Lyrics - The Old Ones

THE OLD ONES LYRICS

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album: “The Raven“ (2004)

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1. The Old Ones

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: Black Pharaoh )

The beginning of a journey - a piece of news in itself
Listen man and you will understand why
One is in three and two are in four
Listen to this voice - to singing - listen they know

Ref.: They will come from where they´ve already come from
And they will have their seats
Where they´ve had their seats before

Look at my star and keep an eye on your soul
Step out of the secret circle and come among us
Don´t be afraid of what they will say
Nothing has begun and everything has done

Listen you - who have your seat
Beyond space and time
Kingdom without limits where
A triple golden star is shining
There is the true and endless
Kingdom of The Old Ones
Their eternal home is situated there
It is our joy and the new world which is to come

In ice temples forgotten by time - marble table
Which is put on a secred altar - fires of love are burning
And you will know them when everything is done
The eye of our God is floating through the sky in its boat

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2. Nameless City

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: Black Pharaoh )

In the middle of the desert heat
I saw from distance
An age-old mystery
Made of time - honoured stones
Of the oldest pyramides
Protrude above the sand
In the moon light
Invisible aura

Ref.: "That is not dead which can eternal lie,
and with strange aeons even death may die."

H.P.Lovecraft

I waited for hours
In front of the mysterious sanctuaries
Till the East got grey
And the stars got pale
My ears were ringing
And time already ceased to exist
When I found the symbols
In paintings on the walls

Thoughts in my head were in a whirl
And the words of Arabic prophets
As if blew away across the desert
Towards the city without name

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3. Funeral Song

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: E.A. Poe )

Ah, broken is the golden bowl! –
the spirit flown forever!
Let the bell toll! – a saintly soul floats
on the Stygian river: -

And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear? –
weep now or never more!
See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies
thy love, Lenore!

Ref.: Come, let the burial rite be read-
the funeral song be sung!
An anthem for the queenliest dead that
ever died so young.

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4. To Pan

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: H.P. Lovecraft )

Seated in a woodland glen
By a shallow stream
Once I fell a - musing, when
I was lull´d into a dream.

Ref.: From the brook a shape arose
Half a man and half a goat,
Hoofs it had instead of toes
And a beard adorn´d its throat.

On a set of rustic reeds
Sweetly play'd this hybrid man
Naught car'd I for earthly needs,
For I knew that this was Pan.

Nymphs and Satyrs gather'd round
To enjoy the lively sound.

All to soon I woke in pain
And return'd to haunts of men
But in rural vales I'd fain
Live and hear Pan´s pipes again.

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5. Alone

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: E.A. Poe )

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf - tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand -

How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
How few! yet how they creep
While I weep – while I weep!

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.

From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.

Ref: When the rest of Heaven was blue
Of a demon in my view.

Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life - was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:

From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold.

From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form.

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6. Eulalie

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: E.A. Poe )

I dwelt alone
In a world of moan,
And my soul was a stagnant tide,

Ref.: … Eulalie became my blushing bride –
… Eulalie became my smiling bride.

Ah, less – less bright
The stars of the night
Than the eyes of the radiant girl!
And never a flake
That the vapour can make
With the moon-tints of purple and pearl,

Now Doubt – now Pain
Come never again,
For her soul gives me sigh for sigh,
And all day long
Shines, bright and strong,
Astarté within the sky.

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7. The Raven

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: E.A. Poe )

"Take thy beak from out my heart,
and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore!"

And the Raven, never flitting,
still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas
just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming
of a demon´s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o´er him streaming
throws his shadow on the floor;

Ref.: "Nevermore!"

And my soul from out that shadow
that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore!

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single: “Rise!“ (2006)

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Rise!

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: George G. Byron )

MANFRED. Rise! appear!

MANFRED. Ye spirits of the unbounded Universe,
Whom I have sought in darkness and in light!
Ye, who do compass earth about, and dwell
In subtler essence! ye, to whom the tops
Of mountains inaccessible are haunts,
And earth's and ocean's caves familiar things -
I call upon ye by the written charm
Which gives me power upon you - Rise! appear!

A pause.

MANFRED. If it be so. - Spirits of earth and air,
Ye shall not thus elude me: by a power,
Deeper than all yet urged, a tyrant-spell,
Which had its birthplace in a star condemn'd,
The burning wreck of a demolish'd world,
A wandering hell in the eternal space;
By the strong curse which is upon my soul,
I do compel ye to my will.

A pause.

MANFRED. They come not yet. - Now by the voice of him
Who is the first among you; by this sign,
Which makes you tremble; by the claims of him
Who is undying, - Rise! appear!

A pause.

