Carousel of the Cloud-Eaters

## **“Carousel of the Cloud-Eaters”**

**[Spoken Intro – loose, dreamy]**

Spin the lantern, don’t let it land

There’s a staircase drawn in sand

Someone whispered, “not this way”

But the floor just floated anyway

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**[Section I – tumbling rhythm]**

Crack the sky like sugared glass

Let the silver lizards pass

Tiptoe through a velvet hive

Count the clocks that stay alive

Tripwire moonbeams start to sing

Buttons grow on everything

Paper horses gently shout

“Turn yourself and turn about”

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**[Break – sudden drop / minimal]**

hush now—

the ceiling’s breathing

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**[Section II – rising, chant-like]**

Up the spiral, down the well

Ring the softly melting bell

Feathered footsteps lose their sound

Circles square and squares go round

Hey now, carry what you can’t

Fold it in a sideways chant

Every maybe, every might

Glows a little in the night

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**[Hook – repeating, hypnotic but not a chorus]**

Roll me through the painted tide

Let the colours be my guide

Close the map and slip inside

There’s no edge on this ride

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**[Section III – playful / absurd imagery]**

Teacups chatter, spoons take flight

Dancing forks in boots too tight

Marble kings with jelly crowns

Trade their thrones for upside-downs

A laughing door without a wall

Opens wide but not at all

Candles drip in reverse rain

Lighting shadows just the same

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**[Bridge – stretched, dreamy drift]**

Was it me or was it you

Or the echo passing through

All the names we never said

Sleeping lightly in our head

Drift a while, don’t ask why

Watch the ground forget the sky

Every step a soft disguise

For the truth that never tries

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**[Hook – variation]**

Roll me through the painted tide

Let the colours be my guide

Tie the moment open wide

There’s no edge on this ride

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**[Section IV – rhythmic, almost marching but unstable]**

Tick-tock, the jelly clock bends

Forward falling never ends

One step left and two steps through

Every path divides in two

Lantern fish in treetop seas

Hum in tangled harmonies

Catch a thought and let it go

Watch it bloom and overflow

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**[Outro – dissolving / cyclical feel]**

Spin the lantern, let it fall

Wasn’t there a floor at all?

Someone laughs behind your name

Nothing leaves the way it came

Roll me through…

roll me through…

roll me through the painted tide…

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