Echoes of an Irish Epitaph

 

Loss leaves heartaches no one can heal.

Love leaves memories no one can steal:

Comforting echoes of echoes of echoes...

Demo Recording

Score

I see your outline upon the hard rocky shore,

Before the waves roll in, roll in... 

I see your shadow beneath the cold silver moon,

Before the clouds glide in, glide in...

Now I keep you safe in my warm memories:

Within, within, within...

Comforting echoes of echoes of echoes...

Loss leaves heartaches no one can heal;

Love leaves memories no one can steal. 

жаль (Pity)

 

Death-chilled by the cold tears from grieving willows,

I shiver within a lake of sadness.

 

Soul-burnt by the fierce heat of unforgiving flames,

I writhe within a fire of madness.

Demo Recording

Score

 

Dreams of my brother float far above me,

Tracing ever-changing patterns of regret.

 

I search for my sister who lies far below,

But her gaze I begin to forget.

 

A rose scented songbird stole my brother away…

 

But, unknown, I returned as her lover.

 

Our ignorance was bliss on our wedding night,

But then fate the truth did uncover.

 

I was drowned;

 

I was burnt;

 

Our souls hid away:

Tormented and shunned by the world.

 

Then God took notice, paused fate, and took pity,

And a yellow blue flower unfurled.

I am the yellow of the sun;

 

I am the blue of the lake;

 

And once more the world grants us room.

 

I am Kostroma;

And I am Kupalo;

And together, as one, we bloom.

Nøkken Begynner

Striding, sliding, slipping down;

Groping for, grabbing at, grasping Hlin’s hand…

Then failing, flailing, falling through the frozen road;

Spinning and splaying, spiralling down Hel’s glistening mouth,

And feeling, fearing, feeding her ravenous cold:

Snap!

My frigid soul shifts sullenly over her river-boned depths,

And I suffer as her Shepherd of Sins.

Score

Demo Recording

Aadizookaan: the wind snake’s dance

 

Wind dancing through the hollow bone of an eagle’s wing:

Alone…

Score

Demo Recording

 

Wind dancing through the hollow bone of an eagle’s wing:

Searching…

 

Wind dancing through the hollow bone of an eagle’s wing:

Seeing you…

 

Wind dancing through the hollow bone of an eagle’s wing:

Beside you…

 

Wind dancing through the welcome hollow of your open ear:

Whispering…

 

Wind dancing through the sweet tasting flow of your thoughts and dreams:

Within you…

 

Wind dancing through your empty skull and hollow bones:

Alone…

 

Wind dancing through your empty skull and hollow bones:

Searching…

Ma Phae Wah

 

Killed in winter

By bitter hands:

Sister betrayed!

Careless laid: cursed.

I paid a price unfair – and the worst.

Score

Demo Recording

Then, gold leaf cast

On my vast pain

At last did ease

And then please me.

Burmese blessings sought me – made me free!

 

Now graves I guard,

But none barred rest;

The scarred or whole:

Each one’s toll paid.

Your soul will have a place – ready-made.

The ghost ship's last song

 

Rocking and dreaming, surrounded by sea;

Soon nothing left here: nothing of me.

Score

Demo Recording

The sea was wide and my journeys were long:

At first half remembered, now forgotten and gone.

 

Rocking and dreaming, surrounded by sea:

Soon nothing left here: nothing of me.

 

Brocken by wind and bleached by the sun:

Time’s hammers and pains could not be out run.

 

Rocking and dreaming, surrounded by sea;

Soon nothing left here: nothing of me.

 

My memories are mist cast out on the tide;

I have nowhere to go and nowhere to hide.

 

Rocking and dreaming, surrounded by sea;

Soon nothing left here: nothing of me.

 

I sleep now through the waves’ twilight glimmer,

As the dark depths below reach up ever nearer.

 

Rocking and dreaming, surrounded by sea:

Soon nothing left here: nothing of me.

 

The sea, in time, will swallow me whole,

And then, in time... 

Will reach for your soul…

 

Rocking and dreaming, surrounded by sea:

Soon nothing left here: nothing of me. 

Fuyu no Hōmon

 

Tree withering cold

Snow fingers tap my window:

Soft, soft, so softly;

I feel frost breath beside me…

Strangely welcome in the night.

 

Score

Demo Recording

                                       

In winter you come,

To stay with me in the dark:

Feeding on my warmth,

Sharing your seductive cold;

We entwine and slowly merge.

 

Skin withering cold

Lips finding and kissing me

Through the night softly;

I feel my hot life flowing

Toward your frost crusted heart;

 

Soul withering cold;

Your arms turn to freezing mists

That carry me up,

Up toward the aloof stars...

Where you and I disappear.  

Spot chases his tail! (Two and a half minutes of piano mayhem.)

Spot chases his tail!

Two and a half minutes of piano mayhem

Charles M. Lines 

Click here to listen!

On the day of the total eclipse "Flying to Venus" gets its first play through

 So, Flying to Venus, my piece for concert wind band, gets its first play through...

St Alban's Concert Band will be giving the piece its first performance on the 20th July this year...

The piece is a tone poem that describes a mission to the planet Venus: the spaceship, the crew, and their adventures and teamwork along the way.

I think me and the band are going to enjoy our own adventures and teamwork as we work on the piece over the coming months. 

I

 

Flying to Venus Demo Recording