1. |
mile one
04:56
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early morning, 5 a.m., sky bereft of light
instinct is telling my body to rise & i try with all my might
gravity & apathy weighs this old body down
decades of years & too many tears make me feel every pound
and if there's many more days to face
i pray that won't always be the case
until that long walk is complete
the journey begins beneath these feet
a dreg in the shower at this early hour, there's something quite awry
i want to seethe with anger- but all i can do is cry
i remember when each new day was a gift; potential was my middle name
but time slipped by & i now know why i've no one but myself to blame
tomorrow might bring a smile to my face
and i pray that just might be the case
it could bring either rapture or defeat
and the journey begins beneath these feet
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2. |
magnetic stripe down
03:32
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magnetic stripe down, the cruelest of vice
equalizer of both men & mice i'm told
the toil it licks my skin & the hunger grows deeper within
trigger the clock to mark me at bay
ready to lose my life in r'echauffe
the cancer in me grows as money comes and money goes
tarring my lungs blacker by the hour, the thirst for life is lost to power
they pull my strings if to cease my dream- just to make me a cogwheel in their machine
magnetic stripe down, i'm taught to lose
just another white soul taught to sing the blues
in five part timbre match- and yet there's still this itch to scratch
defiling my sense of right & wrong
imbued into this dissonant song
enslaved ever by the wage- and yet this bird croons in its cage
tarring my lungs blacker by the hour, the thirst for life is lost to power
they pull my strings if to cease my dream- just to make me a cogwheel in their machine
magnetic stripe down, you've stolen my will
like a jesus hidden in the dollar bill
their faces stern on the wrinkled green- my hunger fed, their slates wiped clean
coin of the realm is my faceless muse
she brings me debasement & self-abuse
of self-control i am bereft; my hunger all that i have left
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3. |
O2
03:38
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daylight fades away as the violent night descends
restless in my skin, no sleep tonight- i torch the candle at both ends
will i ride on white horses or trip fantastic light?
cannot place a wager, anything goes- all bets are off tonight
it's time to breathe
severing the tendrils to this idiosyncratic routine
running off the fumes that's left inside this 80 proof powered machine
140 beats per minute, the fierce rhythm's alive; the universe in motion to these senses five
and it's not getting any slower until this wretched body dies
it's time to breathe
losing all my logic, the soul begins to posit when the air comes rushing in
instinct is the rule and nothing's left to school me but this flow of oxygen
substance & libido is all it seems that we know but as much as i want to leave
the addiction's taken hold, the future has been sold- and all there's left to do is breathe
it's time to breathe
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4. |
emoticon
04:50
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i hear your breath upon the wireless stream, a lost sheep inside my android's dream
obscured behind lines that oft mislead, i play the game that i cannot concede
hunting you behind a friendly guise- my voice in font, my image pixelized
in this place where no one hears you shout i'll turn your very life inside out
your false emotion burns inside for the stranger in whom you confide
all you think is real
you're playing right into my hand following my wanton demand
in control behind the wheel- close your mind and show me how you feel
the game goes on you hang upon my words- hypnotized by my digital curse
in this place the pain begins to soothe; too far gone to ever know the truth
ensnared you grow into my white lies, months shall pass until you realize
you're but a pawn in a perverse game of chance; manipulated into a romance
your false emotion burns inside for the stranger in whom you confide
all you think is real
you're playing right into my hand following my wanton demand
in control behind the wheel- close your mind and show me how you feel
night after night i find new prey to hang onto all that i say
too much suffering for which i can't atone; i'm condemned to spend my many days alone...
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5. |
beautiful
11:03
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immaculately weak, this blueprint for decay
etched in the setting sun of this my darkest day
impeccably flawed- enslaving all in my eyes
to lifting this fractured mass; immense in alll its lies
monumental and divine- a legend inside my own mind
a visage no one cares to see
erected on fragile ground, its foundation sinking down
into the earth's great cavity
i can be beautiful to no one else but me
breathtakingly dessicated, features worn into mar
a blight upon the skyline- an unsutured living scar
painstakingly imperfect, a wretched ode to hate
infectious in all its meaning- its message always to perpetuate
monumental and divine- a legend inside my own mind
a visage no one cares to see
erected on fragile ground, its foundation sinking down
into the earth's great cavity
i can be beautiful to no one else but me
the only hope there's left to pray is that the earth will give way- abandoning me in the dark
that there is no evidence of this being bereft of sense- that there is no discerned mark
forgotten in the void of time to leave a changed world sublime, free from my vitrolic sin
perhaps then i can repent beneath the cleansing sediment- i can mindfully begin again....
