THEATRE OF TRAGEDY
Theatre Of Tragedy
©1995
Massacre Records
«Behold a jocund morn indeed! -
«Sun on high - birds in sky.
Yonder the whist firth eathing,
Fro where a gale erranteth .»
«Ye beholdest but the shadow. «That is a lie!
Mayhap a tithe of trothplight - I deem - Lief I am not!
E'er and anon!» My words are but a twist.»
«'Tis a feignéd lie through loathing, I say!»
«To and fro, save hither, is thy love.»
«A dotard gaffer, I daresay...»
«Not a loth, but vying for my kinsmen.»
«...a sapling not!»
«Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical!
Dove-featheréd raven! Wolvish-ravening lamb!
A hamlet for a slothful vassal -
Soothing ale for a parchéd sot.
Hie to tell me what ye judgest as naught;
I behold the shadow!»
«Wherefore call me such names;
Nay imp am I!
Thou art my aghast hart -
Grassing in the glade.»
«E'er thou sayest aye! «That is a lie!
Thief of a plot! Lief I am not!
Now go to thy tryst! My words are but a twist.
Go, leave, totter! - Fare well! - with joy I came,
Until ye dwindlest. With rue I leave.
A morsel, nay more, Even the orb cannot
For thy journey Help me melt the ice?!»
Hither and thither!»
Cheerful Dirge
Play by Raymond, Music by Theatre of Tragedy
«Hap mirthfulness! - O! joy of grand riddance;
Undress me my hauberk! - the wyvern hath errant'd.»
«Ire of yore - bard of e'eryears -
I deem the brood hath wan'd - fore'ermore?!»
«Fro the chasm of the bosom, bale I hand back.
Hark! my dove - henceforth I bulwark thee! -
Feathers of swans in my pillow - I cede my heart.
Make haste! - I pray - respond my plea!»
«Lo! - a sire of great awe - a knight of many battles!»
«...And of kinsmen weeping for the slain!»
«Please! - heed my words:
In thy sorrow I will kiss thy tears -
In thy bliss I will take thee by thy hand -
The sapor of grapes thou shalt savor -
And harken the nightingale sing oh so blithely!»
«On his knees...A plea to harvest roses;
No heed for the thorns yon count!
Wherefore vow me?
Wherefore this gildéd proffer?
Wherefore not pay court to a maid more fair? -
Morn of a joyous day! Flower 'twixt weed!
Fertile desert! Cheerful dirge!
Misery me not! - man nor beast; envy me;
Lest 'tis an act of wont!
Many are the drapes that my past bury -
Ineffable feeling indulgeth in battles!»
«'Tisn't what thou vambrace'st thy words with!!!;
I bethink dotingly only thy weal. «Forgive me for deeming thee direfully -
Therein abiding with thee Yet I was a trifle daunt'd.»
Is for me the grandest boon!»
To these Words I beheld no Tongue
Soliloquy by Raymond, Music by Theatre of Tragedy
Whether the thronéd Monarch weareth the crown,
Which I know not whether to his belongeth;
Doth he hence the sceptre sway? Seasoneth he justice? -
Daresay I he doth not, will he then use his sceptre
As a wand? - Where doth sit my awe? - Trieth he me conjure;
Perchance a spell?; a reptile, a sullied hound? -
Is the gentle rain a quality of his? - I bethink
This fro my thoughts; hitherto, about this,
I beheld to these words no tongue; are the
Monarch's men his thralls or his servants? -
Oft I waylay my tongue -
Those of which are withal by my gnarléd heart
Not heed'd; or doth the throstle sing with more glee
At daybreak than at twilight? - Brawl not my
Imp, nor my cherub; reserve my judgement -
Crave not the sword when the bodkin fro ere
Thine is; that undiscover'd country; be that
Of calamity, be that of joy, be that of apathy;
Tread not paths of new when those of old are
Far by an only single footstep; walk, be it
On the left, on the right - be it the one which
Straight forward leadeth; the one of correct
I have as until now not heed'd any signs of!
Hollow-Heartéd, Heart-Departéd
Play by Raymond, Music by Theatre of Tragedy, Cello by Anders Måreby
«Filthy harlots - the Lord's grape!
With lore ornamentéd entreating;
Hollow heartéd, heart-departéd -
Yet thou reapest the blooming rose -
When 'tis the weed which is to be swath'd!»
«I do, in the blooming flower, pleasure find!»
«And me in the yesterdays bind?!»
«Innocence is reservéd for the meek:
Of naught is my grasp ne'er to be!»
«Hah! - for thee even a hound holdeth the throne.
Unwantéd child of mother! - Plague of plagues!
Father of leprous children.
I wield ye to stint this brawl!
Nigh is the ford - yet harken! - do not thwart!
Desirest thou to do it withal,
I shall cause thy body by one head short!
Sayest ye nay to my boon;
Then wilt thou from bloodshed swoon!»
«Err me not! - Must ye bethink my foolhardiness!
