SOPOR AETERNUS LYRICS

1. Abschied

[Original music & lyrics by NICO]

"Seinem Geiste bekenne ich mich, ein Sehnen verzehret sein schönes Gesicht, daß, ermattet, von Güte beschattet, allmächtig ist. Sein Körper bewegt sich nicht...- im Traume sich endlich sein Zwingen vergißt. Den heulenden Jubel erkenne ich nicht, der mir den heiligen Frieden zerbricht. Sein schweigender Mund, seine schlafende Brust harren zärtlich der süßen Lust. Sein Körper bewegt sich nicht...- im Traume sich endlich sein Zwingen vergißt."

2. The Dog Burial

"Rasch, beeilt Euch, steigt hinab, ich hört' ihn atmen dort im Grab!
Bringt Licht herbei, brecht auf den Sarg!
Was zaudert ihr?! Tut, wie ich sag',
bevor sein Herz gibt auf den Schlag...!

3. The House Is Empty Now

4. No-one Is There

Now and then I'm scared, when I seem to forget how sounds become words or even sentences ... No, I don't speak anymore and what could I say, since no-one is there and there is nothing to say ...

So, I prefer to lie in darkest silence alone ... listening to the lack of light, or sound, or someone to talk to, for something to share ...- but there is no hope and no-one is there.

No, no, no ...- not one living soul and there is nothing (left) to say, in darkness I lie all alone by myself, sleeping most of the time to endure the pain.

I am not breathing a word, I haven't spoken for weeks and yet the mistress inside me is (secretly) straining her ears. But there is no-one, and it seems to me at times that with every passing hour another word is leaving my mind ...

I am the mistress of loneliness, my court is deserted but I do not care. The presence of people is ugly and cold and something I can neither watch nor bear.

So, I prefer to lie in darkness silence alone, listening to the lack of light, or sound, or someone to talk to, for something to share ...- but there is no hope and no-one is there.

No, I don't speak anymore and what should I say, since no- one is there and there is nothing to say? All is oppressive, alles ist schwer, there is no-one and NO-ONE IS THERE ...

5. Procession / Funeral March

6. Va(r)nitas, Vanitas... (...Omnia Vanitas)

Knochen verbrennen bei 760°C, und damit ist eigentlich auch schon alles gesagt. Komm', laß' uns spielen "König und Königin", dreimal darfst Du raten, wer von beiden ich dann bin! Doch im Grunde ist dies alles einerlei, zu Staub werden wir zerfallen und sind dann... ach... ohnehin gleich! Dennoch muß ich bekennen, die Einsicht fällt zuweilen schwer, Dinge an denen wir hängen, geben wir nur höchst ungern her. Oh, alles ist vergänglich und existiert nur kurze Zeit, wovor wir uns so fürchten, ist meistens bloße Eitelkeit. Was and're von uns glauben, ist flüchtig, wie ein furz im Wind. Laß ' sie denken, was sie wollen, es gibt Dinge, die wirklich wichtig sind! Komm', schließe Deine Augen und sag' geschwind: WAS KANNST DU SEH'N? Schaust du mit off'nem Herzen, werden selbst garst'ge Monster wunderschön...

("Beauty comes from the inside and so does ugliness! Yet, make-up is my armour, Dear, and I must hide my face. One and one is sometimes three, sometimes nothing at all, all is mortal, all is vain ...- and mortal things must fall!")

Knochen verbrennen bei 760°C, und damit ist eigentlich auch schon alles gesagt.

7. The Hourglass

8. Transfiguration

Nothing is in this world can be as immaculate and pure as the love of us Cold Ones for the dead. Our love lives only in those fleeting moments of recollection ...- memories we're fearing to forgot.

Our love knows neither kiss or touch, we are embracing dust, air or ourselves when visualizing what we've lost. Awoken by a sound or scent, some visions call sad phantoms ..., floating, wrapped in fading colours ...- our lament.

And then there is the all-devouring dread:
"some day I might not bring him back ..., when my feeble mind can't help but lose the contours of his face".
Lost forever, lone and sad, gone forever to the dead ...- so far beyond the barriers of the opposite space.

Yet, alas, despite it all ...
walking through these deserted halls ...
It's easy ... still ... to love the dead...-
It's easier to love the dead.

9. Has He Come To Test Me?

10. If Loneliness Was All

a stage:
(by the window, darkest night)

Imagine what it would be like if loneliness was all ...! No fulfillment, nor hope inside, could I endure this sadest fate if loneliness was all ...?

(scene cut)

"Will I ever find the one I've waiting for a thousand years?"
but the answer to this question lies within the confines of your (hopes and) fears.
"Heal me, feel me, reveal and seal me! Shed a light upon my lonely soul!"
But there is no-one (no other being) on the outside to make you whole ...

(scene cut)

"Twelve faces shape the unholy circle, one mask for any opportunity. This sphere must remain incomplete ...- (as) in its centre the thirteenth mask is me."
If love was something I could feel, at least some kind of cheerfulness ...- but i feel nothing, drowned in pain, half-frozen in my emptiness
Beyond this veneer of friendless lies my true face, that no-one knows. This mask's a lie, obvious and sad, my heart is empty and all is cold.

The same stage:
(on the staircase, some other night)

Imagine, what it would be like, if love was really all ...! Then I'd truly be alone without a resting place or a final home, if love was really all ...
"Confide a secret to me, and I'll keep it to myself! I'm like a temple built of sadness, trustworthy like a grave ..."

(scene cut)

11. Daffodils

SOPOR AETERNUS LYRICS