Story: Elias and the Beautiful Thing in the Palm
Verse 1
There are mornings full of thunder
though the room is standing still
there are rivers in the body
moving underneath the will
there are words that come up empty
there are stories wearing thin
there is something old unwinding
from a place he can’t get in
He used to name the weather
he used to draw the map
he used to send an army
after every thought that passed
but the soldiers all got tired
and the flags fell in the dust
now a story can be story
without needing all his trust
Pre-Chorus
And he does not know the meaning
does not know the cost
sometimes stressfully lost
sometimes peacefully lost
Chorus
Peacefully lost
in the middle of the turning
no manual in the hand
no certainty returning
just the body, just the breath
just the old world coming through
just the shame and just the silence
and the sky that has no view
Peacefully lost
where the mind can’t be the king
where the beautiful thing opens
when he doesn’t grasp the thing
and the deepest kind of knowing
doesn’t shine or make a fuss
it just whispers in the quiet
knowing nothing is enough
Verse 2
There are people in the old world
saying, “Tell us where you stand”
“Have a plan and hold together”
“Put your life back in your hands”
and he loves them, and he hears them
and he knows they’re frightened too
but he cannot make the old shape
feel completely true
There is father, there is mother
there are roles he used to play
there are rooms that feel uneasy
when the script begins to fray
there are hands that try to help him
push him back into the known
but the seed below the surface
has a rhythm of its own
Pre-Chorus
And he does not need to answer
what has not yet crossed
sometimes stressfully lost
sometimes peacefully lost
Chorus
Peacefully lost
in the middle of becoming
not becoming someone better
just no longer always running
there is bitterness and longing
there is love he cannot force
there is shame around the body
there is water at the source
Peacefully lost
where the fist begins to tire
where he stops demanding sunlight
from the ember and the fire
and the deepest kind of knowing
doesn’t tell him what to do
it just leaves the palm wide open
and lets the water move
Bridge
He thought love meant always open
he thought peace meant always kind
he thought freedom meant no shadows
moving through the human mind
but the heart does not grow wider
by accusing it of stone
and the body does not soften
when it’s told it’s wrong alone
So let the morning agony
come at half past ten
let it sit and drink its tea
then maybe leave again
let the cup fall from the table
let the keys be where they are
not every little thunder
has to name a falling star
There is no special wisdom
in the things he’s come to see
only everyone reflected
in the same humanity
and the words that try to point there
are only words and then
the silence opens wider
than the mouth has ever been
Verse 3
Sometimes he wants a teacher
to give him one clear line
saying, “You are doing fine now”
“You are right on sacred time”
but the answer comes up empty
and the emptiness is kind
there is no one with the manual
for the life he cannot find
Still the organism knows things
that the thinking never knew
how to loosen in the shoulder
how to let the breath come through
how to carry something heavy
without making war inside
how to let the old contractions
lose their reason to survive
Final Chorus
Peacefully lost
in the middle of the motion
no promised land ahead
no final magic ocean
just the dense and wordless body
just the stories passing by
just the strange familiar freedom
of not needing to know why
Peacefully lost
where no answer is the door
where the thing he tried to capture
doesn’t need that anymore
and the deepest kind of knowing
is not knowledge, not a claim
it is life before the labels
it is fire before the flame
Outro
No map
no crown
no wisdom to defend
no path that has to prove itself
by reaching some clean end
Just this
just trust
just water through the dust
Sometimes stressfully lost
sometimes peacefully lost
and knowing nothing
knowing nothing
knowing nothing
is enough
