All lyrics by Sam Misner unless otherwise noted.
Halfway Home (2004)
Fall Away
When the evening wind begins to tease the tinted sky
All adrift on sails of silk the wandering monarch flies
My own heart’s also rising, keeping rhythm with day
Dropping like the faded sun my own blues fall away.
Fumbling through a world of information, drowning slow
Cut off from the star-lit night by neon’s empty glow
No room left for mystery, everything’s explained
But truths are never seen so clear as when names fall away.
Fall away…
I lift my feet to take the trail and whisper to the trees
Whose whisper’s creak and moan and hush then settle on the breeze
Timber grabs the granite tight against the strain
And when leaves turn to burden they simply fall away.
Fall away…
Halfway Home
That first night I met her, her eyes were blazing
Staring me down with her smile
All I could do to keep my cards steady
Was to lay them right down on the pile.
Though the queen of spades was matched with her husband
And all of their court was in tow
She smiled once again, keeping her distance
My straight flush fell flat on the floor.
Well, laughter and yelling couldn’t pierce my attention
Without looking I knew where she was.
Sending out shots of her full throttle laughter
That ran through the walls of my blood.
My nerves were sparks spinning like cyclones
My eyes held a coal-fire gaze.
I gathered up my words, which soon slipped, fell and faltered,
Speechless, I went to her just the same.
So a wordless conversation we held in the kitchen
Spoken with eyes bright like chrome
And then suddenly her words burst forth in a whisper:
“Would you like me to walk you halfway home?”
She spoke, she spoke! And her laughter was contagious,
I caught it and I threw it back again.
“Yes please” was my answer to this part-time modern dancer
And we strolled into the night and were gone.
We stood on a hill near a church overlooking
The town that lay sleeping down below.
Up above scattered stars hung in between where the clouds clung
In the spot that I stood Time broke down.
We spoke of bits and pieces of our lives and the pathways
That happened to lead us to this hill.
And though our destination’s hazy and at times I know I’m crazy
The magic of that night drives me still
And if these memories start to fade like ages that are past and gone
That night will live forever in this song.
Keep in Time
Shadows slide along the wall
In a hushed silhouette parade
And meet in the corners of this hall
And gather in pools of shade.
Keep in time to the truth inside your heart, my dear,
It doesn’t lie.
We all have days in which every way seems wrong, my dear,
That’s just the way.
All I know is that I will show you
Love till I die.
Caught inside an hourglass
Sifting through sands of time
Each grain holds a memory
And like dust in light they shine
Keep in time to the truth inside your heart, my dear,
It doesn’t lie.
We all have days in which every way seems wrong, my dear,
That’s just the way.
All I know is that I will show you
Love till I die.
Henry & Lil
Will I ever know them quite like I did
When the long hours of summer rolled along?
Sitting in the shade garden, sipping lemonade,
Weary from the sun but still felt strong.
There were twenty thousand things to do
In a summer afternoon
And if we rested long it would be gone.
Will I ever know them quite like I did
When the dreary rains of winter trapped us in?
Some days felt like torture, silent agitation,
Loving hate we all save for our kin.
But, oh, the early evenings
Mom would play piano
And we soaked up her music through our skin.
Will I ever know them quite like I did
When the grass-stained days of spring came around?
All the hills were topped with green as far as we could see
It seemed as though it seeped up from the ground.
And as the days would slide away
So would those hours of play
So in our beds we talked till sleep was found.
Will I ever know them quite like I did
When all our days were held in childhood’s hand?
Moving through our daydreams, skipping over reason,
Building forts to see how long they’d stand.
And as the days would slide away
So would those hours of play
So in our beds we talked till sleep was found.
Shadows of Embraces
Through the shades I feel the path he paces
The hollow ache, the shadows of embraces.
If I had the words to heal and release him
From these heartache thoughts that poison as they tease him.
Will this all…
Will this all make…
Will this all make sense someday?
Spending days drifting through the traces
Of a love that sorrow now replaces.
In his dreams she doesn’t really leave him
Lingering shades of gray that tend to only grieve him.
Will this all…
Will this all make…
Will this all make sense someday?
What remains of what his mind erases?
Filling holes with other people’s faces.
Trapped inside a world that never changes season,
Horoscopes don’t seem to ever give him reasons.
Will this all…
Will this all make…
Will this all make sense someday?