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6. |
emancip8
05:46
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i look toward the eastern sun, illuminating a mind trapped in things both great & small
this new dawn ever radiant, illustrating the pride that came before the fall
and it might take time to notice the jewel inside the lotus
that in all things the dharma permeates
that our pain can be abated, our inner peace created
that love is now, and transcension awaits...
in broader strokes of selfless thought, the insight manifests that all roads lead to here
an ego anchored me to trappings i did not need; that illusion defined my world for many years
and it might take time to notice the jewel inside the lotus
that in all things the dharma permeates
that our pain can be abated, our inner peace created
that love is now, and transcension awaits...
emancipate me from bondage, let these fetters cease to be
let all this conscious consumed dispel the myth that once was me
aware of all things in a nowness provident
a nature once lay dormant now rises sentient
and it might take time to notice the jewel inside the lotus
that in all things the dharma permeates
that our pain can be abated, our inner peace created
that love is now, and transcension awaits...
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7. |
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8. |
hello cruel world
04:50
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hello cruel world i now can see your colors true
i see them white red black & blue & every hue in between
they spin the ancient yarn of things oft meant to disarm me
when those charming chromas lose their sheen
hello cruel i now can see through your white lies
demanding that i compromise all i've apprised in my mind
you'd prefer i lose sight of that which makes me erudite
the inner light until i'm stricken blind
and when the blue sky bleeds to gray, my inner sun will light the way
and though adversity reigns king, one can find truth in everything
our daily lives may seem unfair, with crosses too ponderous to bear
through eyes of equanimity- this cruel world sits right with me
hello cruel world i see you want to tear me down
to make me fall & break my crown & drown me in seas of travail
you seem to overlook the fact that i did write the book
on what it took to hold my breath til pale
hello cruel world your story's got too many holes
too much science & miracles- tries to console me but it fails
you think i'd want to buy all your conjectured alibis
oh my how that ship has since sailed...
and when the blue sky bleeds to gray, my inner sun will light the way
and though adversity reigns king, one can find truth in everything
our daily lives may seem unfair, with crosses too ponderous to bear
through eyes of equanimity- this cruel world sits right with me
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9. |
> i (dada in motion)
03:00
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the complication has grown from roots inside
many idiosyncracies greet me with arms open wide
between us all a suchness; a refuge from the commotion
tranquility defined- dada in motion
tune out the dischord that bleeds our souls dry
join the aggregation- become greater than i
a simian hand grasps tightly onto thoughts in a cascade
breathe in the air & watch the distress fade
finally you've found the source of all devotion
the stillness ever moving- dada in motion
tune out the dischord that bleeds our souls dry
join the aggregation- become greater than i
om ma hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
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10. |
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the road to hell paved with good intention
straight up this back and through these eyes
there's nothing left but for you to question
are these the truths left when doubt dies?
making light of the grounds of your conviction
fraught with rabbit holes that go nowhere
they hold no anchor to your selfless benediction
there is no refuge for your despair
and where's the void whence comes this voice?
that blights the righteousness of choice
what begs this human to become apostate
what brings on this suffering- what brings on this hate?
undermined over matter
trapped inside this oubliette of matter
your focused vision blurred beyond the pale
without direction your thoughts start to scatter
undermined to no avail
the seeds of doubt are sewn behind your eyes
in the fertilest of lands
your mindful nature is paralyzed
your resolve yields to my demands
and where's the void whence comes this voice?
that blights the righteousness of choice
what begs this human to become apostate
what brings on this suffering- that fills me full of hate?
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11. |
the five shackles
04:41
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mine eyes are a mother nursing its delicate stillborn
my tongue is a dead rose which shall never lose its thorn
my voice resonating in a key that none can hear
my flesh & bones decaying after all these myriad years
the lies forgotten by a vision deceptive
aftertaste washed away by the hope it couldn't give
scent of pungence tangled with a desperate cry
arms feel outward towards an unsympathetic sky
in the hallowed bereft i see no blinding dull
no cacophonic outburst, no abrasion tangible
pheremone a memory, fierce hunger never found
no five shackles left to hold my conscious down
when the passage of time swells shut i'll return to the earth from whence i came
to be the breath of life into all things that will echo my name
as corruption disintegrates, revealed is the lusted key
the shackles shall be open, and my soul will understand what it means to be free...
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12. |
i am the chain
03:53
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seen so many things behind these eyes
so far i've traveled yet a stone's throw from paradise
just want different windows to see things though
the one perspective i'm missing is that from you
hearing riddles and speaking in tongues- feeling everything coming undone
those restless days and hours serene- all fallacies witness in this machine
just a body to pilot, a pound of flesh- seems quite the bargain but there is a catch
know the boundaries of that which constrains- the senses are my shackles, but i am the chain!
i only see things that break & decay
so connected and yet so far away
jaded past reason since we started this game
when this all began we thought exactly the same!
hearing riddles and speaking in tongues- feeling everything coming undone
those restless days and hours serene- all fallacies witness in this machine
just a body to pilot, a pound of flesh- seems quite the bargain but there is a catch
know the boundaries of that which constrains- the senses are my shackles, but i am the chain!
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Dharmata 101 Baltimore, Maryland
Dharmata 101 was formed in 1997 by frontman/composer JSun Bruner, after dissolving his prior project- which was a psychedelic folk project involving programmed rhythms called Mellow No. 5. The project was originally put together as a large deviation from the sappy, light-hearted work of Mellow No. 5 in the interest of making more lyric-driven music. ... more
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