    Mountains high, spirits low, on unknown muddy roads
    Saw a soldier kill a man, held a dead girl in my hands
    We lost neighbours, we lost friends, in a war that never ends

    God, where are you?
    Won't you take my hand
    Here I'm walking in your land

    Winter passed, summer came, in fear we travelled east
    Through our country with no name, still no word of peace
    Mountains high and sky so blue, never once we saw the view
    We just ask, tell us true, ‘Oh Lord God, where are you?’

    God, where are you?
    Won't you take my hand
    Here I'm walking in your land
All music & lyrics written by Steve Skinner ©2014
All songs written by Steve Skinner
© 2014
Stacks Image 3125