Looking for Heaven and Not Finding It

MONKEY: Am I just a body that ferries my mind Is my life real, or the dream of a butterfly? Where is the gate that the snake said to find How will I know what’s to come on the other side? Find me the end of the road and I’ll follow Take all my thoughts and make my head hollow Show me how I seem to all who would see me Give me the truth of myself and I’ll let go GOOD GOAT: Pack your things and say your prayers If we don’t leave, we’ll never get there Let’s blеss the years we’vе spent together MONKEY: Who stares at who, from the face of the river Am I the monkey or am I the mirror? Where does this world end, and where do I start? Only the truth will settle my heart GOOD GOAT: Get on my back, we’ll follow the water We’ll find the source for all of your wonder I’ll carry you until I am no longer GOLDEN FISHERMAN: Monkey stared into the stream, reaching his paws for the fish in the deep Life can show us our dreams, though often they lay just out of our reach Monkey fell into the water A claw pinched him on his bottom Good Goat sat by and laughed, and told her friend to make peace with the crabs Monkey sprang up from the stream And the dangers that lurked underneath He climbed onto Good Goat’s back, grabbed her horns and they set on their way MONKEY: Find me a hole in the sky, the backdoor to heaven— we could slip by The guards are asleep, they won’t hear us coming— an audience with God And I’ll ask him myself: Did you mean to make me this way? A King, in a family of runts No offense to my friend, Good Goat, but let’s not pretend I was meant to live with my nose in your grass Just up ahead is the Vale of the Eagles— drop me up there and I’ll sail to the heavens The claws in my mind can’t be worse than their talons Hungry they are for morsels like us GOLDEN FISHERMAN: Goat had never heard of a more dangerous plan But her hooves never stopped running at pace Soon they could hear great wings overhead Feathered beasts, hungry for meat Fast as lightning, sharpened steel for beaks Monkey cried out to the wards of the sky ‘Carry me up to your paradise’ Goat found shelter under a tree ‘Are you mad?’, she yelled at Monkey GOOD GOAT: Murderous eyes patrol the skies Are we just food for the Eagles’ brood? MONKEY: Weren’t we meant for more than a life so low? Your strong hooves pine to climb mountains high My nimble tail seeks the rarest air So let’s take our shot, we’ll find the gate of the gods GOLDEN FISHERMAN: Down from the clouds came a horrible cry A shriek from hell—the God of the Skies A vicious phantom from heaven’s fathoms She snatched them both with her mighty talons The vale disappeared as they took to the sky In the grip of the bird who would rip out their lives Hidden by clouds was the Eagles’ Shrine A glittering city on the crest of a mountain GOLDEN FISHERMAN: The claws unclenched at the mouth of a great nest Thatched of silver grass but smoothed down like glass Down they fell to the pit of their catch Monkey couldn’t climb the walls—there was no way out They sat there, in bones, in the prey of the past As three large eggs made ready to hatch Monkey hit at the walls of the nest They knew that if they remained, that they’d be next MONKEY: Good Goat, you were right— I should have seen the fear in your eyes We’re no closer to the heaven I seek, than a lowly peach, fell from a tree GOOD GOAT: Shall we sit, and wait for the next life? No sense struggling, no sense crying GOLDEN FISHERMAN: Monkey sat and covered his eyes He left this world and entered his mind Good Goat heard angry wings The sound of birds drawing near MONKEY: Gods of old, if you can hear The plea of a fool and his beloved Goat Send us a consort, send us a Sage To free us from this cursed cage GOLDEN FISHERMAN: From the sky, an eagle’s cry Into the nest her claws descended But then streamed into the nest An army of rats who chewed it like flesh The prison, a wreath hard as steel Was no match for their flurry of teeth Monkey’s prayers had been answered His mind had summoned the divine Vines grew from the earth and met them They slid back to the ground they’d come from All the rats tails had connected Eagles gave chase but could not catch them COILED KING RAT: Gods play with stars—our tails bind us None can rest while