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Till We Have Faces

Eyes Wide Open

Eyes wide open
To the great train robbery of my soul
Impending blindness
Of the kind that’s beyond my control

Eyes wide open
To the secret forest beyond those tear-filled trees
Heart-rending blindness
Won’t testify that I’m on my knees

Maybe I’m a little young to care
Maybe I’m a little old to cry
I don’t know
Maybe I’m a little weak to dance
Maybe I’m a little strong to die
I don’t know

Concentrating
Love and I’m hating myself again
Impersonating
The smallest shadow of my original self again

Does anybody really want to grasp
My hand and lift me to my feet?
Does anybody really want to be the breeze
That frightens off this heat?

Someday

And if you call my name
Make it clear
And if you call my name
Make it plain
And if you call my name
Make it evident
I wouldn’t miss it for the world

And if you need my attention
Be bizarre
Feel free to ignore convention
(it’s alright)
And if it’s a matter of permission
You can do me harm
I wouldn’t miss it for the world

Someday
I’ll pray
Don’t leave me alone

And if you call my name
Call it again
My mind’s been known to wonder
Call it again
You know I’ve been waiting
For this since God knows when
I wouldn’t miss it for the world

Like A Radio

Confused
Ever since I spied you in the rooms of my mind
Now I can’t deny you

Bleeding and bruised
Like a vagabond in rags I’ve walked the streets to you door
To find just what’s in store

I see you
You and many others in your clean well-lighted place
Where I would find disgrace

But I do
Know I’d find contentment just to be your furniture
I need nothing more

In the thick of the night take me out of the cold
Let me sing inside
Like a radio
In the thick of the night before we grow too old
Let me sing inside
Like a radio

Shivering and cold this night’s conducive to a
Flight into my soul but I stand here
Though my heart grows bold
Once on the inside I can quietly persist
And hold my tears

And so still I wait
Though I grow much weaker
I will not faint
I’ll stay true

Believe me when I say
I’d climb to heaven
Crawl beneath the lowest hell
To stay near you

Iron Curtain

Yesterday I saw
The iron curtain
Around your heart

Making me cry
Making me wonder
Bringing me down
But making me love you

Making me sad
Making me sorry and
A little afraid
But making me love you

Yeah

Yesterday I saw
The iron curtain
Around your heart

Cast Me Away

Cast me away
From yesterday’s things
In deed and in my memory

Sweeten the taste
Of the past
And borrow just a little more time for me

And Can It Be

This night is so big
This night has stars falling into my hands
And if I listen real close
I can hear some distant train crossing
(it makes me wonder)

Cast your shadow
Cast your shadow across my heart
Investigate me
I hope I’ve been yours right from the start
(it makes me wonder)

And can it ever be
I would know
Experience
The casualty of your love
All I can ever see
Is the need
Climb out of here
Find the way to some quiet place
Where you are

This night is so dark
This night has silence and very little fear
Tell me this welcome peace
Isn’t dancing with the ghost of future tears
(it makes me wonder)

See how the road melts
Hear how the flowers fall
Feel how the smoke rolls
In front of my eyes

See how the trees bend
Hear how the heavens hush
Feel how the earth fades
In front of my eyes

And can it ever be?

No
Please no

Gentle Wounds

Entertaining visions of a
Lucid nature
Emotional precision
It’s our best behavior
Rattling the streetcars on
Forgotten streets
Making a connection with
The bittersweet

Crawling into your mind
For some radiant reunion
Tapping out the messages
That signify your
Folded wings
The ground around receding
Feel love’s stinging sword
Cut deep and catch
The joy that’s bleeding out of
Gentle wounds

Feel the pang of hunger
Feel the new life awaken
Restoring everything
That once was taken...

Symbolizing agony that
Made the women weep
Feel love’s stinging sword
Slice deep and catch
The joy that’s bleeding out of
Gentle wounds

Bruised and beaten torn apart
The price that’s paid for love divine
Can’t spare your life don’t spare
Your heart
Just feel the joy...

If I’m Drowning

If I’m drowning within your open sea
Save me, save me
If I’m lost within your strange anatomy
Talk to me, talk to me
If I’m on fire and I’m melting in the heat
Touch me, touch me
If I’m tangled in your raw philosophy
Then you better walk with me
Walk with me

I’m just walking across your heart
In spite of the weather
(won’t you walk with me?)

If I’m dancing through your passages and fall
Catch me, catch me
If I’m screaming in your sky and tell you all
Hear me, hear me
If I’m feigning coherence and calmness
Laugh with me, laugh with me
If I tremble at your close proximity
Then you better believe me
Believe me

I can see you now
I can hear you now
I can feel you now
I can taste you now
In spite of the weather
Yeah

Sea and Sky

I feel like a castaway but I’m not afraid
You and me and a couple dusty volumes
I wanna be your messiah but there’s no way
I feel the tide roll in around us

You be the sea and i’ll be the sky
I want you with me now don’t wonder why
You be the sea and i’ll be the sky
Endeavour with me now don’t wonder why

This love’s like a labyrinth but I’m not afraid
You and me and a strong sense of forever
Like the old Swiss Family Robinson
Let’s drift away
If we go down at least we’ll drown together
(i can’t forget you)

It’s a little like this, it’s a little like being afraid
It’s a little like yesterday, though I don’t mean
To invade Clouds rolled in front of your
Face your tears became the rain I heard
Wonderful thunder as you murmured as
You murmured my name
(take me far away, teach my soul to feel
That way You take me far away
It’s wonderful, wonderful)

Roll away, roll away with me
You be the sea
And i’ll be the sky

Fly Dance

Fly dance
The liberation of love with my two hands
Fly dance
The cultivation of love with my two hands
Fly dance
The sensation of love with my two hands
Fly dance
The revelation of love with my two hands

I can tell you what I have to
I can tell you what I need to
But it won’t really stick in your head

I’d really rather liberate
Yes I’d really rather free you
I wanna rip you from your spider’s web

Spider’s in your head
Creepin’ ‘round your bed
The spider’s lookin’ now what does he see

Sly and ceremonial
You know he’s a phony old
Tycoon with a penitentiary

Paul and Virginia

Spill-tainted pages of poetic prophecy
Tickle my interest and taunt at my fantasy
Gentle new lover, favorite friend
With hidden desire that bothers my conscience
Again

Like Paul and Virginia!
Sit close to me on the swing
Like Paul and Virginia!
Sit close to me and I’ll sing
(whisper my name, kiss me again)
I’ll sing for you
With you
Oh, you

Cobalt blue vessels, clean same sex rabbits
Old movie romance and a healthy new habit

Moving in passion, resting in reason
With a strong tender poet who touches each region within

Illuminations that shine on the river
Subliminal glances provoking a shiver

Palms full of mystery, fingers of magic
Greetings so glorious, partings so tragic

Like Paul and Virginia!

