Lyrics

ONLY BREATH


Neither Christian nor Jew nor Moslem, nor Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen
Not any religion or cultural system
I'm not from the East of the West
Nor out of the ocean nor up from the ground
Not natural or ethereal, composed of elements at all
I do not exist
Nor belong to this world or the next
I did not descend from Adam and Eve
or any origin story
My place is the placeless, a trace of the traceless,
Neither body nor soul
My place is the placeless, a trace of the traceless,
Neither body nor soul
I belong to the beloved, have seen the two worlds as one,
And that one call to and know,
The first, the last, the outer, the inner,
Only that breath breathing
Only that breath breathing
Only that breath breathing
Human being
Human being
Human being



“Only Breath”, adapted from the poem by the same name in the Harper Collins publication The Essential Rumi, © 1995 by Coleman Barks, used with permission.
Brian Campbell, voice, guitar, music, lyrical adaptation.
Arrangements, sampled instruments, recording engineering: Martin Bennett. Recorded at Studio Loco, Montreal.