1. The Guests 6:37
2. Humbled in Love 5:13
3. The Window 5:55
4. Came So Far For Beauty 4:02
5. The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien Errant) 4:40
6. The Traitor 6:14
7. Our Lady of Solitude 3:12
8. The Gypsy's Wife 5:11
9. The Smokey Life 5:17
10. Ballad of the Absent Mare 6:21

One by one, the guests arrive 
The guests are coming through 
The open-hearted many 
The broken-hearted few 

And no one knows where the night is going 
And no one knows why the wine is flowing 
Oh love I need you 
I need you 
I need you 
I need you 
Oh . . . I need you now 

And those who dance, begin to dance 
Those who weep begin 
And "Welcome, welcome" cries a voice 
"Let all my guests come in." 

And no one knows where the night is going ... 

And all go stumbling through that house 
in lonely secrecy 
Saying "Do reveal yourself" 
or "Why has thou forsaken me?" 

And no one knows where the night is going ... 

All at once the torches flare 
The inner door flies open 
One by one they enter there 
In every style of passion 

And no one knows where the night is going ... 
 
And here they take their sweet repast 
While house and grounds dissolve 
And one by one the guests are cast 
Beyond the garden wall 

And no one knows where the night is going ... 

Those who dance, begin to dance 
Those who weep begin 
Those who earnestly are lost 
Are lost and lost again 

And no one knows where the night is going ... 

One by one the guests arrive 
The guests are coming through 
The broken-hearted many 
The open-hearted few 

And no one knows where the night is going ... 

Do you remember all of those pledges 
That we pledged in the passionate night 
Ah they're soiled now, they're torn at the edges 
Like moths on a still yellow light 
No penance serves to renew them 
No massive transfusions of trust 
Why not even revenge can undo them 
So twisted these vows and so crushed 

And you say you've been humbled in love 
Cut down in your love 
Forced to kneel in the mud next to me 
Ah but why so bitterly turn from the one 
Who kneels there as deeply as thee 

Children have taken these pledges 
They have ferried them out of the past 
Oh beyond all the graves and the hedges 
Where love must go hiding at last 
And here where there is no description 
Oh here in the moment at hand 
No sinner need rise up forgiven 
No victim need limp to the stand 

And you say you've been humbled in love... 

And look dear heart, look at the virgin 
Look how she welcomes him into her gown 
Yes, and mark how the stranger's cold armour 
Dissolves like a star falling down 
Why trade this vision for desire 
When you may have them both 
You will never see a man this naked 
I will never hold a woman this close 

And you say you've been humbled in love... 

Why do you stand by the window 
Abandoned to beauty and pride 
The thorn of the night in your bosom 
The spear of the age in your side 
Lost in the rages of fragrance 
Lost in the rags of remorse 
Lost in the waves of a sickness 
That loosens the high silver nerves 

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love 
Oh tangle of matter and ghost 
Oh darling of angels, demons and saints 
And the whole broken-hearted host 
Gentle this soul 

And come forth from the cloud of unknowing 
And kiss the cheek of the moon 
The New Jerusalem glowing 
Why tarry all night in the ruin 
And leave no word of discomfort 
And leave no observer to mourn 
But climb on your tears and be silent 
Like a rose on its ladder of thorns 

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love... 

Then lay your rose on the fire 
The fire give up to the sun 
The sun give over to splendour 
In the arms of the high holy one 
For the holy one dreams of a letter 
Dreams of a letter's death 
Oh bless thee continuous stutter 
Of the word being made into flesh 

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love... 

Gentle this soul 

I came so far for beauty 
I left so much behind 
My patience and my family 
My masterpiece unsigned 
I thought I'd be rewarded 
For such a lonely choice 
And surely she would answer 
To such a very hopeless voice 
I practiced all my sainthood 
I gave to one and all 
But the rumours of my virtue 
They moved her not at all 
I changed my style to silver 
I changed my clothes to black 
And where I would surrender 
Now I would attack 
I stormed the old casino 
For the money and the flesh 
And I myself decided 
What was rotten and what was fresh 
And men to do my bidding 
And broken bones to teach 
The value of my pardon 
The shadow of my reach 
But no, I could not touch her 
With such a heavy hand 
Her star beyond my order 
Her nakedness unmanned 
I came so far for beauty 
I left so much behind 
My patience and my family 
My masterpiece unsigned 

(by Antoine Gerin-Lajoie)

Un Canadien Errant 
Banni de ses foyers, 
Parcourait en pleurant 
Des pays etrangers. 
Parcourait en pleurant 
Des pays etrangers. 

Un jour, triste et pensif, 
Assis au bord des flots, 
Au courant fugitif 
Il adressa ces mots: 
Au courant fugitif 
Il adressa ces mots: 

"Si tu vois mon pays, 
Mon pays malheureux, 
Va dire a mes amis 
Que je me souviens d'eux. 
Va dire a mes amis 
Que je me souviens d'eux. 

O jours si pleins d'appas, 
Vous etes disparus... 
Et ma patrie, helas! 
Je ne la verrai plus. 
Et ma patrie, helas! 
Je ne la verrai plus. 

[A wandering Canadian, 
banned from his hearths, 
travelled while crying 
in foreign lands. 
travelled while crying 
in foreign lands. 

One day, sad and pensive, 
sitting by the flowing waters, 
to the fleeing current 
he addressed these words: 
to the fleeing current 
he addressed these words: 

If you see my country, 
my unhappy country, 
go tell my friends 
that I remember them. 
go tell my friends 
that I remember them. 