Ubiquitous Hands

It’s a first impression
Silence is deceiving
But just around the corner I can hear
I can hear you breathe

It’s a calm confession
A curious obsession
No matter when I listen I can hear
I can hear you breathe
I can hear you breathing

If you stay and never go away
I’ll repeat the same mistakes I’ve made
I’ll believe most anything you say and
Watch my heart of stone melt into clay

First I’m disbelieving
Then I’m almost drowning
Swimming in the ocean with the sound
I can hear you breathe

Walking in the heavens
Falling on the ground
Rolling on the earth
You’re all around
I can hear you breathe
I can hear you breathing

In your hands
In your hands
(fall into your Ubiquitous hands)

It’s an indication
I’m your destination
I hope it’s not just
My imagination

The Genius of Water

Meet me in the morning
At the bus stop
We’ll ride into the town
Down to the square
To see the angel
See the angel in the fountain
Meet me in the morning

Meet me after daybreak
Tie your hair back
We’ll drift into the crowd
Get lost among the loud
And they’ll be singing
They’ll be singing in our daydream
When we’re tired we’ll leave them
All behind and walk away

I love you a lot

Meet me in the courtyard
Where the saints pray
Musing in our stare
Still painfully aware
That there are others
Shoulds and woulds with names and faces
Close your eyes and open up your mind
And hear me say

See the angel
She’s dancing in the water
Hear the angel
She’s laughing in the water

Something in the way that you
Said you really felt that we could be
Good friends forever
Together for a long time

Patience

Jacksie

Her hair
Her face
Her figure in your window
Her hands unlace your innermost
As you retrace your steps of her familiar
Her ghost appears with raven eyes

To dance
To spin
To spill into your memory
To glare
To grin
To chill you now
But through the din of silence all around you
She stirs within she still knows how

They laid her in the ground
She still comes around
A love that never dies takes you by surprise

Hello
Hello
Now she’s the voice inside you
Hello again so soft and low
Do you suppose your disbelief could blind you
She’s still alive for all you know

Heaven couldn’t hold her
She’ll be by your side when it’s your turn
All she’s seen without you
To you she’ll confide when it’s your turn.

I’ve Been Slipping

I’ve been slipping down in the grass
Counting the steps to your back door

I’ve been praying you’d see me pass
Knowing somehow you’ve seen me before

I’ve been sighing more than I should
Spilling my glass there’s ice on the floor

But I’ve been busy gathering wood
Hoping our fire will burn all the more

I’ve been stealing hundreds of bells
Ringing my way along your shore

And I’ve been smiling all to myself
Savouring signs of what’s in store

I’ve been climbing branches and vines
Gathering leaves for long festoons

And I’ve been rhyming myriad lines
Full of your face and the gleam of the moon

How Does It Feel (To Be On My Mind)

Now if I could disclose secrets heaven only knows
If I’d lose all my ground and see your smile decompose
So I rest on the fact that I love you I suppose
And I hang like the colors on a blind man’s clothes

How does it feel
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on my mind

I’m the pale moon rising I’m the ghost in flight
That steals through the spaces of your inward night
I’m the moth that’s resting on your window sill
With a lust for light and an iron will

Pray tell talk to me can you feel me in the fingers
Of the wind in your hair as if I’m standing there
Very well like a child running to some mademoiselle
In his hand to his ear is pressed a great seashell

I’m the moon-eyed fish swimming up to you
You’re the tall Titanic but you’ll be subdued
There’s someone mapping out a rendezvous
It seems to me.

You’re in my shadow here in my room
Love’s such a strange word here in my room
I’m standing barefoot here in my room
Sad as a gypsy here in my room

Sister

You say he feels it
His face reveals it
My sweet trepidation
An eagerness of my own
A shiver ships through my bones
Can you see cobblestone roads
Running through his stare.

He’s so clandestine
He’s such a vision
So tell me sister
He sits here in this small dive
There’s something behind those eyes
Did you perceive the wilderness
Resting there... So did I

Laughing he stalls me
Crazy he calls me
He thinks me artless
For not stocking berry wines
From certain Australian vines
Have mercy sister
He’s travelled ‘round the world

He’s like a shadow
There by the window
But no man’s an island
No man’s an artesian well
He loves the cathedral bell
It sings about him
When he goes home at night...
So do I

Il Est Dans Mon Poche

Here is my fortune
Here is my fame
Here is my future
It’s in my pocket

And if my fortune
Weren’t only lint and small change
Wishing in one hand
Bird in another
See which one will take me farthest from here

Here is my hopelessness
Though I’m not helpless
I need a window
That I can climb through

Just one small opening
A little lantern to light my way
Discovering my hands
Catch at the altar
I fall on my face as the words hit my ear

Here is my fortune
Here is my fame
Here is my future
It’s in my pocket

Il est dans mon poche

Flanders Fields

In flanders fields far away
I lost my love one day

Lullabye

The night has a thousand eyes and ears
The rain tends to wash away my fears
It’s not been long but it seems like years
And now you’re here

Brush away my tears
Brush away my tears

The lullaby in your quiet eyes
Instinctive as the night
And just as warm

Brush away my tears
Brush away

Circle of Quiet

Maybe you can tell my why I’m prone to wander
I’m like a gypsy to the bone
Every time I hear the rain amid the thunder
I want to run outside and shed my clothes
But I want to stay with you
Long enough to love you right
And I want to say to you
I love the patience in your eyes

Here I am standing in a circle of quiet
Where a truce is tacitly observed
Standing in a circle of quiet
Waiting for the world to turn
Waiting for the world to turn
Waiting for the world to turn

And a hundred days and night could find me scattered
All around the world without a name
But you’re more than just a feather in my hat
More than just a fetter on my frame
When I look up in the sky at night
I want to go out and chase the stars
But like the catcher in the rye
I want to stay where you are

There is no shadow of turning with thee
There is no shadow of turning

I Painted My Name

I painted my name on a bridge today
In black and white and red and grey
You know it’s really not far away
From the banks of the river
Where the president used to play

I put it high above the rocks below
It’s sheltered from the wind and rain and snow
You know the bridge where we used to go
Our childish trolls and freaks and giant demons

Sunday i hope you might come by
On a big white boat with the sails up high
Sunday i hope that you’ll be true
To all it is i see in you

Yet strange enough I’m still in love with you
And so it seems there’s work to do
I’ve got my bow and arrow and Barlow blade
Come dawn I want to ride in your brigade

Sunday I hope you might come by
On a big white horse in the big white sky
Sunday I know we’ll reconcile
Down by the river we’ll dream awhile
Down by the river we’ll sing awhile
Down by the river we’ll play awhile
Down by the river we’ll cry awhile
Down by the river we’ll dance awhile
Down by the river just you and i

Rhapsodie

And I couldn’t love you
Any more
Than I do right now

And The Furies that I feared were
Eumenides to lead me here
Here i linger

And the cadences we hear
May grow different in coming years
Still I’ll tell you

That I couldn’t love you
Any more
Than I do right now

And if you should ever leave
Then I would love you for what you need
I could still tell you

That I couldn’t love you
Any more
Than I do right now

Grey Monologue

This is as close as you and I ever get to the ocean
My third story bedroom window
Overlooking this rain-drenched night
You breathe, and I recall the power of trains

Let’s let the night sleep in
Let’s pray that it engulfs us

You know
I can’t even begin to see your eyes
But if I’m ever really drunk
It will be from drinking every drop of your soul
And running till I sweat your spirit

Eve

Happy with myself

I’m happy with myself
I’m happy with myself
And I don’t have what it takes to please you

I’ve been trying to write you a letter
I’ve been trying for two or three years
Maybe I could just say it better
Practice some in front of a mirror here oh

I’ve been trying to build you a heaven
Crowns of thorns in mason jars
Angels that dance on pins and needles
Maybe I’ve tried a little too hard oh

Within without

Is it because I cannot see you
That you feel so free to steal
My excess baggage full of darkness and despair
While I fumble with my locks
You’re content to stand and knock
Yet I know your knack for thievery is rare