rats roam the night The King we seek will rise from debris We search the wastes for the True Sage Find the whole in what was split open Lord of Stones, your place is back home Fear the ascent, usurped by the serpent Be careful of our words: coils lay within coils Life is a trap when you’re King of the Rats GOLDEN FISHERMAN: In the ancient days, before form, before change Monkey had a dream while he slept under a tree All of space and time was born in his resting mind Rivers spread like vines across a blossoming of plains Hopes were high, time was wide A dream of life on the other side No tooth, no snout, no tail, no eye No face, no body, no mind MONKEY: Find me the end of the road and I’ll follow the map in the sky and We’ll find our way home and We’ll live our lives like stones, happily GOLDEN FISHERMAN: Monkey sat with Goat to contend with what they’d seen The shedded skin of a snake blew away in the wind Monkey had grown ten extra tails A gift from the King of the Rats He had tasted heaven’s tang And wanted to go straight back MONKEY / GOOD GOAT: Give me wings / Turn your tails So I can fly / I won’t go I was so close / How narrow I was so high / We tricked death Call those lords / Did you not hear? Of the sky / What Rat said? Eagles come / To go home Bring me home / Get off my back! GOLDEN FISHERMAN: Somewhere an ox came down to the earth From heaven where she’d taken rest She walks a road as long as life She bears a load alone, confined GOOD GOAT: Are you mad, you’ll get us killed Does that snake sleep still in your mind? MONKEY: How my spirit saved our lives How my place I’ve yet to find How the sheepish eye might well stay blind GOOD GOAT: I see you fine This thirst for a wild life—you can leave me behind MONKEY: Remember me when you get home And how you left me here alone Pack up all your worries for me, and go! GOLDEN FISHERMAN: Monkey climbed up into a tree to sit on a branch Good Goat Couldn’t reach He crossed his legs and closed his eyes to meditate, to search His mind Good Goat stood still, afraid to leave. Her oldest friend just Out of reach She felt the miles that had grown between and the stronger Pull of security No brighter moon had been seen in the sky Than the one that rose like a swan on this night No greater friend had Monkey known Than the Goat he’d cast into his shadow MONKEY: I see the towers of gold promised to me behind a great gate I see my place on a throne, at the birth of a greater world Find me the end of the road and I’ll follow Take all my thoughts and make my head hollow Show me how I seem to all of my fellows Give me the truth of myself and I’ll let go GOOD GOAT: Pack my things and say my prayers If I don’t leave, I’ll never get there Bless all the years that we’ve spent together Let love rest like a clover in winter GOLDEN FISHERMAN: Monkey sat on a stump, grown from a branch high up in his tree The ten tails come from his rump seemed to have a mind of Their own One wrapped around the great trunk and got stuck in a Flowering of sap Monkey laid down to sleep, unaware he’d been trapped in the tree GOOD GOAT: Look for me when you find out who you want to be In your tree you look so happy, Monkey Who put your face in the wrong place? You are not alone—I’ll watch you like the full moon I’ll stand by your side behind you, in shadows A friend is always near, you won’t know that I’m here Hid amongst the weeds that grow along the Mountainside One soul, two faces Twin lives, one whole You are not alone—I’ll watch you like the full moon I’ll stand by your side behind you, in shadows A friend is always near, you won’t know that I’m here Hid amongst the weeds that grow along the Mountainside Disappear and come back to me changed Chrysalis, the silk chains of your cage I’ll be here at the gates of your cocoon Inside—the world stops spinning for you Tigers will have to come through me to get to you GOLDEN FISHERMAN: Monkey climbed down, deep into his mind Under the waking world was a great lake On the shore he found a boat He sailed away, come what dreams may Monkey said to be glad Of the time that we had Don’t look back you’ll be sad Look ahead, I’ll be there GOLDEN FISHERMAN - CHRIS COLOHAN, JONAH FALCO, MIKE HALIECHUK MONKEY - DAMIAN ABRAHAM GOOD GOAT - TUKA MOHAMMED COILED KING RAT - DAN BEJAR