A NAME A NAME A NAME
Monday at dawn, the alarm’s crowing on,
Ring, ringing the new day in.
She’s up out of bed, making breakfast
And dreading heading to work again.
She’s tired.
She steps off of the train and then out in the rain,
Carried away on a sea of strangers.
Men gaping up from their papers
At ladies weightless as vapors
Make her tired.
So tired.
The telephone calls and the windowless walls
Siphon the life from the halls where all these
Half-human beings sit staring at screens
Repeating routines without meaning
Leaving her tired.
So tired.
She closes the door to her office and sits in her chair
And there in the quiet, she hears it,
A name she knows from somewhere.
In the aspect of a face,
In colors and in shapes,
In a fragrance, in a taste,
She hears a name, a name, a name.
In the melody that plays
Behind the memory of a place,
In a kiss, in an embrace,
She hears it: a name, a name, a name.
And if every passing day
Is the unfolding of a play
Then the sum of it should say
A name, a name, a name.
OUT OF TUNE
In the corner of the room,
Down and out of tune,
A lonely old upright
With a jagged set of keys
That unlock old memories–
Sentimental melodies,
Voices echoing,
Beautiful funeral flowers.
I remember when I used to be
Part of the family
When I was younger.
But now the glory days are gone
I’m no use to anyone.
Out of shape and out of key,
they’ve all forgotten me.
So I while away the afternoon
In a drab and drafty room
With all the love that’s laid to rest
Deep inside my chest.
But come and sit beside me
Come and touch me again.
Come and press a message into my hand
And try and find a melody in me
If you can.
Between the fractured and the fake
I’d take the former any day,
But with a caveat.
You see, a man’s a paradox,
With good and evil in the box–
Frequencies bickering
Like brothers in the back seat.
“Mom, are we there yet?”
“No.”
But if you’ve got the mind to take a swing,
I’ve got the hammer and the string.
And when the player plays
I was made to resonate.
So come and sit beside me
Come and touch me again.
Come and press a message into my hand
If you can take a good dissonance
Like a man.
Your love is a hand in the dark
And hope is the sound of the song
That it plays in my heart.
RISE UP
Every stone that makes you stumble
And cuts you when you fall,
Every serpent here that strikes your heel
To curse you when you crawl,
The King of Love one day will crush them all.
And every sad seduction
And every clever lie,
Every word that woos and wounds
The pilgrim children of the sky,
The King of Love will break them by and by.
And you will rise up in the end.
You will rise up in the end.
I know the night is cruel,
But the day is coming soon,
And you will rise up in the end.
If a thief had come to plunder
When the children were alone,
If he ravaged every daughter
And murdered every son,
Would not their father see this?
Would not his anger burn?
And would he not repay the tyrant
In the day of his return?
Await, await the day of his return.
‘Cause he will rise up in the end.
He will rise up in the end.
I know you need a savior,
And he is patient in his anger,
But he will rise up in the end.
And when the stars come crash into the sea
When the high and mighty fall down on their knees
When you see the sun descending in the sky
The chains of death will fall around your feet
But you will rise up in the end.
DO YOU REMEMBER
Do you remember
How I called you by your name
When we were innocent and tender,
Tinder to the flame,
And how I watched you for a moment
From across a crowded room
Until you turned as if to notice
And I wondered if you knew?
Do you remember?
And do you remember
How we stood so close
Beneath the falling awning of September?
I was shaking like a leaf.
Pulled the ring out of my pocket
And I held your hand in mine–
Rode the roller coaster rocket
Through the ceiling of the sky.
Do you remember?
And do you remember
All the nights you kept me warm?
In the refuge of your laughter
I found shelter from the storm.
Now I know that love is faithful
Through the changes and the tears
And I will always be so grateful
When I look back on those years.
Do you remember?
The years have gone so fast,
And I wish that I could hold you forever,
But you’re slipping through my hands.
Well, please believe that I am better
‘Cause I’ve known you.
And do you remember,
When the morning fills the sky,
How all our darkest dreams surrender
To the coming of the light?
And when I brush aside this curtain
To find you shining like the dawn,
Beyond the ending of this world
We will go on and on and on.
SHE IS THE RISING SUN
I would say that I was lost in space–
Shivering stone in a lonely sky.
I was sinking in my silent grave,
And I was drowning in the darkness
Till she woke me with her light.
She is bright as the morning,
Fair as the evening wanes.
There is warmth in her fingers,
Light on her lovely face.
She is the sun.
She is the rising sun.
And there’s a hole in the pocket of the midnight blue
And I am slipping through like a lucky dime.
I’m running like a boy in brand new shoes.
And when I’m flying by Orion she is shining in my mind.
She is on my horizon,
Rising to wake the dawning day.
And she’s drawing me homeward,
Driving my tears away.
And we are dancing in orbit,
Marking a season’s turn.
And though I cast her reflection
She is the fire that burns.
She is the sun.
She is the rising sun.
4TH OF JULY
The first star of the evening
Was singing in the sky,
High above our blanket in the park,
And by the twilight’s gleaming
On the fourth day of July
The city band played on into the dark.
And then a cannon blast.
A golden flame unfolding
Exploded in a momentary bloom.
The petals fell and scattered
Like ashes on the ocean
As another volley burst into the blue.
But the first star of the evening never moved.
We stood in silence,
The young ones and the old,
As the bright procession passed us by–
A generation dying,
Another being born,
A long crescendo played out in the sky.