Do you know they call it arson
Setting fires without permission
In my heart for sure and maybe elsewhere too
Though your lack of inhibition
Captures my imagination
I end up a wiser person thanks to you

It’s coming to fruition
The sympathetic vibration
Your train is at my station
Within without

Then there is your flare for murder
There’s a dagger in the border
Of your cloak and I suspect a captain’s gun
As you put to death suspicions
Kindly kill my fears as well
Exorcise and slay the demons one by one

Though I’m usually pacifistic
You are mercifully sadistic
And I didn’t know that murder could be good
But the roses came crimson
Springing from the prison
Of the floorboards where there once were stains of blood

It’s coming to fruition
The sympathetic vibration
Your train is at my station
Within without
It’s calming my suspicion
With soothing intuition
Your train is at my station
Within without
Within without
Within without
Within without

Should

Bone dry

Should I never dance
Like Salome danced
Bathing in rain
And moonlight and flame
Should I never sweat
Surreal shadows
Rushing through my veins
Good red blood run red

Bone dry

Should I never speak
The wisdom of hands
Should I never use
The fingers that find
Should I never read
The words on my feet
Leading me to you
The blind lead the blind

Bone dry

Always
Doesn’t mean anything
Always
No

Should I never feel
The healing you bring
Take a look at me
I’m breathing, I’m breathing
Should I trace a line
From lips to heartbeat
Shoulder and across
To shoulder again

Bone dry

Always
Doesn’t mean anything
Always
No

Always
Doesn’t mean forever
Always
No

Bone dry

Conjectures of a guilty bystander

You are a gardener
You cultivate my soul
You water thirsty vines
That snake along my spine
In case I forget to shiver
You are a carpenter
You build the scaffolding
Replace the windowpane
I see the sky again
As if I’ve been delivered

You are a fisherman
My weather lets you know
When and when not to wait
Your hook’s inside the bait
I’m wary but I swallow
You are a messenger
You bring me all the news
The kind that never lies
It’s written in my eyes
You beckon and it follows

I get to be guilty

You are a singer too
Carry me like a tune
I’m like a newborn child
I’m wrapped up for a while
You’re swaying like a hobo
You are a circus clown
I’ve never laughed before
Beneath your canopy
Oh say a prayer for me
I want this in a photo

So be a photographer
I’m dancing naked now
Across the maple floor
Above the lion’s roar
Your pictures will protect me
You must be a scientist by now
With rumpled midnight hair
You’ve studied every pore
And every follicle
Of my bewildered body

I get to be guilty

Yours is a different light
I like my face that way
The canvas of my skin
Serene and strange but true

Melancholy room

Someone’s moving ‘round inside of me
Someone’s setting up shop where I can’t see
But I’m fine
But I’m fine
In this melancholy room

Someone opened up my mouth to speak
Someone pulled the words back into me
But I’m fine (lie)
But I’m fine (lie)
In this melancholy room

Scream like a silent movie
Call off the curious fingers
Feeling my heart
Spring on an arctic island
Pushing against my ribcage
Takes me apart
Smiles on my Friday face
Call it amazing grace
Are you leaving so soon
I’m mad as a march hare in June
In this melancholy room

Oh you can you
Can you see how I’ve fallen
In the fog
Cannot see very far
Cannot see the fallen
In the fog
Can you see what I see
Can you see
Do you wanna
You fallen
Can I call you god or messiah
You know you must...
Your body down

Sleep baby jane

Sleep baby jane
Sleep baby jane

Suicide suicide
Katie’s talking suicide
Homicide homicide
Mama killed my man
Turpentine turpentine
Potion for my valentine
Take a ride and take it
In a long black hearse

Sleep baby jane
Sleep baby jane

Vaseline vaseline
Ruby’s selling vaseline
Kerosene kerosene
Everyone’s a fetus
Chamomile chamomile
Someone spiked the chamomile
Shake it mama shake it
It was my idea first

Sleep baby Jane
Sleep baby Jane
Don’t scream
Sleep baby Jane
My baby

If you think I’m Jane
Let me kiss you
If you think I’m Jane
If you think I’m Jane
Let me call you an angel

Daddy untwisted

Are you my daddy
Are you

I don’t wanna cut you up
Drink you from a paper cup
I don’t wanna spit you out
Or kick you in the shin
I don’t wanna knock you down
Be your mother be a clown
I don’t wanna talk about
The shit you’re really in
I don’t wanna take a bow
No one’s clapping anyhow
I don’t wanna sneak around
And pray you’ll understand
I don’t wanna call your bluff
Enough’s enough
I don’t wanna see you
Chained up

Are you my daddy
Are you

I don’t wanna ruffle you
Cut the deck and shuffle you
Don’t wanna come to fisticuffs
Or stick you with a pin
I don’t wanna argue
Hurt your pride or make you blue
Your tongue is forked and clearly
There are scales upon your skin
I don’t wanna help ice crack
Give you a surprise attack
I don’t wanna cut you slack
And watch it go to hell
I don’t wanna tell you lies
Like Presbyterians or spies
I don’t wanna see you chained up

Are you my daddy
Are you

Don’t you run away
Leave me like a rainy day
I don’t wanna make you stay
Or stand up high above you
Don’t want you to see me cry
I’m just trying not to lie
I don’t wanna see you chained up

Birds

Fall on me
Fall on me

Birds of a feather and a featherless cap
Poor lovers breed songs in a two-room flat
Moist hands fold to pray for a painless truth
We dance on the tracks of a train called youth

Truth’s on the table like a toxic spill
And we wrestle in the sheets with our own freewill
If we never shake hands with a phantom called fame
I’ll still have your picture in a picture frame

If you should fall
Fall on me

Forty-acre farm we can call our own
With a chocolate lab and no telephone
The full moon’s leering in a lover’s swoon
And the apple tree’s swaying to a windy tune

(save me I’m falling for you)

But we won’t get to heaven if we just sit still
If we don’t cry murder maybe no one will
We’re riding tandem down sycamore hill
If we hit the brakes we’re gonna take a big spill

If you should fall
Fall on me

And if my hand were taken hold of
I’d slip away with you love
Slip away with you love

June

June the clouds in your eyes remind me of the way I feel
June the river will rise on all the secrets I conceal
June I’m following you somehow I’ve fallen far behind
June lately I feel I’d rather not believe love’s blind

Crazy it used to be so clear
What’s hazy used to be so clear
Am I lazy should I swallow all this fear
Crazy it used to be so

June I’m feeling so good I’d love to die here just like this
June I’m feeling so strange screams are tangled up with bliss
June when I’m afraid I find a thousand ways to laugh
June when I’m alone I forget you anyway I can

June help me help me I’m running out of things to say
June tell me tell me will he love me anyway
God look over there there’s pigeons nesting on your saints
God all I can say is forgive us rather forgive me

My love is a fever

My love is a fever
My love is a fable
My love is jazz licks
Improvised by toddlers
Bold Ulysses by nursery rhyme
And firelight

My love is a metamorphosis
Reason cold logic
Intuitively speaking
My love is syncopated
Spoon-fed ignorant
Well-read

My love is singular
My love is commonplace
As a gravedigger’s own birthplace
My love is a medicine
Feeds the sick heals the poor
Turns up the volume on the blind

My word it’s a trip
Like a migraine
On a moving train
It parachutes aeroplanes
Watch it fly

