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The Snow Leopard Lyrics

"the way is to climb
the way is to lie still
and let the moon do its work on your body

and then to rise
through forests and oceans of lives
and through the way of the black rocks, splitting, wide,
and flow
ten thousand miles."

well, i've had enough,
wasting my body, my life
i'll come away, come away from the shallows

but can this sullen child,
as bound as the ox that i ride,
climb to the heart of the white wind, singing, high,
and blow
through my frozen eyes?
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3 Meanings

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Cover art for The Snow Leopard lyrics by Shearwater

This song is named after/about the Peter Matthiesen book. If you've never read it, get it. It will change your life.

JM had this to say: "I wanted to write a song that reflected the exalted/frustrated way I felt when reading the book, rather than responding to it in a more literal way. Did you see the "Planet Earth" footage of a snow leopard hunting in the Himalayas? So surreal and beautiful..."

Cover art for The Snow Leopard lyrics by Shearwater

The opening piano to this song always vaguely reminds me of a mash of classic silverchair and radiohead... but thats me...

Cover art for The Snow Leopard lyrics by Shearwater

it definitely sounds like Everything in its right place at the start!