Caitlyn Callery

Riding away to Banbury Cross
To see the fine lady upon the white horse.
The horse that she's riding has just thrown a shoe
She must get there, so now what will she do?

Rings on her fingers capture the sun
Bells on her boots bring the monks at a run.
Fine looking lady, when all's said and done,
Yours is a journey that has just begun.

Guarded by dragons with silver scales,
They stop her foes with a swish of their tails.
Licking the air with their great tongues of fire,
Light up the castle all covered in briar.

Rings on her fingers, beckoning me.
Bells on her boots ringing loud as can be.
Fine looking lady, when all said and done,
Yours is a journey that has just begun.

She must get through to Banbury Cross.
How will she get there without her white horse?
She will not walk there, she has too much pride,
And there's no carriage to take her inside.

Rings on her fingers that glisten so bright,
Bells on her boots toll the hour of midnight.
To hell in a handcart she plans her route,
With rings on her fingers and bells on her boots.

Sung in the round, a capella.
The cross at Banbury
That is the place to be
The fine lady to see.
Won't you come now with me?
The cross at Banbury
That is the place to be
The fine lady to see.
Won't you come now with me?

Ride away to fair Banbury,
That is the place for something to see.
To hell she will ride on her quickest route,
With rings on her fingers and bells on her boots.

Celestial city

I stand up on the mountain looking down over it all,
everything around me holds me tightly in its thrall.
The valley of the many coloured grasses just below
Pulls upon the golden thread, telling me it's time to go.

Ped’lling down the hilly path through the bracken and the briar
Where shining silver dragons taste the air with tongues of fire,
The whirring of my pushbike wheels sends rhythms through my head,
Singing through this no man's land ‘tween the living and the dead.

Glowing in the distance,
Reward for my persistence.
Symbol of true resistance.
Gleaming, oh, so pretty,
The celestial city.

The flowers fill the coming night with soporific fumes,
My eyelids growing heavier with every perfect bloom.
I cannot go much further coasting in this troubled state,
Pushing on with all I have to reach those gilded gates.

Glowing in the distance,
Reward for my persistence.
Symbol of true resistance.
Gleaming, oh, so pretty,
The celestial city.

I'll sing my song defiantly to keep myself awake.
The devil snapping at my heels reminds me what's at stake.
The certainty I started with, may never last the night,
But then I catch my second wind, and victory’s in sight.

Glowing in the distance,
Reward for my persistence.
Symbol of true resistance.
Gleaming, oh, so pretty,
the celestial…
celestial…
celestial city.

When I am with you, then we have sunshine,
We both know it's true, we have the sunshine,
It's all the reason I want to stay.
Endlessly summer, blue skies above me,
Eyes that are smiling tell me you love me,
They are the reasons I go away.
All you are to me means I can't stay.

Chorus
I will leave on the ship that waits in the Bay.
Please don't cry, for you know I must go away.
Give me all your love, in my heart it will stay,
I'll return it to you when I come home one day.

Storm winds come howling, stealing the sunshine,
Thunder is growling, threatens the sunshine.
Paradise taken, bound up in chains.
The dark is coming, it pulls us right down.
Hurricanes push, we collapse to the ground.
If I don't leave you, you will feel pain,
To save the sunshine, I face the rain.

Chorus
I will leave on the ship that waits in the Bay.
Please don't cry, for you know I must go away.
Give me all your love, in my heart it will stay,
I'll return it to you when I come home one day.

(Musical interlude)

Chorus
I will leave on the ship that waits in the Bay.
Please don't cry, for you know I must go away.
Give me all your love, in my heart it will stay,
I'll return it to you when I come home one day.

You stand in the sunshine, I'll be in the rain,
And dream of the day that I'll be here again.
Send your love with me, as I sail my pain
To the far horizon and then home again.

Send your love with me as I sail away,
Your love is the reason, why I can't stay.

I'd rather wear your feathers than a coat,
Then I'd soar
And want no more,
And want no more.

Instead, I feel life’s chains around my throat,
All life's care
So hard to bear,
So hard to bear.

The breeze that rises through the trees
Will lift my wings, and make me sing.
On air that's fresh and clear and pure,
I'll fly away, and cry no more.
I'll cry no more.

I want to feel my love for life ignite
And set ablaze
All of my days,
All of my days.

The flames that reach to heaven's dizzy heights
Burn my fears,
And dry my tears.
They dry my tears.

