NECHOCHWEN

1. OF WISDOM AND PROPHECY

"It must be I who has caused the Great Spirit so much anger, for see how I sway to and fro. If he does not cease soon, I am going to jump to the sky and find the cause of his displeasure, if I can."
From Tales and Stories of Yellow Creek by R.W. "Doc" Schilling (1947)

With great wrath the earth shook, the megalith took flight
Crashing from the highest hill into the stream below
Long before the arrival of man the sentinel had sat and awaited its time
The forest stood still, then silence was shattered, the land was now fractured
In time men would speak atop its frame of pride and war,
Of hate and death, of wisdom and prophecy


2. THE MEGALITH

Weathered, grey,
arising from the channel of a valley stream
The tree line above softens the sunlight
that falls on the standing stone
The land still weeps, grieving for the unity of long ago
Remembering when voices ceased to speak the words of peace

Like the mountain ridge from which it fell,
fragmented in a violent age
The water's edge where all would gather as one
Transformed by hatred into killing fields
From upon the rock, with speech like fire,
came a prophet's condemnation

They filled the fields, they sent the call for war
Bearing the hemlock seed to scorn the hardwood hills
From the south they came to conquer all
To claim the soil of the northern Algonquian lands

Set forth the birds of prey aloft with seed
To propagate them for this victory
To bring starvation in the age to come
Their trees will blight and wither in the sun
With eternal eyes, the wilderness cried

A sigh of desperation from the earth

Amidst the great despair a voice then spoke:
"Go forth, my brothers - procure a feast of poisoned flesh
Our enemies will gorge into their final sleep
As they perish in their slumber, we preserve our way of life"

A procession of gluttonous dead, swollen in the midsummer sun
Drifts past the rock on their course to the southland to never return

The conquering was never meant to be
Beneath Stigwanish came no victory
With heavy hearts for those among the hills
The forest weeps for man, who blindly kills
Lament for all that echoed through the land


3. THE MINGLING WATERS

Against the sky flickers a solemn farewell
For the dawn will arrive and my ashes will stir in the morning's breath
Firelight gleams on my bones like the serpent's crystalline eye
Then the light of the sun reappears, greeting waters cascading below

Down the Mingo Run, though this water so sweet
Down the Buffalo to the Ohio with currents to channel me deep
Over falls so high to the greatest of streams
Carry all I have done to the place where the mingling waters will meet


4. The Red Road

Choosing your path but falling behind
A trail dimly lit and, at times, hard to find
Sealing your fate while keeping your stride
Creating the rules by which you abide

Looking ahead and re-writing the past
Tending the fields that will be sown at last
Follow the red road of the sun if you can
But no one can blaze such a trail through the land

Kiiš θwa! Lakwa!

Long is the quest to the road that is good
Where visions erode from the hills where they stood
Stay on your course when the day loses light
And find your way home 'til the dawn ends the night

Seeking your truth, lighting the way
Waiting a lifetime for wise words to say
Mountains to climb, burdens to bear
An internal fire that's gasping for air

And so it has been through this rhyme
When the sun seems to set one last time
Be awoken by rays of its light from up high
Searching alone in the sky


PANOPTICON

5. RUNE'S HEART

(No lyrics available)