This nation, indivisible,
Will perish from the earth,
As surely as the leaves must change and fall.
And the band will end the anthem
And to dust she will return.
So the sun must set on all things, great and small.
But the first star of the evening
Will outlive them all.
97
The year my brother went away,
The song got sad
And I woke up one day
Feeling so funny I forgot to laugh,
Like I was all up in my head
With no way out
And sad for nothing, just sad,
Every day was down.
It happened overnight.
The flier on the wall
Said, “Do you feel nothing at all?
And do you wonder if you’re even real?”
Well, my feelings exactly,
‘Cause where was the old me
Who used to be happy,
Who used to think he was okay?
A little girl was taken–
We tied a ribbon around the tree.
And the search went on for ages
While the search went on for me.
And I thought about her mother–
There was nothing she could do.
‘Cause she couldn’t go back
And she couldn’t go on,
And God only knew
Where her baby had gone.
The year my brother went away
And the song got sad,
Everything changed
And we could never go back.
Yeah everything changes,
Everything dies.
The year my brother went away
It happened overnight.
NEW YEAR
This year
I’m gonna love you better than last year.
I’m through repeating the past crimes.
Learned my lesson the last time.
And you say
You need more than a new day.
I know I never had a true heart,
But love is gonna give us a new start.
It’s a new year, a new day.
It’s a new scene in an old play,
And I finally decided
Love is alive in the choice you make
To give it away.
It’s a new year, a new dawn.
It’s a new line in an old song,
And I’m finally believing
Love is the reason the past is gone
And the world turns on.
Sometime
You’re gonna make up your mind–
If all you really want is more love
You gotta give her your love.
So you say a prayer and catch your breath
(Dear God, won’t you help her to see)
And you’re so alive and so scared to death
(That I’m not the man I used to be)
And you say what you mean, not what you meant to
(Believe me when I say)
She just smiles, like, “What has got into you?”
It’s a new year...
It's gonna happen sometime
You're gonna make up your mind
If all you want is more love
You gotta give her your love
So you're saying your prayers
And you're so scared
But I believe that the past is gone
And love's the reason the world turns on
THE OLD MAN
The poor old man kept mostly to himself
A book unread and dusty on the shelf.
Seeds in packets, never sown,
The Oldsmobile he barely drove.
In the garden, down on hands and knees,
He hurries, taking care that no one sees
The money in the rusty tin.
He lays it in the earth again.
Unless the seed is sown,
The flower hidden never opens.
The bright young soldier came home from the war
And built this house some sixty years ago
To win the one his heart dreamed of,
But she could not return his love.
He wept and swore he’d never lose again,
And so he laid his seasons end to end
Alone behind these quiet walls,
An old man and a withered heart.
Unless the seed is sown,
The flower hidden never opens.
NOTHING FOR THE ACHE
The world’s a friendly salesman
Blowing down the door.
“To have is to be happy,
What you need is something more.”
And they charm you with the package
And they bleed you with the price.
He can empty out your pockets.
Can he fill you up inside?
It’s all a line.
There’s nothing for the ache,
The groaning of a heart about to break
You’ll notice when you lie in bed awake
Feeling like you’re falling.
And the world’s a pretty harlot
When you’re traveling alone
And a fool can see she’s looking
And a fool would take her home,
‘Cause her love is so expensive
And her flattery is cheap.
When you’ve gotten what you wanted
And you’re back out on the street,
Then you’ll see
There’s nothing for the ache,
The groaning of a heart about to break
You’ll notice when you lie in bed awake,
Feeling like you’re falling.
And there’s nothing for you here.
Your life is like a mist that disappears,
Fading like a ringing in the ears–
You strain to hear the sound and then it’s gone.
How my heart is bleeding.
I cry with every beating.
Tell me why are we born with these souls inside
That burst and break us open?
Why,
If there’s nothing for the ache?
No healing for a heart that’s bound to break?
No lover when you lie in bed awake,
And not a hand to hold you
With a word that won’t deceive,
To bring you in and meet this burning need
In the haven of a love that never leaves?
In all your dreams you were only falling
In the arms of God.
BINARY STAR
Down the rainy lane,
driving alone in a car,
Alone in a lonely car,
Neville is looking for love.
On a rainy day,
Daisy’s a wedding cigar.
She is a Binary star.
She was out looking for someone
Out in the rain.
And Neville’s at the signal
With the wipers whipping across the glass,
He passed by her.
Music on the radio was love.
All that she can hear
Above the racket of the gears
Above the traffic in her ears
Is all the rain.
So down the rainy lane,
Daisy’s alone in her heart,
Alone in a lonely heart.
Isn’t it easy to see that
In the daisy rain,
Neville is out of his mind,
He is a binary star.
There she goes walking slowly
And forever
There she’s going.
Now or never, Neville, get her,
Don’t you let her–
Going, going,
Gone.
WEAR YOUR WEDDING DRESS
Wear your wedding dress today, my love
And I will bind myself again to you
In joy and sorrow, come what may, my love.
Every day is the day to say I do.
Now come to me, my darling, come to me
And lie beside me in the dark again.
And comfort me, my darling, comfort me.
Every day is the day to take me in.
Time is short and we both know it is.
Today may be my only chance
To thank you for your love.
So grieve for me, my darling, grieve for me.
Think of me in death and close your eyes.
Then weep for me, my darling, weep for me.
Every day is the day to say goodbye.