O days so full of charms, 
you have vanished... 
And my native land, alas! 
I will see it no more. 
And my native land, alas! 
I will see it no more.] 

Now the Swan it floated on the English river 
Ah the Rose of High Romance it opened wide 
A sun tanned woman yearned me through the summer 
and the judges watched us from the other side 

I told my mother "Mother I must leave you 
preserve my room but do not shed a tear 
Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you 
it was half my fault and half the atmosphere" 

But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever 
and the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame 
She said at last I was her finest lover 
and if she withered I would be to blame 

The judges said you missed it by a fraction 
rise up and brace your troops for the attack 
Ah the dreamers ride against the men of action 
Oh see the men of action falling back 

But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment 
I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still 
My falsity had stung me like a hornet 
The poison sank and it paralysed my will 

I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers 
that they had been deserted from above 
So on battlefields from here to Barcelona 
I'm listed with the enemies of love 

And long ago she said "I must be leaving, 
Ah but keep my body here to lie upon 
You can move it up and down and when I'm sleeping 
Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan" 

So daily I renew my idle duty 
I touch her here and there -- I know my place 
I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty 
and people call me traitor to my face 

All summer long she touched me 
She gathered in my soul 
From many a thorn, from many thickets 
Her fingers, like a weaver's 
Quick and cool 

And the light came from her body 
And the night went through her grace 
All summer long she touched me 
And I knew her, I knew her 
Face to face 

And her dress was blue and silver 
And her words were few and small 
She is the vessel of the whole wide world 
Mistress, oh mistress, of us all 

Dear Lady; Queen of Solitude 
I thank you with my heart 
for keeping me so close to thee 
while so many, oh so many, stood apart 

And the light came from her body 
And the night went through her grace 
All summer long she touched me 
I knew her, I knew her 
Face to face 

And where, where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight 
I've heard all the wild reports, they can't be right 
But whose head is this she's dancing with on the threshing floor 
whose darkness deepens in her arms a little more 

And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight? 
Where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight? 

Ah the silver knives are flashing in the tired old cafe 
A ghost climbs on the table in a bridal negligee 
She says, "My body is the light, my body is the way" 
I raise my arm against it all and I catch the bride's bouquet 

And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?... 

Too early for the rainbow, too early for the dove 
These are the final days, this is the darkness, this is the flood 
And there is no man or woman who can't be touched 
But you who come between them will be judged 

And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?... 

I've never seen your eyes so wide 
I've never seen your appetite quite this occupied 
Elsewhere is your feast of love 
I know ... where long ago we agreed to keep it light 
So lets be married one more night 

It's light, light enough 
To let it go 
It's light enough to let it go 

Remember when the scenery started fading 
I held you til you learned to walk on air 
So don't look down the ground is gone, 
there's no one waiting anyway 
The Smoky Life is practiced 
Everywhere 

So set your restless heart at ease 
Take a lesson from these Autumn leaves 
They waste no time waiting for the snow 
Don't argue now you'll be late 
There is nothing to investigate 

It's light enough, light enough 
To let it go 
Light enough to let it go 

Remember when the scenery started fading 
I held you til you learned to walk on air 
So don't look down the ground is gone, 
there's no one waiting anyway 
The Smoky Life is practiced everywhere 

Come on back if the moment lends 
You can look up all my very closest friends 

Light, light enough 
To let it go 
It's light enough to let it go 

Say a prayer for the cowboy 
His mare's run away 
And he'll walk til he finds her 
His darling, his stray 
but the river's in flood 
and the roads are awash 
and the bridges break up 
in the panic of loss. 

And there's nothing to follow 
There's nowhere to go 
She's gone like the summer 
gone like the snow 
And the crickets are breaking 
his heart with their song 
as the day caves in 
and the night is all wrong 

Did he dream, was it she 
who went galloping past 
and bent down the fern 
broke open the grass 
and printed the mud with 
the iron and the gold 
that he nailed to her feet 
when he was the lord 

And although she goes grazing 
a minute away 
he tracks her all night 
he tracks her all day 
Oh blind to her presence 
except to compare 
his injury here 
with her punishment there 

Then at home on a branch 
in the highest tree 
a songbird sings out 
so suddenly 
Ah the sun is warm 
and the soft winds ride 
on the willow trees 
by the river side 

Oh the world is sweet 
the world is wide 
and she's there where 
the light and the darkness divide 
and the steam's coming off her 
she's huge and she's shy 
and she steps on the moon 
when she paws at the sky 

And she comes to his hand 
but she's not really tame 
She longs to be lost 
he longs for the same 
and she'll bolt and she'll plunge 
through the first open pass 
to roll and to feed 
in the sweet mountain grass 

Or she'll make a break 
for the high plateau 
where there's nothing above 
and there's nothing below 
and it's time for the burden 
it's time for the whip 
Will she walk through the flame 
Can he shoot from the hip 

So he binds himself 
to the galloping mare 
and she binds herself 
to the rider there 
and there is no space 
but there's left and right 
and there is no time 
but there's day and night 

And he leans on her neck 
and he whispers low 
"Whither thou goest 
I will go" 
And they turn as one 
and they head for the plain 
No need for the whip 
Ah, no need for the rein 

Now the clasp of this union 
who fastens it tight? 
Who snaps it asunder 
the very next night 
Some say the rider 
Some say the mare 
Or that love's like the smoke 
beyond all repair 

But my darling says 
"Leonard, just let it go by 
That old silhouette 
on the great western sky" 
So I pick out a tune 
and they move right along 
and they're gone like the smoke 
and they're gone like this song