Eyes soar hands clap
Ears ring it’s a sand trap
Hair raising amazing
Grey city transformations
As lips sink stomachs ache
Monkeys shine fire flies
Foxes trot hobs knob
Porches swing brains storm
Hearts attack and air supplies
Heads light tails spin
Steeples chase you along your chin
Rock slides

Out of the woods now
A virgin in buckskin
Moccasins tall thin
She plays your mandolin
So maudlin you begin to spin
Out of the woods now

Falling (death of a tree)

I’ll awake to find your love
Falling like leaves to the ground
I’ll awake to find your love
Falling like leaves
You will look to find me down
Upon my knees without a sound
You will look to find me down
Upon my knees

Then we can fling wide the gates
Let go the last of our hate
Then we can sigh
Like the cool clear wind up high
Through the sky above
Then we can say we’re in love

Then we can rest mortal eyes
Laugh as we run out of temporal breath
Then we can move we can sing
We can tremble like birds
Through the sky above
Then we can say we’re in love

Good Dog Bad Dog

Latter days

What a beautiful piece of heartache this has all turned out to be.
Lord knows we’ve learned the hard way all about healthy apathy.
And I use these words pretty loosely.
There’s so much more to life than words.

There is a me you would not recognize, dear.
Call it the shadow of myself.
And if the music starts before I get there dance without me.
You dance so gracefully.
I really think I’ll be o.k.
They’ve taken their toll these latter days.

Nothin’ like sleepin’ on a bed of nails
Nothin’ much here but our broken dreams.
Ah, but baby if all else fails
Nothing’ is ever quite what it seems.
And I’m dyin’ inside to leave you with more than just cliches.

There is a me you would not recognize, dear.
Call it the shadow of myself.
And if the music starts before I get there dance without me.
You dance so gracefully.
I really think i’ll be o.k.
They’ve taken their toll these latter days.

But tell them it’s real. Tell them it’s really real.
I just don’t have much left to say.
They’ve taken their toll these latter days.
They’ve taken their toll these latter days.

All I need is everything

Slow down. Hold still.
It’s not as if it’s a matter of will.
Someone’s circling. Someone’s moving
A little lower than the angels.
And it’s got nothing to do with me.
The wind blows through the trees,
But if I look for it, it won’t come.
I tense up. My mind goes numb.
There’s nothing harder than learning how to receive.

Calm down. Be still.
We’ve got plenty of time to kill.
No hand writing on the wall:
Just the voice that’s in us all.
And you’re whispering to me,
Time to get up off my hands and knees,
‘cause if I beg for it, it won’t come.
I find nothing but table crumbs.
My hands are empty. God I’ve been naive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

Slow down. Hold still.
It’s not as if it’s a matter of will.
Someone’s circling. Someone’s moving
A little lower than the angels.
This voice calling me to you:
It’s just barely coming through.
Still, I clearly hear my name.
I’ve been fingering the flame
Like tomorrow’s martyr.
It gets harder to believe.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

So from now till kingdom come,
Taste the words on the tip of my tongue.
‘cause we can’t run truth out of town,
Only force it underground.
The roots grow deeper
In ways we can’t conceive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

All I need is all I need.

Etcetera whatever

Don’t speak.
Words come out your eyes.
You’re wet with this nightmare.
Like thorns you hold these secrets to your breast,
Your slender fingers closing into fists.

Trace your bruise
Like a guilty streak.
Hold the pain.
You’re a connoisseur.
You think you have no other gift to give,
But we have so much left to live.

We don’t need a lot of money.
We’ll be sleeping on the beach,
Keeping oceans within reach.
(whatever private oceans we can conjure up for free.)
I will stumble there with you
And you’ll be laughing close with me,
Trying not to make a scene
Etcetera. Whatever. I guess all I really mean

Is we’re gonna be alright.
Yeah, we’re gonna be alright.
You can close your eyes tonight,
‘cause we’re gonna be alright.

So come on now,
I can almost see
That place
On a distant shore.
And courage is a weapon we must use
To find some life you can’t refuse.

We don’t need a lot of money.
We’ll be sleeping on the beach,
Keeping oceans within reach.
(whatever private oceans we can conjure up for free.)
I will stumble there with you
And you’ll be laughing close with me,
Trying not to make a scene
Etcetera. Whatever. I guess all I really mean

Is we’re gonna be alright.
Yeah, we’re gonna be alright.
You can close your eyes tonight,
‘cause we’re gonna be alright.
All that I can see is your eyes.
Close your eyes.
Close your eyes.

Faithfully dangerous

Your paint dries, the canvas smiles,
With two eyes you lift yourself up.
Stroke your skin, there are teeth marks to be sure.
Maybe we’re best close to the ground.
Maybe angels drag us down.
I wonder which part of this will leave the scar.

Dip your hands in colours
While the young night flutters in on you and
Finger paint me pictures of all you see.
No matter what they say, you’ll always be
Faithfully dangerous, lost and lovely,
So beautiful to me.
I’m not too blind to see.

Red is blood. Black is sky.
White’s the dove that longs to fly.
You set it free and it beats its wings in me.
It leaves us at a loss for words.
Is that me now in your arms?
We cradle together and fall down on our knees.

Let the whole world drift downstream.
We’ll always be different.
Swim the silent slipstream inside of me.
No matter what they say, you’ll always be
Faithfully dangerous, lost and lovely,
So beautiful to me.
I’m not too blind to see.

Red is blood. Black is sky.
White’s the dove that longs to fly.
You set it free and it beats its wings in me.
It leaves us at a loss for words.
Is that me now in your arms?
We cradle together and fall down on our knees.

The heart that beats is yours inside me.
Red is love. Black is night.
I’m drunk with angels taking flight.
The heart that beats is yours inside me.
The heart that beats is yours inside me.
The heart that beats is yours.

The seahorse

Welcome to the goldrush.
Wait till after dark.
Open up the ceiling, we’ll be kneeling,
We’ll be breathing on a spark.

Flying kites at midnight,
Such a dizzy height.
Up above the small town,
Pulling moonlight down and wearing it skin tight.

You can always tell me
Anything at all.
Think of all the times
You’ve let my lips move, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Suddenly i’m weightless.
Gravity is mine.
I see it with my eyes closed,
What my heart knows: we must leave this world behind.

‘cause when I wake from dreaming,
It’s then i’m most alive.
Eye lids barely open, no words spoken,
Ah, but you were by my side.

You can always tell me
Anything at all.
Think of all the times
You’ve let my lips move, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, what you’re missing.
Don’t you wanna see what you’re missing?

I can always tell you
Anything at all.
Break the alabaster,
Hearts beat faster, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You can always tell me
Anything at all.
Think of all the times
You’ve let my lips move, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, what you’re missing.
Don’t you wanna see what you’re missing?

Everyman’s daughter

Look inside for the elusive goldmine.
Broken glass and a little cheap wine
Is all that I can find.
And bundles of contradictions,
My heart full of loose connections,
Hands across my eyes.
I cannot disguise i’m everyman’s daughter.

It’s always the same old question.
Who am I and whose invention?
This armour’s full of dust.
There’s so much of us in each other.
If I hate you you’re my best reminder
Of all I wish I was.
I hate you just because i’m everyman’s daughter.

Who do you think that I am?
It don’t matter long as we can understand.
I am hurting someone.
I am hurting someone just like, just like you.

