THE GRIM VILLAGE

LYRICS BY JONATHAN ZAJDMAN

01. CONQUER/CROAK/COLLECT

N/A

02. ON A PALE HORSE I THRIVE

befriend the crows they only guard their children
maim or murder any rats you see
for now that we’ve found home I’m scared to lose it
should man foreclose his business
or it’s lost to all this heat

i've traveled many muds, i've seen collusion
fell victim to the plot of greater beasts
cursed at night to dream of retribution
i catch the mornings tired
as my tormentors run free

we’re born off our mothers backs
under the water we breach and made to swim alone
to figure out if whether we had measured up as tadpoles

our fathers often attack
from all the pressure to teach a peace they couldn’t hold
and left us with the messes they had made and couldn’t handle

who listens, who waits, who moves us on
benedictions of waste and lesser gods

tall tales of sacrifice and dissolution
inheritance of ire, shame, and greed
they left us this grim village but we’ll use it
till the land so we can grow
and taste a life divorced of need

we’re born off our mothers backs
under the water we breach and made to swim alone
to figure out if wherever we had measured up as tadpoles

our fathers often attack
from all the pressure to teach a peace they couldn’t hold
and left us with the messes they had made and couldn’t handle

who listens, who waits, who moves us on
benedictions of waste and lesser gods

03. PLEA TO THE ABJURATIVE WARDEN

i’ve lost a little steam
might need a bit more time to drift on endlessly
abjured and disbelieved
golden hour is rolling in and I couldn’t be bothered,
I’ll just sit and dream I’ve been owed, I paid my time

took shelter in this tree
fed me its fruit but then its roots grew into me
“arrested in my leaves, I have you now”
it whispered through the willows and reeds
on air it burned right out of me

i fold and make the eyes,
through bellowed smoke scry out

‘cause we’re not kidding around
there isn’t much left to cede
you give it just a bit more ground
and it culls every deed

so you’re the first to know
and the last to leave
well I’ve been taking notes
you set us up, settle down
put your mind at ease

fair warden, one more plea
the red tape, oh! the paperwork, it’s aging me
the process and the fees…
i’ve paid my way, i gave myself but made enemies, ran afoul of brigands and thieves,
it’s all bad luck your punishing, i’ve been owed, i take, i find, i breathe, i burn, i’m bound

‘cause we’re not kidding around
there isn’t much left to cede
you give it just a bit more ground
and it culls every deed

04. SLUDGE CRUMPET

pulled from the shelf
and pinned through the parchment,
placed by markings that tell how the skin’s to display
nobody else dared gambled where he had played
but soon as he fell they took all that remained for themselves

::

what fool
caught bathing in the lye
unspooled
he croaks but never dies

::

no, not a welp, you signed and the contract states
complained it was hell but you chose to remain
now somebody else still bears it for much less pay

what fool
caught bathing in the lye
unspooled
he croaks but never dies

05. BATTLE TESTED TADPOLES

N/A

06. I SAID I WOULDN’T BUT I DID

lo, pollinator!
there’s a marble in your soul
buzz if you heed
buzz until you’re old

one dull little stinger
six bad knees
calamitous in flight
what would you rather, bee?

::

we bloom today
at the expense of the dying hands
they carried a weight
for the hive but I can’t stop crying

corpse of a rabbit
choking on a toad
let that be a lesson to fit where your fold
ruinous commitment
heptagonal belief
to only know instruction
not what your three eyes bade you to see

we buried names
it’s a dodge and it tastes like lying
honeycombed through the graves
paid the price just as they were thriving

07. ONWARD WITH BLINDING SPEED

now fill that plate,
you’ll not leave hungering
you’re plump and safe
so glad you ate,
cause man we’d been wondering
if the help would take

and that effort put,
who cares how long you took

::

through mossy glades and leaves you’re sauntering
where you let it away
the endless strain from dreams you’d been laundering
through pity and rage

you weren’t cursed,
you are an object unto earth
a cosmic burst
known, elemental in it’s worth

the loop that plays, recounting inequities
and down all the days
all want and waste and time getting quick on me,
got bruised from the pace

suffering alone,
it's trite! but now you know
all covers blown,
they’d known along you were a toad

