01
The Underside
No eagles soar
No falcons glide
The underside Â
Out of sight
And wanting light
The underside
Where colour sleeps
Water seeps
Darkness weeps
The future creeps
As fibres weave
And roots perceive
The underside
Deep below
Where maps don't go
Unclassified
Dig today
Or turn away
You decide
No, you decide...
Behind your face
The hidden place
The underside
The guilt, the shame
The fault, the blame
The underside
The fear you hide
In downturned eyes
The words implied
All you won't say
As night today
The underside
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02
Meltwater
Wide skies
High ground
Light wells
Words drown
Meltwater
Seeps down
Under, over
Through, around
Silence weighs
Silence weighs the worth of sound
Young spring
Born wise
New ears
Fresh eyes
Meltwater runs down
Journeys on
Sea-bound
Silence weighs
Silence weighs the worth of sound
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03
Brittle
I didn’t see it shatter
I wanted to walk pastÂ
But ragged shards lie scattered -Â
Is it ice or glass?Â
My pain, will you melt awayÂ
Or live to ache another day?Â
One more fight or is it flight?Â
Are you coming home tonight?Â
Are you coming back tonight?Â
Brittle like the puddle’s skin
Winter-warm and wearing thinÂ
Brittle like your parting pledgeÂ
Brittle near the jagged edge
Brittle near the jagged edgeÂ
Ice or glass? Glass or ice?Â
Each lie waiting in the nightÂ
Each can cut and each can sliceÂ
Then sparkle in the morning lightÂ
Thought I knew the two so wellÂ
Walking on their brittle shellsÂ
Ice has been my contour mapÂ
Strange I never heard the snapÂ
Strange I never heard it snapÂ
Brittle as that puddle’s skinÂ
Brittle, brittle, wearing thinÂ
Brittle like your bottled pledgeÂ
Brittle near the jagged edgeÂ
Brittle near the jagged edge
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04
I Have Come to Understand
I have come to understand
As the seasons grain this skin
How to shield the fragile core
How to tend the light within
As a pilot for the mind
When the concrete falls to sand
That the wounded heart can bind
I have come to understand
I have come to understand
In the marbled morning sky
There's the thread of this old moon
Which the clouds are hanging by
Fraying slowly with the breeze
Turning shadows on the land
Still, the sun arcs at its ease
I have come to understand
I have come to understand
To the source above the glen
Where the spirit springing pure
Vaults the shallow tides of men
What must change may yet endure
Like this water through my hand
Nurse the healing, grow the cure
I have come to understand
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05
The Rope
Coiled, crossed, entangled in a corner
Old and wise and silent as a snake
Left aside beside the new unwanted
You dream of hands
The touch, the grip, their shape
Once you ran the span and moored our vessels
Safe between the capstain and the quay
Once you were the rope that held us steady
Once you were the rope that cast us free
The push, the pull, the swing, lasso and ladder
The tug of war when we were in our teens
The give, the take that bound us all together
The start, the end the knot, the way and means
Lifeline, now the last line, frayed and poorly
In my hands, your hands so soft and slack
In my dreams you're running on beside me
With me all the long way out and back
With me all the long way out
And back
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Credits
Written by Maria Quinn and Colin Macduff
Arranged by Maria Quinn
Produced by Andrea Gobbi at GloWorm Studios, Glasgow
Cover painting by Lesley Woodbrooks
Maria Quinn – vocals, piano, keys (1,2,3,4,5)
Seonaid Aitken – violin (1,3,4,5)
Kristan Harvey – violin (1,3)
Aaron Morrison – viola (1,3)
Jessica Kerr – cello (1,3,4,5)
Lesley Woodbrooks – violin (2)
Joanne Freeland – clarinet, bass clarinet (1,2,3,4,5)
Isabella Gonzalez Diaz – french horn (2,3)
Paul Jennings – drums, percussion (1,2,3)
The Underside video by Maria Quinn
Brittle video by Rory Sinclair