Insulting the wounds of others,
My sisters, my brothers,
My vision’s way too good.
I carry the inward aching.
Like you, I too am naked.
I don’t look that good,
But this is flesh and blood. I’m everyman’s daughter.

Look at all the blood we’ve spilt.
I can’t deal with all this fundamental guilt.
I am hurting someone.
I am hurting someone just like, just like you.

I am. I am. I am everyman’s daughter.

A gospel number

Will a man called jesus ever take me in his arms?
Will a man called jesus ever take me in his arms?
I lack grace and I lack charm.
This is cause for no alarm,
If a man called jesus ever takes me in his arms.

Will a man called jesus ever touch me on my face?
Will a man called jesus ever touch me on my face?
The tears I cried would be erased.
This to me would be amazing grace,
If a man called jesus ever touched me on my face.

Waiting, waiting, waiting,
I’m still waiting.
If a man called jesus ever touched me on my face.

Will a man called jesus ever look me in the eyes?
Will a man called jesus ever look me in the eyes?
Burn away my alibis,
Separate the truth from your vicious lies,
If a man called jesus ever looked me in the eyes.

Waiting, waiting, waiting,
I’m still waiting.
If a man called jesus ever looks me in the eyes.
Mercy, mercy, mercy,
I’ll cry mercy
If a man called jesus ever looks me in the eyes.

Poughkeepsie

I thought i’d go up poughkeepsie,
Look out o’er the hudson,
And i’d throw my body down on the river.
And i’d know no more sorrow,
I’d fly like the sparrow
And i’d ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

I’d ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I’d take to the sky with all my might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
No more drowning in my fright,
I’d just ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

There are those who know sorrow
And those who must borrow
And those whose lot in life is sweet.
Well i’m drunk on self-pity,
Scorned all that’s been given me,
I would drink from a bottle labelled sure defeat.

I’d ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I’d take to the sky with all my might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
No more drowning in my fright,
I’d just ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

Then the skies, they fell open
And my eyes were opened
To a world of hope falling at my feet.
Now i’ve no more or less
Than anyone else has,
What I have is a gift of life I can’t repeat.

So I go up poughkeepsie,
Look out o’er the hudson
And I cast my worries to the sky.
Now I still know sorrow,
But I can fly like the sparrow
‘cause I ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

I ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I take to the sky with all their might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
No more drowning in my fright,
I’ll just ride on the backs of the angels each night.

Jack’s valentine

Help me. Spread my table.
I’ve been tryin’ but i’m just not able.
There’s so much left inside,
So very much i’ve been tryin’ to hide.
Life gets pretty heavy and I wish it was light,
But after all I love the night.
And there’s that word again.
I still hear it every now and again.

I breathe you ‘cause you help me forget
Everything I don’t know about love yet.
I need you ‘cause you help me forget,
Yeah, you help me forget.
I drink you ‘cause you help me to see
It’s mostly myself that’s killin’ me.
I think I have to, to help me forget
Everything I don’t know about love yet.

Someone said these were the best days,
Best days of our life.
I suppose there could be worse ways,
Worse ways to learn to cry.
And if these should be the last days,
The last days for you and i,
I suppose this is the best way,
Best way to say goodbye.

I breathe you ‘cause you help me forget
Everything I don’t know about love yet.
I need you ‘cause you help me forget,
Yeah, you help me forget.
I drink you ‘cause you help me to see
It’s mostly myself that’s killin’ me.
I think I have to, to help me forget
Everything I don’t know about love yet.

It snows in here. It snows forever,
But there’s no christmas underneath this weather.
When it blows here and gets real cold,
I wanna trip myself and fall upon your fabulous sword
And move here by the stained-glass window.
Forget about the inside ghetto.
Down here on the hardwood floor,
The lines on the ceiling start to swim once more
Like a cheap renoir, a fake van gogh,
A pop monet, a blue degas.
I breathe you. I need you. Ah.

Happy to be so

Anything I say will be held against me,
So I won’t say much or i’ll spill it all.
By the light of day it’s an elusive feeling,
But every single night that’s immaterial.

I know a love that will not let me go.
My heart is bound and happy to be so.
It’s so happy to be so,
Happy to be so,
Happy, happy, happy to be so.

If I try to pray, it’s like a game of red rover.
I take a real good run at it, but I can’t break through.
Don’t matter anyway. I’m so red-handed.
The game is over. I’ll just tell the truth.

I know a love that will not let me go.
My heart is bound and gagged and on death row.
It’s so happy to be so,
Happy to be so,
Happy, happy, happy to be so. Ooh.

Go down easy

Go down easy babe.
Go down slow.
Take all the time you need.
We’ve no place else to go.

Gonna put on my favourite dress.
Put my hair up too.
Take me north, south, east or west.
I guess i’ll leave it up to you.

You threw a noose around my shadow.
Got me into all this mess.
I would have dove in head first anyway
For less, for a whole lot less.

Go down easy babe.
Go down slow.
Take all the time you need.
We’ve no place else to go.

Say farewell to the confines of my own back yard.
Weeds growin’ ‘round the flowers.
Sometimes the only way to break the curse
Is to leave it all behind.

Find the slow curve of a back road,
One hand on the wheel.
Drive till I remember how it feels.
So this is how it feels. Oh.

Go down easy babe.
Go down slow.
If there’s anything better than this
I’d like to know.

The Darkest Night of the Year

Silent Night

(Words & music by Mohr - Gruber)

Sleep

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
'Round young virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night
Darkness flies, all is light;
Can you hear the angels sing
"Alleluia! to our King
Christ the Savior is born
Christ the Savior is born

Sleep in heavenly
Sleep in heavenly
Sleep in heavenly
Sleep in heavenly peace

Oh silent night, holy night

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

(Words: Ed­mund H. Sears)

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
“Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From Heaven’s all gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever over its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

Thank you my angel

Thank you my angel
For blessing me
With these words and for giving me
What I was hungry for
Taste of dirt
From the floor of heaven

Thank you my angel
For cutting off my hands
Forbidding me
To trace the lines of this miracle
Across the great divide
For making love a foreign language

Thank you my angel
For fluttering
Out my window for telling me
All those lies about myself
It was your way of bandaging the bleeding

Thank you my angel
For the clutter of my life
For dragging me
To the edge of the wilderness
To lie here by myself
Just outside the land of promise

Mary’s waltz

There was a blind girl with braids and a black dress
Lived next to me i could tell you the address
I saw her climb out her window one midnight
In to the oak tree scared sacred with moonlight
See Mary dance with the light on her shoulders
She has a secret, like a lover discovers her
Guardian angel with limbs white as lambs wool
Expensive perfume on her feet

Blind Mary taught me how eyes can make pictures
I showed her mine and then she showed me all hers
You have to close them she whispered a warning
Be sure to open them before it’s morning

See how we dance with the light on our shoulders
We have a secret like lovers discovering
Guardian angels with limbs white as lambs wool
Expensive perfume on our feet

Mary fell ill on a night in December
And how they tried then to cool down her fever
But she lay so still like a child in a manger
While I closed my eyes tight and prayed for a savior

Let Mary dance with the light on her shoulders
Tell her a secret and let her discover her
Guardian angel with limbs white as lambs wool
Expensive perfume on his feet

Silent Night Duet

(Words & music by Mohr - Gruber)

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
'Round young virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night! Holiest night!
Wondrous Star, lend thy light!
With the angels let us sing
"Alleluia! to our King!
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born!"