MANFRED. Powers, passions, all I see in other beings,
Have been to me as rain unto the sands,
Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes
Or lurking love of something on the earth.
Now to my task.

MANFRED. Rise! appear!
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single: “Spirits!“ (2006)

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Spirits

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: George G. Byron )

A star is seen at the darker end of the gallery: it is
stationary; and a voice is heard singing.

FIRST SPIRIT.

Mortal! to thy bidding bow'd,
From my mansion in the cloud,
Which the breath of twilight builds,
And the summer's sunset gilds
With the azure and vermilion
Which is mix'd for my pavilion;
Though thy quest may be forbidden,
On a star-beam I have ridden,

Voice of the SECOND SPIRIT.

In the blue depth of the waters,
Where the wave hath no strife,
Where the wind is a stranger
And the sea-snake hath life,
Where the Mermaid is decking
Her green hair with shells;
Like the storm on the surface
Came the sound of thy spells;

SPIRITS.

Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star,
Are at thy beck and bidding, Child of Clay!
Before thee at thy quest their spirits are -
What wouldst thou with us, son of mortals - say?

MANFRED. Forgetfulness -

FIRST SPIRIT. Of what - of whom - and why?

MANFRED. Of that which is within me; read it there -
Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

MANFRED. Forgetfulness -

FIRST SPIRIT. Of what - of whom - and why?

MANFRED. Of that which is within me; read it there -
Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

SPIRITS.

Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star,
Are at thy beck and bidding, Child of Clay!
Before thee at thy quest their spirits are -
What wouldst thou with us, son of mortals - say?

MANFRED. Forgetfulness -

FIRST SPIRIT. Of what - of whom - and why?

MANFRED. Of that which is within me; read it there -
Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

MANFRED. Forgetfulness -

FIRST SPIRIT. Of what - of whom - and why?

MANFRED. Of that which is within me; read it there -
Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

SECOND SPIRIT. It is not in our essence, in our skill;
But - thou mayst die.

A voice is heard in the Incantation which follows.

And a magic voice and verse
Hath baptized thee with a curse;
And a spirit of the air
Hath begirt thee with a snare;
In the wind there is a voice
Shall forbid thee to rejoice;
And to thee shall Night deny
All the quiet of her sky;

SPIRITS.

Though thy slumber may be deep,
Yet thy spirit shall not sleep;
There are shades which will not vanish,
There are thoughts thou canst not banish;
By a power to thee unknown,
Thou canst never be alone;
Thou art wrapt as with a shroud,
Thou art gather'd in a cloud;
And forever shalt thou dwell
In the spirit of this spell.

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album: "Manfred" (2006)

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MANFRED

A DRAMATIC POEM

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: George G. Byron )

'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

MANFRED, SPIRITS, ARIMANES and PHANTOM OF ASTARTE

The scene of the Drama is in the Castle of Manfred, partly in the Mountains, and partly in the Underworld.

SCENE I
MANFRED alone. - Scene, a Gothic Gallery. - Time, Midnight.

1. In The Gallery

MANFRED. The lamp must be replenish'd, but even then
It will not burn so long as I must watch.
My slumbers - if I slumber - are not sleep,
But a continuance of enduring thought,
Which then I can resist not: in my heart
There is a vigil, and these eyes but close
To look within; and yet I live, and bear
The aspect and the form of breathing men.
But grief should be the instructor of the wise;
Sorrow is knowledge:
Now to my task.-

MANFRED. Mysterious Agency!

2. Rise!

MANFRED. Rise! appear!

A pause.

MANFRED. They come not yet. - Now by the voice of him
Who is the first among you; by this sign,
Which makes you tremble; by the claims of him
Who is undying, - Rise! appear!

A pause.

MANFRED. Rise! appear!

3. Spirits

A star is seen at the darker end of the gallery: it is
stationary; and a voice is heard singing.

FIRST SPIRIT.

Voice of the SECOND SPIRIT.

SPIRITS.

Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star,
Are at thy beck and bidding, Child of Clay!
Before thee at thy quest their spirits are -
What wouldst thou with us, son of mortals - say?

MANFRED. Forgetfulness -

FIRST SPIRIT. Of what - of whom - and why?

MANFRED. Of that which is within me; read it there -
Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

MANFRED. Forgetfulness -

FIRST SPIRIT. Of what - of whom - and why?

MANFRED. Of that which is within me; read it there -
Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

SPIRITS.

Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star,
Are at thy beck and bidding, Child of Clay!
Before thee at thy quest their spirits are -
What wouldst thou with us, son of mortals - say?

MANFRED. Forgetfulness -

FIRST SPIRIT. Of what - of whom - and why?

MANFRED. Of that which is within me; read it there -
Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

MANFRED. Forgetfulness -

FIRST SPIRIT. Of what - of whom - and why?