The breeze that rises through the trees
Will lift my wings, and make me sing.
On air that's fresh and clear and pure,
I'll fly away, and cry no more.
I'll cry no more.

I’ll cry no more.

Are you the hunter or the prey?
Do you pounce or hide away?
Trembling in the swaying grass
Hoping that this, too, will pass.

Life can come and knock you down,
Hammer you into the ground.
You don't have to take those blows,
You can still defeat your foes.

And when you're caught and unaware,
Just call out and I'll be there.
I'll lift you from your dark despair
And make you whole,
Because I care.
Because I care.

If life takes you by the throat
Follow me, just grab your coat.
You don't need to hide away,
Be the hunter, not the prey.

And when you're caught and unaware
Just call out and I'll be there.
I'll lift you from your dark despair
And make you whole,
Because I care.
Because I care.

We’ll fly up on eagle’s wings
Let our voices soar and sing.
There's no need for you to hide,
Not while I am on your side.

Yours is the smile that lights the heavens,
Yours is the laugh that beats the rain,
And everyone will say
You brighten up the darkest day.
Nobody looks to see the pain.

Yours is the face that sparks the daylight,
Pushing the night back out of view,
The clouds that line the sky
Disappear when you walk by,
Nobody sees the real you.

Nobody but me ever looks to see the real you.

I see the tears you shed in private,
I see the wounded agony,
Despair you tried to hide
From the people at your side,
Nobody sees it all but me.

The smile you give the world
Is the oyster round the pearl,
The shell around the girl,
The girl I know.
The face that holds the sun
Always promises such fun,
Another moonlight run.
It’s all for show.

And nobody but me ever looks to see the real you.

Yours is the face that sparks the daylight,
Pushing the night back out of view,
The clouds that line the sky
Disappear when you walk by,
Nobody sees the real you.

Nobody but me ever looks to see the real you.

Vini, vidi, vici, the Romans said
When they landed on that stony shore.
They came, they saw, they marched on through,
They took it all, then they took more,
Took the very sea strand from that shore.
Took the very sea strand from that shore.

Vini, vidi, vici, I heard you say
When you laid siege to my trusting heart.
You saw, you liked, you wore me down,
Broke through, then you tore it apart.
Left me no chance of a brand new start,
Left me no chance of a brand new start.

Romans never flew beneath the radar
Romans always walked and never flew.
The roads they made with marching feet
Were roads that ran both straight and true.
If only it could be said of you.
If only it could be said of you.

You marched right on through into the daylight,
Left me reeling in the moonlit dew.
You came, you saw, you took it all,
Left me with nothing that I knew,
Wond’ring what I ever did to you.
Wond’ring what I ever did to you.

Vini, vidi, vici, I heard you say,
And when at last I thought to ask you why,
Amor vincit omnia, you said,
I caught you in another lie.
It was like you didn’t even try.
So vale, mi amice, goodbye.
Go conquer someone else, this is goodbye.

From here it's so clear, right out to the sea,
Deep and fast and flowing free,
Flowing free.
It's everything that the day should be,
Except for you.
Except for you.

Seaspray washed the day, sparkled in the sun,
Straw gold that the witches spun,
Witches spun
In fairy stories once begun
And told by you.
And told by you.

We played in the shade of a pirate cave.
I knew you'd be there to save,
There to save.
You're everything, you made me brave.
It was all you.
It was all you.

It was ever after,
the magic and the laughter...

Then like a wave in winter you pushed and knocked me down.
A snowman in the summer, I melted to the ground.
Melted to the ground.
The dreams and games of childhood, the things we said would last,
You buried them like Spanish gold inside the pirate’s chest.
Inside the pirate’s chest.

What do people do when they lose it all?
When time and tide takes its toll,
Takes its toll.
Leave me, I'm one more broken doll
Without you.
Without you.

Grown up. All sewn up. Lost in memory.
Silenced by the shushing sea.
Shushing sea.
The innocents that we used to be
All lost to you.
All was for you.

It was ever after,
the magic and the laughter...

Then like a wave in winter you pushed and knocked me down.
A snowman in the summer, I melted to the ground.
Melted to the ground.
The dreams and games of childhood, the things we said would last,
You buried them like Spanish gold inside the pirate’s chest.
Inside the pirate’s chest.

From here it's so clear, right out to the sea,
Deep and fast and flowing free,
Flowing free.
It's everything that the day should be,
Except for you.
Except for you.