track 5 of 9 from the 2019 album "lunacy + the second naïveté" by closetjudas.

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“wherever it is we find ourselves, the gravity of our situation demands that we act, yet the most human response is not flight to some distant hoped-for eden above, nor to fall to the ground in hopeless despair...we need a different story to live by, one that isn’t about abandoning this world, but committing to it. to transition into such a myth – one that pushes us beyond our ache for transcendence – we will need to go to new places and do new things. the first step towards this will surely be about learning to love, looking outwards from the self, upwards from the ground even though we know that it will – at some unknown time – take us” (from “getting high: a savage journey to the heart of the dream of flight” by kester brewin).

made to be confined / drawn to take our leave from earth

though infallibly we land / bound by physics, down to dust

(sky is calling)

increase our efforts to depart / desolations overwhelm

but no force that we expend / can effect desired ascent

(we keep falling)

still we try + fail; repeat / long for any place but here

til we get to where we want / find that “there” is carbon-copied

(sky is calling)

could it be that we are wrong? / error in the calculation

what if we weren’t build for flight / we’re terrestrial, not projectiles

(we keep falling)

valid

(the password isn’t working)

launch code

(and it’s not just your memory)

missing

(the vessel’s clearly broken – maybe it was never meant to be a getaway)

reset

(rest your feet upon the solid ground)

anchor

(find a chair, make yourself a drink)

fulcrum

(life’s the hinge on which we turn – the grave’s our horizon)

all attempts at peace / speed the progress of regression

emptiness behind the veil / poured concrete; no transcendental

(sky is falling)

there’s no mass that is enough / there’s no changing bleak inertia

motionless we all remain / dreaming up suspended bodies

(we keep calling)

feckless emptying of self / can’t escape our own daydreaming

only long to lift away / hit the gravel – featherless

(sky is falling)

we remain simple machines / gaikokujin of the clouds

pivot-point of non-existence / lacking contact; feeling spectral

(we keep calling)

it’s no secret that we are each mortal

all vitality will soon relapse

our significance is expiring

another useless book upon a shelf

with each breath the void is getting closer

no rescue plan will ever succeed

better to deny illusion’s death-grip

when so little of our selves remain

instead of vainly reaching upward

make-believing with our eyes closed tight

accept as given we are wingless creatures

and that we cannot take our leave from this place

if we happen to regain our footing

existing will not be made much easier

but we might find what we thought had been lost

is found securely planted in the dirt

valid

launch code

missing

reset

anchor

fulcrum, fulcrum