Silent night, holy night
Silent night, holy night

Amelia’s last

These are the (whose are the?)
These are the raw materials
You and me
These are the (whose are the?)
These are the angels’ inferiors
Who
Someone breathed this breath in us
“Oh Amelia, we’ve so far to go
Oh Amelia"

These are the (whose are the?)
These are the ordinary clothes
You and me
Around extraordinary flesh and pulsing madness deep and close
Who
Someone breathed this breath in us
“Oh Amelia maybe we’re not that far
Oh Amelia is this who we really are
My Amelia"

Besides

Hej (I Do)

Hej, Hej, Hej, Hej, Hej...
Hej, you wanna sit right here?
Here beside me?
Do you like that? I do.
Hej, you wanna say my name?
Say it slowly.
Do you like that? I do.

Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna dance here in the sand?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you know it won’t be your last chance.

Hej, you wanna smile at me?
I’ll adore you.
Do you like that? I do.
Hej, you wanna read my poetry by the sea boy?
Do you baby? I do. I do.

Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna dance here in the sand?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you know it won’t be your last chance.

Hej, you wanna hear a secret?
C’mere i’ll whisper.
Do you like that? I do.
Hej, you wanna hear it again?
Maybe one day we’ll be sayin’ I do.

Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna dance here in the sand?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you know it won’t be your last dance.

My Love Is A Fever

My love is a fever
My love is a fable
My love is jazz licks
Improvised by toddlers
Bold Ulysses by nursery rhyme
And firelight

My love is a metamorphosis
Reason cold logic
Intuitively speaking
My love is syncopated
Spoon-fed ignorant
Well-read

My love is singular
My love is commonplace
As a gravedigger's own birthplace
My love is a medicine
Feeds the sick heals the poor
Turns up the volume on the blind

My word it's a trip
Like a migraine
On a moving train
It parachutes aeroplanes
Watch it fly

Eyes soar hands clap
Ears ring it's a sand trap
Hair raising amazing
Grey city transformations
As lips sink stomachs ache
Monkeys shine fire flies
Foxes trot hobs knob
Porches swing brains storm
Hearts attack and air supplies
Heads light tails spin
Steeples chase you along your chin
Rock slides

Out of the woods now
A virgin in buckskin
Moccasins tall thin
She plays your mandolin
So maudlin you begin to spin
Out of the woods now

Within Without

Is it because I cannot see you
That you feel so free to steal
My excess baggage full of darkness and despair
While I fumble with my locks
You’re content to stand and knock
Yet I know your knack for thievery is rare

Do you know they call it arson
Setting fires without permission
In my heart for sure and maybe elsewhere too
Though your lack of inhibition
Captures my imagination
I end up a wiser person thanks to you

It's coming to fruition
The sympathetic vibration
Your train is at my station
Within without

Then there is your flare for murder
There's a dagger in the border
Of your cloak and I suspect a captain's gun
As you put to death suspicions
Kindly kill my fears as well
Exorcise and slay the demons one by one

Though I'm usually pacifistic
You are mercifully sadistic
And I didn't know that murder could be good
But the roses came crimson
Springing from the prison
Of the floorboards where there once were stains of blood

It's coming to fruition
The sympathetic vibration
Your train is at my station
Within without
It's calming my suspicion
With soothing intuition
Your train is at my station
Within without
Within without
Within without
Within without

Last Night

Last night I dreamt you cut off all your hair,
Discarded all your beauty in despair,
Declared yourself a concubine,
Filled the bathtub full of wine,
Bathed and drank the night away,
And said there’d never come a day
When politics would ever mean a thing.
Last night I dreamt you came and crowned me king.

Last night I dreamt you cut off all your hair
And laid it at the bottom of my stair
And waited by the garden gate
For one more rendezvous with fate,
Kept a pistol in your dress
(the iron loved your sweet caress
As trigger-finger twitched at your command.)
Last night I dreamt we fell upon the sand.

Last night I dreamt you cut off all your hair
And sold your stockings at the county fair
And how the clowns did dance and sway
(the sheep and goats all had their say)
And there I’m sitting at the side
Of the one who loved to ride
The ferris wheel in nothing but bare skin.
Last night I dreamt you knocked. I let you in.

Murder

Murder’s just a word
For lack of something else to say.
Murder’s just a game
For lack of something else to play.

Put your finger,
Put your fingers on it.
Something’s got me,
Something’s got my heart by the throat.

Blood is just a shade
On the palette of your blushing body.
Blood is not afraid
Of all of this internal bleeding.

Put your finger,
Put your fingers on it.
Something’s got me,
Something’s got my heart by the throat.

Love is just a flame
Burning us with indiscretion.
Love, is not to blame
If murder is a man’s invention.
Love is not a man’s invention.

Inhale, exhale, dovetail, set sail,
Nightingale, blackmail, go to jail, make bail,
Prevail, unveil every detail,
Read my braille, put your fingers on it.

Dead Weight

Sometimes I like to stick my fingers
Where they don’t belong.
Sometimes I like to fake a fever
And just stay home.

‘Cause we smile in here
We don’t get too close to sadness.
‘Cause what’s holding us
Is just about to break.
Ain’t it funny how life can drag behind us
Just like so much dead weight.

Sometimes what feels like pretty good music
Is just the same old song.
Sometimes we deal with bygone bruises
And find it’s been too long.

But we laugh in here
We don’t get too close to sadness.
We know good enough
Is a thousand miles from grace.
Ain’t it funny how life can drag behind us
Just like so much dead weight.

And my hometown train
Is pulling from the station.
And I know for once
I really will be late.
And i’ll dream that we can leave the past behind us
Just like so much dead weight.

Sometimes I like to stick my fingers where they don’t belong.

Bothered

(Don’t be bothered, no.)

Don’t be bothered by the fears.
I’ll try to bottle them like my mother’s perfume.
She wore it only on Sunday,
Kept it safe in her room in a chest with a key.
We found it anyway.

Don’t be bothered by the fears.
They’ll only join us like the sky that blushes red tonight.
And makes the wind die down,
Calms the troubled sea (more out of duty than pleasure,
But out of pleasure nonetheless.)

Your fire burns me like a favorite song.
A song I should have known all along.
I feel you move like smoke in my eyes.
And that is why.

Don’t be bothered by the fears
That sing from my eyes like carillon ringing only on Sunday
On the roof down our street finally Over the River.
Ring for you, ring for me, finally, forever.
It’s just I never, it’s just I never thought,
I never thought that I could be this free.

All I Need Is Everything

Slow down. Hold still.
It's not as if it's a matter of will.
Someone's circling. Someone's moving
A little lower than the angels.
And it's got nothing to do with me.
The wind blows through the trees,
But if I look for it, it won't come.
I tense up. My mind goes numb.
There's nothing harder than learning how to receive.

Calm down. Be still.
We've got plenty of time to kill.
No hand writing on the wall:
Just the voice that's in us all.
And you're whispering to me,
Time to get up off my hands and knees,
'Cause if I beg for it, it won't come.
I find nothing but table crumbs.
My hands are empty. God I’ve been naive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

Slow down. Hold still.
It's not as if it's a matter of will.
Someone's circling. Someone's moving
A little lower than the angels.
This voice calling me to you:
It's just barely coming through.
Still, I clearly hear my name.
I've been fingering the flame
Like tomorrow's martyr.
It gets harder to believe.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

So from now till kingdom come,
Taste the words on the tip of my tongue.
'Cause we can't run truth out of town,
Only force it underground.
The roots grow deeper
In ways we can't conceive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

All I need is all I need.

