Big Big Train Ariel
[Part One: Come Unto These Yellow Sands]
[The Cremation of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) - the 16th of August 1822 on a beach near Viareggio]
Crow black the mourners stand
They watch the burning pyre
Singing O, blow the winds O
Silhouettes against the sand
The smoke, it billows higher
Singing O, blow the winds O
Grieve for the poet drowned at sea
O, such deep sweet sorrow
They'd left their port of call
When sudden storm clouds gathered
Singing O, blow the winds O
A wild tempestuous squall
They foundered in ten fathoms
Singing O, blow the winds O
Profound poetic verse
Shall live on tomorrow
[Part Two: Noises, Sounds and Sweet Airs]
[On an un-named Mediterranean island in renaissance Europe]
Upon The Island, imprisoned for twelve years
The Master came. He released you from the pine
You did serve Prospero's bidding
From old bound books, he'd recite the words aloud
Unto the air, sweet music to the ear
Spells were cast, among the living
All chores fulfilled, you earned your freedom
But bonds and ties bind with good reason
Though you were free, still would you visit
There by his side, the day the old man died
[Part Three: New Place]
[Stratford-Upon-Avon, 1610]
'Twas your desire, your story written down
Bound in a book, to hold the magic of the words
A playwright found, whose verse is eternal
Your tale was told, by way of dreamings
Placed in his thoughts whilst he was sleeping
Inspired, the bard awoke next morning
Then quill in hand, he drafted out a plan
[Part Four: 'O! There are spirits of the air!']
[At sea, during a raging storm, Ariel revels within his environment]
Come Cirrus
Come Stratus
Eternal sprawling of days
Come Nimbus
You storm bringer
Howling winds
Lashing rain
For one brief yet brilliant moment
They burn brightly and they shine
Immortality's a song that sounds for
Too long, too long, too long
Come Cirrus (Come on)
Come Stratus (Come on)
Eternal sprawling of days
Come Nimbus (Come on)
Soul shaker (Come on)
Thunder crash
Rolling waves
For one brief yet brilliant moment
They burn brightly and they shine
Immortality's a song that sounds for
Too long, too long, too long
[Part Five: Music, When Soft Voices Die]
[A pine forest near Pisa, 1822]
Time slows
Centuries have passed where you did reside
Again among the pines
What do you hear?
Sweet music through the air
Tickling your ear and calling you by name
Summoned, you go
A poet thou dost spy
Pages strewn about the ground
Spellbound, you stand revealed
He sees thee!
Till you disappear
[Part Six: Casa Magni, 1822]
[San Terenzo, near Lerici, in the province of La Spezia in Liguria, 1822]
Time hides. How many days gone by
Since the sight he saw, that will not leave his mind?
Was it real or a dream?
His burning desire was to see you one more time
To know that you are real
Not some haunted opium dream
Once more before he dies
[Part Seven: "Approach, My Ariel, Come"]
[8th of July 1822, Gulf of La Spezia]
[Aboard the Don Juan on the return voyage from Livorno to Lerici, late afternoon. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his two companions, Edward Williams and Charles Vivian, were drowned during a sudden violent summer tempest. The boat was called 'Don Juan' in honour of Lord Byron, but, according to Mary Shelley, Shelley had renamed the boat 'Ariel.']
All at sea he invokes thee
Awaking thee from deepest slumber
Incantations ringing like silver
It's too swift, too soon
Invocation's lightning sabres
Wind sound thy pipe
Thunder thy tabor
Singing O, blow the winds O
[Part Eight: Coda: The Triumph of Life]
[The Cremation of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) - the 16th of August 1822 on a beach near Viareggio. The poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) watches the smoke rising from the burning pyre. It seems to him as though there is an ephemeral figure rising through the smoke into the air. The grief and loss over the last few days have clearly taken their toll. As the flames take further hold, unable to contain his sorrow any longer, he goes down the beach towards the water, removes his clothing and swims out to sea.]
Singing O, blow the winds O
Singing O, to the four winds
Thou goes