One Day
One day I will be old
Gonna swim in the ocean all alone
One day I will be old
Like a child’s chased wave these young days won’t stay
One day we’ll be as old as the stars
Yes, and perhaps we already are
Your eyes could hold up the sky
Fill it with blue and make rain clouds dry
Someday I’ll understand
And I’ll know if all these waves are planned
One day I will be old
Gonna swim in the ocean all alone
One day we’ll be as old as the stars
Yes, and perhaps we already are
Piccolo Pete
The docks are in shadows, sun is lean as a bone,
He’s traded in his trumpet for a slide trombone.
Wailing on the corner is Piccolo Pete
Trying to sell his stories for a bite to eat.
Ninety-nine sailors all alone at sea, boys,
One swam back, that one was me.
Seabirds are nervous all along the coast,
There’s something in the air they could feel the ghosts.
Widow-walks are crowded but the graves are holes
With nothing now to put in them but names of souls.
Ninety-nine sailors lying in the sea, boys,
One still walks, one still breathes.
Half a cup of whiskey and I’ll spin you a tale
As honest as the truth on a three-beam scale.
Salivating businessmen shiver in the cold,
Sacrificing freedom for the taste of gold.
I used to chase the greenback but it ain’t for me, babe.
I once was blinded but now I see.
I used to know a banker but he sold his soul.
Gave up his sense of humor for a heart of coal.
His eyes are full of razors now, his head is full of greed,
He dreams at night of nursery rhymes and fires that bleed.
I used to feel the fever but it ain’t for me, babe.
I once was blinded but now I see.
In Life With Love
The wind on that day blew the clouds all her way
And left her to walk in the haze
Though the sun was not bright, her footsteps fell light
For not one single question plagued her mind.
Above her rhododendrons rose
And the mockingbirds composed
Songs which had neither meaning nor direction.
Their music gently fell like a thousand silver bells
To envelop and twirl all around her.
At the edge of the sea she fell down upon her knees
Tears of joy leapt and met the waves
Laying cradled in the sand she felt a pulse run through the land
And she knew that the world was breathing with her.
The crescent moon hung like a bow
Aimed at the ocean down below
Till it sank in the depths of it’s waters
The wind’s fingers through her hair and her laughter filled the air
With a burst of wild spinning patterns.
The wind on that day blew the clouds all her way
And left her to walk in the haze
Though the sun was not bright, her footsteps fell light
For not one single question plagued her mind.
Above her rhododendrons rose
And the mockingbirds composed
Songs which had neither meaning nor direction.
Their music gently fell like a thousand silver bells
To envelop and twirl all around her.
Madeline (Paradise Cracked)
Deep in the night, moon’s almost down,
Silence has savagely covered this town.
Lying awake, cold restless thoughts have
Gathered around you and tied you in knots.
Tired and lonesome, lost as a ship
Whose compass is broken, whose sails are all ripped.
Madeline, Madeline
Close your eyes and sleep again.
Ain’t no way forward but you can’t just turn back
After discovering Paradise cracked.
Spent all you money on schemes that went south,
They lived and they died on the edge of your mouth.
Desperately searching, spinning a line
But circumstance curses you most of the time.
Why don’t you change something, shake off the rust
If there ain’t no one here but yourself you can trust.
Madeline, Madeline
Close your eyes and sleep again.
Ain’t no way forward but you can’t just turn back
After discovering Paradise cracked.
Shelves full of wisdom gathering dust,
The words on the pages seem bankrupt and bust.
You’ve read all the poets and written some tunes,
But sought inspiration alone in your room.
Chasing a fatal American dream
As false as a lover a broken heart fiend.
Madeline, Madeline
Close your eyes and sleep again.
Ain’t no way forward but you can’t just turn back
After discovering Paradise cracked.
Triangle Factory Fire
Locked inside the factory thirteen hours a day
The foreman’s bent to break our backs, our Uncle takes our pay.
Sewing rows of velvet clothes for uptown girls to wear
Our tenement slums have become a city of despair.
Seven cents an hour, yes, and every dress that’s sewn
Will sell for more than all my bills and everything I own
Saw a dress I made hung up in a fancy store,
Reflections in the windows showed the ragged clothes I wore
Hope is broken, worries in my soul.
One more day, one more dollar in the hole.
My name’s Cecilia Walker and I’m twenty years of age.
I crossed the wide Atlantic for to find a living wage.
Factory work and servants chores were all that I could find.
This land of opportunity’s not what I had in mind.
Hours of sewing came and went, the work day almost done.
The objects of our labor all around us they were hung.
The owners never trusted us, “These immigrants”, they swore,
“Will steal any chance they get—that’s why we lock the doors.”
Hope is broken, worries in my soul.
One more day, one more dollar in the hole.
