Tom Fairnie

Lyrics

The Aleph (with acknowledgement to Jorge Luis Borges)

Heard my name in the pouring rain
Stood and watched it running down the drain
Held my breath on the Bridge of Sighs
Called an echo but it came back lies
Saw the marble on a step in Rome
The strangest things can take you back home
I lost my way in that blinding light
But I found my way to you tonight
Found my way to you tonight

I heard a prayer like a dog in pain
Swam a river in a desert plain
Stayed the night in a palace once
Stayed the night in a palace twice
Stayed the night in a Spanish town
Swam in the sea but I could not drown
Made the guest at a wedding feast
A bride in white and a bloody sheet
Played some cards one night in France
Learned to drink and how to take a chance
I lost my way in that blinding light
But I found my way to you tonight
Found my way to you tonight

Blood and water, tears and wine
Memories take more than time
They take the heart of yesterday
And friends and lovers fade away
But I wonder if they
Stay young in photographs
Stay young in old photographs

I’ve walked down roads walked by Saint Paul
The Virgin Mary and no one at all
Played guitar like a Rolling Stone
Been invited to an African throne
Saw a woman and a dying child there
Some of the past is so hard to bear
I lost my way in that blinding light
But I found my way to you tonight
Found my way to you tonight

Blood and water, tears and wine...

I’ve met the son of an African slave
Stood in silence at a soldiers grave
Saw the light die on a battlefield
Saw the truth where it was concealed
Held you close in a foreign bed
I made a promise but I never said
And the wisest man that I ever met
Said don’t remember what you can’t forget
Don’t remember what you can’t forget
Don’t remember what you can’t forget


© The Aleph music by Thomas Yule Fairnie, words by Thomas Yule Fairnie & Robert McGregor Shields March 2001