08. DREADFUL LORD OF TOADS

i come alone
i am the undertow
a sound you know
but never heard before

i’m not a killer
but means are low
i thin the litter
whoever’s left can try and grow

so you got home
dodged me too long before
the water knows
and feeds you salt although
it won’t let you drown

these days are filler
you’re getting old
but I’m no quitter
i’ll see that toll

09. DEATH IS THE TEST OF IT

call it in, call surprised
call in with shock over the violence we preside
see it tilt and watch spin
the the body pushed one way, the opposite his limbs

it speaks late at night on any highway
it takes what it might, no plot no parlay

he’s in a state, but he has means
his webbed foot propels through water as he needs
far off the land, through bogs and sticks
into the undergrowth of anything that’s left
we got out fine and stayed alive
we’ll catch a second wind and then that finish line

it speaks late at night on any highway
it takes what it might, no plot no parlay
it left with the light, but not toward my way

call it in, call surprised
call in with shock over the violence we provide
see it tilt, watch it spin
breathe in the air that chars and bursts against your skin

it speaks late at night on any highway
it takes what it might, no plot no parlay
it left with the light, but not toward my way
i died and I might and that’s okay

10. FOR A FROGFUL OF DOLLARS

N/A

11. BOMBINA, BOMBINA!!

phantom limb,
i cast spell but you don’t grow
i’m haunted by your shape and form

amphibian,
there’s a cost to living low
yeah you pay and you pray and you pay but you don’t get more

oblivion,
you came a little bit too close
now you’re here, i’ve been struck by a fear that I can’t outrun, outgrow, or face alone

phantom limb,
i cast spell but you don’t grow
i’m haunted but i still can’t mourn

amphibian,
there’s a cost to living low
yeah you pay and you pray and pay but get no more

oblivion,
yeah you came a little bit too close
now you’re here I’ve been struck by a fear I can’t outrun, outgrow, or face alone

of all the moons, and orbits I could choose
i’m fine to set ‘em all aside
i needn’t space or time from earth or you

the gardens loom, they burn and then they bloom
and once I had often wished to die!
set down and set aside
i heed the space and time
i felt a crush, a drive, and i made it through

you’re clear
you last another day
so wise with every word and every wonder that you claimed

so seethe,
like it’s the only way
some warming to the soul but leaves a burn mark in its place

You can work it out before it’s too late
You are so much more than the flies that you ate
You can burn it all, cast the lilies to the blaze
Breathe in all the smoke and mumble through the haze

You could seek to own every stringed thing
A lute for every lizard where the salamanders sing
For I see in you a pollywog stronger than an ox
Right into the action if not strangled by your thoughts

Missing every bliss and blunder of living as a toad
No pleasures from the mud, only politics and prose
If you’d look into the murk of the beauty of the shore
Of the creek where you harvest, son, you needn’t anymore

Take a little nap near the water where it sinks
You can blend in with the background while the predators drink
A mosquito on your back but a tongue that you can twist
There’s a million other bugs, it’s okay if you miss

of all the moons, and orbits I could choose
i’m fine to set ‘em all aside
i needn’t space or time from earth or you

the gardens loom, they burn and then they bloom
and once I had often wished to die!
set down and set aside
i heed the space and time
i felt a crush, a drive, and i made it through

12. ALAS, I HOP ALONG

dead herons float above
their bones, a home thereof
though tooth and claw and blood
safety feels scarce, alas i hop along

::

the glades they drove us from
to no refuge, and barely a slum
yet I’ll place my bets upon
what lives we shared, alas I hop along

a greater beast with fangs said ‘frog, you’re looking lost’
as he pulled me straight through lines I’d not have crossed
the pound of flesh I paid had left me limbs of rot
a rate of return reflective of its cost
and such remorse I’ve known, at what little it had bought
i am the clerk i robbed, the bystander I shot

foreclosed, forgave, forgot
free of the petty and fraught
then I saw myself and thought
I’m finally here, alas I hop along