Lucy

Oh Lucy, it’s not as bad as you think.
Oh Lucy, love’s a fact that can make a girl drink.
And you say that it’s over.
You say it’s the end of Lucy, Lucy, Lucy.

Oh Lucy, there’s a cold look in your eye.
Oh Lucy, I believe this is the way most dreamers die.
And Lucy’s starting over.
Lucy’s at the edge of Lucy, Lucy, Lucy...

God have mercy,
The house stands empty with the garden.
God have mercy,
Your young girl’s heart will learn to harden.

Lucy, you can’t pray a lie,
No matter how hard you try.
Lucy, you can’t pray a lie.
You’re a bloody-minded girl and that’s alright.
You’re gonna be just fine.

Oh Lucy, it’s not as bad as you think.

Miles

I wanna be real,
Something you can sink your teeth into.
I want you to feel,
All it is that I feel for you.
I’m firelight for your seeing hands.
Rich perfume for your tastebuds.

Your eyes are always
Dark and deep,
But we have promises to keep
And miles to go before we sleep.

Are you drunk,
With the wine of God?
Did your ship wreck
As the tempest tossed you?

You can write your name on the water,
It’ll drift on out to sea.
You can treat me like a daughter,
You can write your name on me.

We touched a funeral, drank a parade.
We stole a wedding, melted and prayed.
It always hovers just around the bend.
We’re never quite there, but then again.
Once a stranger now more than a friend-
It all makes me pretty tired.
I suppose that you’re still wired.

Your heart’s on mine
Beating double time,
But we have promises to keep
|and miles to go before we sleep.

And miles to go...

If I'm Drowning

If i'm drowning within your open sea
Save me, save me
If i'm lost within your strange anatomy
Talk to me, talk to me
If i'm on fire and i'm melting in the heat
Touch me, touch me
If i'm tangled in your raw philosophy
Then you better walk with me
Walk with me

I'm just walking across your heart
In spite of the weather
(won't you walk with me?)

If i'm dancing through your passages and fall
Catch me, catch me
If i'm screaming in your sky and tell you all
Hear me, hear me
If i'm feigning coherence and calmness
Laugh with me, laugh with me
If i tremble at your close proximity
Then you better believe me
Believe me

I can see you now
I can hear you now
I can feel you now
I can taste you now
In spite of the weather
Yeah

Amateur Shortwave Radio

Ruby Tuesday

( The Rolling Stones )

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don't matter if it's gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows
She comes and goes

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Don't question why she needs to be so free
She'll tell you it's the only way to be
She just can't be chained
To a life where nothing's gained
And nothing's lost
At such a cost

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

There's no time to lose, I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams
And you may lose your mind
Ain't life unkind

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Blackbird

( John Lennon & Paul McCartney )

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
Life, all your life, all your life
You were only waiting
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life, all your life
You were only waiting
You were only waiting for this moment
For this moment to be free

Oh Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Fly into the black dark night
Fly into the black dark night
Fly

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Moth

Same old question
Without words
So familiar
Seldom heard
If i answer
I confess
I am only
Just a guess
And with my eyes
It's hard to see
With my ears it's
Hard to believe that
If I ever lose my will to live
It was me that I could not forgive

There's no savior hanging on this cross
It isn't suffering we fear but loss
This is closer than I ever came
Just a burning moth without a flame

Isaac's knife can
Cut away
All the poisoned
Yesterdays
And the anger
Ease it down
Into the ocean
Let it drown
As far as east is
From the west
I let you go
I know it's best
And my answer to the years of strife
Is the way i choose to live my life

There's no savior hanging on this cross
It isn't suffering you fear but loss
When there's no one else around to blame
You're a burning moth without a flame

Maybe i should take your face tonight
Let you see yourself in a different light
If you were to take my place tonight
Wouldn't jesus be surprised

There's no savior hanging on this cross
It isn't suffering we fear but loss
This is closer than i ever came
Just a burning moth without a flame
It's an offer that you can't refuse
It's a trophy that you'll want to lose
But you'll do anything
Anything
You're a burning moth without a flame

Anyway

It's enough for now
Besides i feel so awkward
Anyway
And there is no doubt
I could sleep for hours
Anyway
(i'll never leave you now)

Any recourse now
Well it's much too late
Anyway
And our hate
Like toys
Should be put away
Anyway
(i'll never leave you now)

No wonder this confusion
You've suffered all my delusions

We can right the end
We can close this chapter
Anyway
We can start again
No matter what comes after
Anyway
(i'll never leave you now)

I will remember

I will remember
Every dream about you
I will remember
I could not doubt you
All my first impressions
Of my new possession
I will remember
I will remember

Every shadow
Every shiver
Every breath of borrowed air
Somehow
I feel now
Every whisper
Taken prisoner
Every brush of cloud
And furrowed brow
I feel
This last day darling
Here with me (darling)
All the rest is history

I will remember
Every sliver of you
I will remember
Every door we slip through
Every curving hour
Every dying ember
I will remember
There is no other

Every color of our sorrow
Every fallen angel's graceful bow
I feel now
Every broken word unspoken
Every crooked line of this sad town
I feel
This last day darling
Here with me (darling)
All the rest is history

Every kiss and curse
Every burning thirst
Every fix and flush of fire
I feel right now
Every sound we make
Is a new prayer prayed
Disappearing disappearing
I hold on now
Every shade of white
In the thieving night
That we steal to grow inspired
I know right now
This last day darling
Here with me (darling)
All the rest is history

But i will remember
Every dream about you
I will remember
I could not doubt you
I will remember
No other lover
There is no other

Films For Radio

The world can wait

If this should end tomorrow
All our best laid plans
And all our typical fears
Am i running out of lifetimes
This is not the first time
Something ends in just tears

But tomorrow i can’t imagine
How am i supposed to know
What’s yet to go down
Is there only one religion
The kind that whispers
When nobody comes around

The world can wait
The world can wait
I want to drink the water from your well
I want to tell you things I’ll never tell
The world can wait
The world can wait
I’m wide awake
And the world can wait

I want to feel and then some
I have five senses
I need thousands more at least
Every day a page of paper

Every night a photograph
A moveable feast

So fade to black and white now
Roll the movie of my life
Inside of my head
‘cause like all true believers
I am truly sceptical
Of all that I have said

The world can wait
The world can wait
I want to drink the water from your well
I want to tell you things I’ll never tell
The world can wait
The world can wait
I’m wide awake
And the world can wait

Haven’t I said enough
Haven’t I said far too much
Haven’t I done enough
Haven’t I done far too much
Far too much
The world can wait

If nothing else

I’m so tired in the mornings
I try to go back
I try to remember
The light appearing
Without warning
Tying up my hands
Like I’m good for nothing

If nothing else I can dream
I can dream
I’ll never tell never tell
All I’ve seen
Right in front of me
Like the ghost of every thing that i could be

For the night sky is an ocean
Black distant sea
Washing up to my window
All the stray dog night owl junkies
Orphans vagabonds
Angels who lost their halos

If nothing else I can dream
I can dream
I’ll never tell never tell
All I’ve seen
Right in front of me,
Like the ghost of every thing that i could be
In the cool and callous grip of reality

Words in my head
Like misfits after midnight
Begging for a light
Words left unsaid
They may never see the light of day
And that may be okay
If nothing else I can dream