Be vanishéd! - Be banishéd! - if ye deemest me not wroth.
My hand hieth to unsheathe the sword lest thou dost totter -
Whid along! - Wherefore irk my haughtiness?»
«Wherefore bereave the kine of the sward? «No man...No man at all!,
Wherefore holdest thou for me such a quailing scowl?» Be it lord or beggar bereaveth my dignity!»
«Loom my darling sun -
Bear the scarlet colour.»
...a Distance there is...
Solitary soliloquial play by Liv & Raymond, Music by Lorentz & Liv, Cello by Anders Måreby
Come in out of the rain thou sayest -
But thou ne'er step'st aside; and I am trapp'd -
A distance there is...
None, save me and the bodkin -
Pitter-patter on the roof:
Behold! - 'tis not the rain; thence me it has to be -
I will not drink thy vintage wine, my dear;
Thou hast heed'd that I am of innocence,
Yet thou let'st thy lass into peril -
Thou let'st me be parchéd;
My heart is of frailty,
My pale skin is huéd damask.
When thou thy tears hast hidden, "Come back!", thou sayest -
There I soon am to be - but how am I to run
When my bones, my heart thou hast me bereaft-
But run thou sayest; I run -
And there and then I behold that a time will come
When I again dead will be.
Thou tell'st me to leave without delay -
I leave with my bodkin and my tears in my hands;
Lo! - the shadows, the sky - descending;
So by a dint of smite I gait
Ere I run and melt together with dusk.
Yon the reach of my mind I keep this event,
But it seems as if naught is to change anyway?!
After all these years thou left me down in the emotional dephts -
The sombre soakéd velvet-drape is upon me hung,
Turning my feelings away from our so ignorant world:
All the beautiful moments sharéd, deliberatlely push'd aside -
...a distance there is...
Sweet Art Thou
Play by Raymond, Music by Theatre of Tragedy
«Stay still patient; wilt thou my sister of merciful troth be?
I shall attempt the halter of thy life make less tighten'd!»
«I shall climb the yew,
Will it subdue me or not!»
«Swooning emotions smite my bosom-
I have in aptness depriev'd thy eyrie
«Oh! - but ne'er alas; Fro many another a lass -
Lodge here fore'ermore.» Dodge thither sable of yore!»
«A narrow dell hath now for me turn'd into a broad land;
A land rich with fields of the Simbelmynë.»
«Sonorous to my ears are the words form'd by thy tongue;
Conquer me! - Waylay me! - Swathe me 'twixt thy arms!
«Make me sense the wine which is drunk by kings, Make me sense the wine which is drunk by queens,
And let it flow red and full in taste o'er my lips.» And let it flow white and full in taste o'er my lips.»
«A daiséd bridge o'er the ghyll,
In which a river bottomless -
I would have drownéd,
Yet thou drewest me out soaking!»
«Save thou art not yet all parchéd -
Eavesdroppest ye; a wee drop, «I can hear it! - I can feel it!
Whence it cometh I can only deem, Yet I will not tarry idly!
Lest this for me is a gay dream; Let it adamant be -
A dream that will sojourn eternally - Empty the flagon in me!»
In which theatre I will act!»
Mïre
Poem by Raymond, Music by Theatre of Tragedy
Harken! - the clouds musteréd in dark -
So painfully easing.
Hush! - hearest ye the yew doting;
Its years of yore in a mire,
Each like a corpse within its grave;
Wrought for us a yearn of lief;
'Tis not a lore of bale nor loathe;
Harmony and æsthesia are its blisses;
Ne'er ere hath it exist'd so sonorously -
Jostl'd away the pale drape
That us had been o'erhung -
Tempt'd thy shutters to open
And thus quench'd the hearth;
Thou giv'st to misery all thou hast: the cold -
With weal embrac'd the sprouting landscape
Like a star of heaven in the broad daylight -
This joy conquereth until it again waneth,
Save the drooping winter of stalwart.
Dying - I only feel Apathy
Poem by Raymond, Music by Theatre of Tragedy
Now as I am to be bereaft of my troth
I cry aloud my last words of lost hope.
A violent gust of wind is my frame of mind;
Fluxes like moisture through pores.
I am unwilling to forgive
Him who depriev'd me of my life -
Gloaming the sequence -
A momentary view.
Perishing intervals of rejoice -
My supreme happiness is lost!
Baleful emotions of fear - my body is the earth -
The earth is now destinéd to be made forlorn -
Forlorn from the enlivening energies.
Am I not anylonger living?
In mournful silence I suffer -
In peace I now will rest.
My hard-working hands
Are now reposéd.
I close thee, my belovéd, into my heart -
Conceal thy memory in my inner sanctum.
In my thoughts thou shalt forever be -
As a dear and precious remembrance.
I'm dethronéd in the reign of entity -
My tears descend like of ebony -
Life is the theatre of tragedy -
Dying - I only feel apathy! Dying - I only want sympathy!
Monotonë
Music by Pål & Lorentz
(Instrumental)