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By the poet Ghalib:

Ghazal 7

We never had the chance to meet our beloved
however long we lived we would live in longing

If we had lived for the promise of heaven we didn’t believe
had we we would have died in the joy of its word

Imagine what you think of as grief were a spark
from the vein of the stone would flow life’s blood

Who has seen the single face of the beloved
if one of us glimpsed her shadow she unravels

With questions of faith and thirsting ideals
they might call me a priest if I wasn’t a drunk


Ghazal 12

Not the blossom of song not the veil of music
I am the sound of my own breaking

You toy with the length of your dark curls
I am captive to my own dark thoughts

We brag to ourselves that we are different
this weakness has burdened our simple grief

Now you have come and I find myself bowing
this blessing a sadness this prayer a longing

I am a fragment sounding the dawn
you are the walls of my every echo



Ghazal 18

Come here I am suddenly restless for you
I am a coward impatient with waiting

The trade-off is paradise for my life in this world
but drunkenness never cures the hangover

Through a veil of tears I abandoned your party
like a child I’m unable to silence my weeping

My shudderings of thought no longer give joy
without flower blossoms the spring has no name

I have sworn myself off drinking again
but I’m known to break such resolutions

Almost. I am actually stuck in Paris and have been for days now and can't get back to Stockholm..No flights are leaving and all the trains are fully booked.... I find it rather amuzing, if you're stuck somewhere there is no better place to be stuck. The sun is shining, the men are pretty, the nights intoxicating. BUT Now that I've been stuck in limbo for a few days I'm actually starting to itch because Im suppose to be in the studio laying down vocals, on the other hand, if its a nature catastrophe and we're all going down, who cares about my album? So if this album is delayed ( probably amongst a lot of other things in the world) you'll know why.... Since I had nothing better to do yesterday I decided to wander to Pere Lachaise (where Edith Piaf and Jim Morrisson amongst other lies dead....) to gather some inspiration for what could be an upcoming crisis... My conclusion; ? ? ? ? Life is not over til its over. Cheers on that! Clirr clirr. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Oh my people. Oh people, people. .... I’m now back where I started. Dressed all in black in a cold Stockholm. .... Weird haircut..... 500 shades of grey. .... A weary heart and a mind that never sleeps. .... A mountain of dreams to climb..... Layers of sticky clothes to shield me from the wind..... Hot/cold. .... A bag that’s either to small or big, and I never seem to find my chopstick..... Coffee,coffee,coffee..... Long time no see, how you been, what’s new?.... Nothing much. .... I should read more books..... I wish I sang like Karen Dalton..... Does Leonard Cohen know I love him?.... Maybe I should start having babies?.... Maybe I should start putting some more effort into my looks and get out of my blackness. .... A young Charlotte Rampling? .... How many days a week is Bob Dylan at peace/ease?....happy? Maybe I should quit internet? .... Before I do, I will spill some news,.... Jamaica…Uganda….. hold on. Love you always. X ....

Here you go, Internet.
The first live performance EVER of this song:
An homage to an idea lost in the fire.
Fortunately for us all, two camera men happened to be lurking in the shadows while me and my band got our groove on for the first time since we recorded it.
Why the wait one might think? Well, me as well as other things had to dwell and change shapes for a while but now... Winter became spring. There is hope again!

Enjoy.

Much love.

LL

Credit:
A film by: Frode&Marcus
Directed by: Marcus Palmqvist & Frode Fjerdingstad.