Give me strength

Sitting in the rain alone
Looking at a place that’s gone
Boarded up my memories
But something’s drawn me here again and i
I cannot leave the past alone
Hoped that I would never find
All the shit I left behind
Now I find the child in me is going to remind me that i
I can’t forget my past for long

So take a look outside yourself
And tell me what you see
I can’t believe
That you won’t see the change in me

Give me strength to find the road that’s lost in me
Give me time to heal and build myself a dream
Give me eyes to see the world surrounding me
Give me strength to be only me

I don’t want to hear the things
You say you know all you’ve redeemed
‘Cause I can’t change what’s come before
Build myself some better dreams
And cast off the fear that holds me here

So take a look outside yourself
And tell me what you see
I can’t believe
That you won’t see the change in me

Give me strength to find the road that’s lost in me
Give me time to heal and build myself a dream
Give me eyes to see the world surrounding me
Give me strength to be only me

Fairpoint diary

I can’t see my hands in front of my
Face on a night like this
I just look back on my life
And think of all I’ve missed
I grew up south of here in towns
They tore apart for coal
As if to excavate the darkest
Secrets of my soul

So it seems
Life is just a troubled sea
That we sail for free
Don’t let me drown
If the rest of the world’s goin’ down
You’ve got to breathe your breath in me

Everybody’s story is more
Interesting than mine
It took me twenty-some-odd-years
To see I’d been born blind

So I just feel my way to you
I try to keep you close
I’m never very good at getting
What i need the most

So it seems
Life is just a troubled sea
That we sail for free
Don’t let me drown
If the rest of the world’s goin’ down
You’ve got to breathe your breath in me

The darkest part of every night
Is just before the dawn
The sun begins to rise
When we admit that we were wrong

So here I stumble home to you
To find the words to use
It seems the voices in my head
I seldom get to choose

So it seems
Life is just a troubled sea
That we sail for free
Don’t let me drown

I radio heaven

I radio heaven
I get mixed signals
I move the antenna
I switch the channels
I lie in this bed
My satellite dish
Is there room in the universe
For one last wish
(I say)

Do you read me
Over
You wanna come
Over

I guess i never told you
‘bout this life I’m livin’
It’s heaven versus hell
In a split decision
This secret religion is
The best that I’ve found
I radio heaven
When no one’s around
(I say)
Do you need me
Over
You wanna come
Over

This song is grinning
Go on and undress it
It’s just the beginning
Go on and possess it
You’re no longer a child now
Don’t let them molest it
The wound is deep
I’m just trying to confess it

The truth is i bleed you
When these frequencies cut me
I’m a slut with a mission
A singular vision
I radio heaven
I get mixed signals
I move the antenna
I switch the channels

I radio heaven
I get mixed signals
I move the antenna
I switch the channels
I lie in this bed
My satellite dish
Is there room in the universe
For one last wish

Little blue river/in the garden

Roll me over the little blue river
Church child
Roll me over the little blue river
Now church child

Silence and dumb tongues
It’s a different kind of ghetto
Carry the weight
(it’s heavy)
Of a disreputed fellow

Roll me over the little blue river
Church child
Roll me over the little blue river
Now church child

Every step that you’ve been taking
Is straying a little further south
As for me i am so tired of living (babe)
So hand-to-mouth

Roll me over the little blue river
Church child
Roll me over the little blue river
Now church child

Hey you wanna steady that cue card
Make it a billboard today
Everybody’s saying they want their money back
Ah well baby just roll me away

Out of the mouth of them babies
How they can talk
Best be saving your pennies
Put ‘em back for a very long walk
Roll me over the little blue river
Now church child
Roll me

Goodbye (this is not goodbye)

Help me tell the truth you see
That’s all I’m trying to do is
Tell the truth
I’m not that shy
This is not goodbye
And later on I won’t know how
I don’t know who else to be
More and more I’m secretly just me
Open your eyes

Help me tell the truth you see
That’s all I’m trying to do is
Tell the truth
It’s just in my head
All I’ve left unsaid
And later on it won’t come out

I have seen the final curtain fall
If I have to I’ll surrender all

I’m always coming around too late
Too late

It’s not too late

Whatever you say

In this dream
It is as easy as it seems
I put you away at the end of the day
In this dream
There are two hands untangling
The knots in my throat
But they won’t go away

So what about you
Whatever you say
Why can’t it be true
Whatever you say
But this is no dream
You are the deaf ear listening
I know what it means to be seen
And not heard
It’s no dream
You are the blinded eye observing
Open my mouth
You can finger your way to the words

I’m talkin’ ‘bout you
Whatever you say
Why can’t it be true
Whatever you say

There are some things I must let go
I must let go
I must let them go
Just keep on tellin’ me I told you so
I know I know I know I know
Whatever you say

I fall into bed
The whole horizon’s turning red
Writing our names with a needle and a thread
Stitching the clouds
As if the wounded sky had bled
All of these words that will never be said
Without you
Whatever you say
Why can’t it be true
Whatever you say

The body is a stairway of skin

The body
Is a stairway
Of skin
You open the door
I let you in
Carry your story
Through the thick and thin
I feel the angels
Dancing on a pin
They dance

The body
Is a book
Of matches
A little fire
Is required
Of this kindling flame
Ohio blue tip strike anywhere
Strike me
Anywhere

The body
Is a hallway
Of mirrors
You have to jump
And a net will appear
You can see
There are so many of us
Here
Breaking
Is the one thing
We all fear
Breaking is the one thing
Break it down
Break me down like the quiet part of a song
The body
Is an apple
On a tree
The body
Is an apple
On the very first tree
Ripe
Round
Forbidden
Ripe
Round
Shake it down

Moth

Same old question
Without words
So familiar
Seldom heard
If i answer
I confess
I am only
Just a guess
And with my eyes
It’s hard to see
With my ears
It’s hard to believe that
If I ever lose my will to live
It was me that I could not forgive

There’s no savior hanging on this cross
It isn’t suffering we fear but loss
This is closer than i ever came
Just a burning moth without a flame

Isaac’s knife can
Cut away
All the poisoned
Yesterdays
And the anger
Ease it down
Into the ocean
Let it drown
As far as east is
From the west
I let you go
I know it’s best
And my answer to the years of strife
Is the way I choose to live my life

There’s no savior hanging on this cross
It isn’t suffering you fear but loss
When there’s no one else around to blame
You’re a burning moth without a flame

Maybe I should take your face tonight
Let you see yourself in a different light
If i were to take your place tonight
Wouldn’t Jesus be surprised

There’s no savior hanging on this cross
It isn’t suffering we fear but loss
This is closer than I ever came
Just a burning moth without a flame

It’s an offer that you can’t refuse
It’s a trophy that you’ll want to lose
But you’ll do anything
You’re a burning moth without a flame

When I go

It makes a difference
When you walk through a room
With that worrisome smile
Road weary perfume

But this isn’t the place
And it isn’t the time
For this beautiful delusion
That is robbing me blind

I want to know
I want to know
Will it make a difference
When I go

It makes a difference
That I’m feeling this way
With plenty to think about
And so little to say

Except for this confession
That is poised on my lips
I’m not letting go of god
I’m just losing my grip

I want to know
I want to know
Will it keep you guessing
When I go

What is a love
If the love’s not my own
This is not my home
This is lonely
But never alone

I just want to hold you
In my gaze for awhile
So I can remember
Every line around your smile

Then I want to know
I want to know
Will it make a difference
When I go