MANFRED. Of that which is within me; read it there -
Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

SECOND SPIRIT. It is not in our essence, in our skill;
But - thou mayst die.

A voice is heard in the Incantation which follows.

SPIRITS.

SCENE II
The Mountain of the Jungfrau. - Time, Morning. -
MANFRED alone upon the Cliffs.

4. Alone In The Mountains

MANFRED. The spirits I have raised abandon me,
The spells which I have studied baffled me,
The remedy I reck'd of tortured me;
I lean no more on super-human aid,
It hath no power upon the past, and for
The future, till the past be gulf'd in darkness,
It is not of my search.

MANFRED. My mother Earth!
And thou fresh breaking Day, and you, ye Mountains,
Why are ye beautiful? I cannot love ye.
And thou, the bright eye of the universe
That openest over all, and unto all
Art a delight - thou shin'st not on my heart.

MANFRED. In dizziness of distance; when a leap,
A stir, a motion, even a breath, would bring
My breast upon its rocky bosom's bed
To rest forever - wherefore do I pause?
I feel the impulse - yet I do not plunge;
I see the peril - yet do not recede;
And my brain reels - and yet my foot is firm.

MANFRED. There is a power upon me which withholds,
And makes it my fatality to live;
If it be life to wear within myself
This barrenness of spirit, and to be
My own soul's sepulchre, for I have ceased
To justify my deeds unto myself -
The last infirmity of evil.

SCENE III
The Hall of ARIMANES. –
ARIMANES on his Throne, a Globe of Fire, surrounded by the SPIRITS.

5. Hall Of The Astral King

Hymn of the SPIRITS.

Hail to our Master! - Prince of Earth and Air! -
Who walks the clouds and waters - in his hand
The sceptre of the elements, which tear
Themselves to chaos at his high command!
He breatheth - and a tempest shakes the sea;
He speaketh - and the clouds reply in thunder;
He gazeth - from his glance the sunbeams flee;
He moveth - earthquakes rend the world asunder.
Beneath his footsteps the volcanoes rise;
His shadow is the Pestilence; his path
The comets herald through the crackling skies;
And planets turn to ashes at his wrath.
To him War offers daily sacrifice;
To him Death pays his tribute; Life is his,
With all its infinite of agonies -
And his the spirit of whatever is!

Enter MANFRED.

A SPIRIT. What is here?
A mortal! - Bow down and worship!

SECOND SPIRIT. I do know the man -
A Magian of great power, and fearful skill!

MANFRED. I know it;
And yet ye see I kneel not.

ARIMANES. What wouldst thou?

MANFRED. Call up the dead – call up the dead.

MANFRED. One without a tomb - call up Astarte.

The Phantom of ASTARTE rises and stands in the midst.

PHANTOM OF ASTARTE. Manfred!

MANFRED. Say on, -
I live but in the sound - it is thy voice!

PHANTOM OF ASTARTE. Manfred! To-morrow ends thine earthly ills.
Farewell!

MANFRED. Am I forgiven?

PHANTOM OF ASTARTE. Farewell!

MANFRED. Say, shall we meet again?

PHANTOM OF ASTARTE. Farewell!

MANFRED. One word for mercy! Say, thou lovest me.

PHANTOM OF ASTARTE. Manfred!

The Spirit of ASTARTE departs.

SCENE I
MANFRED alone. - Scene, a Gothic Gallery. - Time, Midnight.

6. I Remember

MANFRED. I remember!

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single: “The Footprints In The Snow“ (2008)

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The Footprints In The Snow

( Music: Black Pharaoh / Lyrics: Black Pharaoh )

I ride a horse, alone,
through a desert landscape,
on a gloomy autumn day,
and the moon hung low in the sky.

I saw my father´s house in the distance,
surrounded by a strange atmosphere,
a black swamp touching it closely,
and nebulous warrying ghosts.

Chorus:

The mystery I couldn´t solve,
was the letter I´d get from him,
and when my eyes fall to the ground,
I suddenly saw the footprints in the snow.

I found him in his room, alone
the paleness of his skin was appalling,
a paralysed slave of an untold horror,
„I´m gonna die,“ he said, „I´ve gotta die.“

„Sooner or later the moment will come,
when together with my reason I´ll lose my life,
fighting againts that mercilles ghost,
ominous whispers in the darkness.“

„Can´t you her that? – I´ve heard it for many days,
it comes from the forest down at the lake,
Where can I escape? Won´t it come back?
oh, woe is me, poor human being!“

Chorus:

The mystery I couldn´t solve,
was the letter I´d get from him,
and when my eyes fall to the ground,
I suddenly saw the footprints in the snow.

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