Flames broke out below us and soon they blocked the door,
The fire escapes were bolted shut on every single floor.
Kept my wits about me and the good Lord by my side,
But I still believe that luck’s the only reason I’m alive.
And though a hundred-fifty women died up in them flames
The owners felt—and the courts agreed—it wasn’t them to blame.
So Isaac Harris and Max Blank can go home to their wives
While a hundred dollar bill should cover each and every life.
Hope is broken, worries in my soul.
One more day, one more dollar in the hole.
Mr. Corporation sitting eighty stories high,
Got a briefcase full of dollar bills, sleeps with it at night.
Makes his whole damn living off of other people’s needs,
He’ll sell you his own hanging rope if profit’s to be made.
Hope is broken, worries in my soul.
One more day, one more dollar in the hole.
Poor Player (2008)
Poor Player
I am just a poor player waiting in the wings,
Clutching to the curtains, watching all the others sing.
Lift my inspiration from a scribble on the wall
Perhaps someday I’ll leave a scratch, my signature I’ll scrawl.
For now I’m but a poor player.
Louie brews her moonshine with a burn that makes you cough,
Slurs your speech and takes a week to finally sleep it off.
Lately now I find myself knocking on her door
First thing in the morning and by noon I’m back for more.
Nothing but a poor player.
Foggy days and matinees, fawning on a star
Who doesn’t even care to learn your name or who you are.
Understudy errands till you’ve proven you can stand.
Even then it might depend on how you shake their hands.
You know you’re just a poor player
I wonder what you’d think to do if crowds no longer came,
And all the scores that cheered before no longer call your name.
Fretting your position standing naked center stage,
Caught without your crutches on a foot-lit steel cage.
Would you be a poor player?
I am just a poor player waiting in the wings,
Clutching to the curtains, watching all the others sing.
Lift my inspiration from a scribble on the wall
Perhaps someday I’ll leave a scratch, my signature I’ll scrawl.
For now I’m but a poor player.
Length of a Song
He’s here and he’s gone for the length a song
Where he sets her upon a throne
That can never be seen to be used by a queen
So she sits in between all alone.
Her king is consumed by the wars to be waged
Killing for God and the truths of the age
Leaving his queen condemned to a cage of gold.
He crafts his songs well, so that no one can tell
That the royalty’s been quite deceived.
But the jester is keen and can read in between
The lines that the troubadour weaves.
When the queen falls asleep her thoughts tend to leap
To a world where she’s just an unknown.
In the troubadour’s dreams her majesty pleads
And the guillotine looms in his bones.
The court is so stale, each one of them pale
As they stare down upon him like stones.
Two hearts are alive, that secretly thrive
On a love that is always postponed.
‘Round the campfire flames dice is his game,
And the numbers proclaim him a king.
But Fortune was cruel and she tipped like a stool
And left him a fool who could sing.
He sweeps up a handful of silver he’s won
“Worthless”, he thinks since his heart’s been undone.
Curses the stars and threatens the sun, he will fold.
He’s here and he’s gone for the length of a song.
Buckeye Tree
That’s my baby singing down to me
Hidden in the branches of a Buckeye tree
Sounds sweet, lord, it makes me cry
Tossin’ her notes to the eastern sky
Oh, how I wish she’d climb on down
But she’s got no interest in a life on the ground.
I’m down in the dirt she’s high in the air
Tree trunk feels like a straight back chair
I’ve tried and tried to bring her down with song
Life is short but these moments are long
She may not notice but I can’t leave
Wearing my heart on the edge of my sleeve.
She may come down soon one of these days
Thinking I’ll miss her is what makes me stay
I’ll still here steady through sleet and snow
I’ll hold the tree if a hurricane blows
Seasons pass right before my eyes
As her voice paints pictures on the eastern sky.
She dropped a necklace of white sea shells
Could’ve been a sign but I can’t tell
I love her now and I’ll love her when
The seasons come around to meet me again
She may not notice but I can’t leave
My girl singing up in this Buckeye tree.
Wanderin' Fool (Lyrics by Megan Smith)
Put that needle back on that record babe,
And let's go out in the rain.
I'll put my suitcase back up on that shelf babe,
And show you the reason that I came.
I'm a wanderin' fool,
Or didn't you know?
I won't take nothin' for granted
And I won't leave nothin' for show.
Somehow the last time that I saw you,
The inches and feet seemed to stretch.
And all of my weight was a burden,
And all of my words were a mess.
I'm your wanderin' fool,
Or didn't you know?
I won't take nothin' for granted
And I won't leave nothin' for show.
Let me hear you sing, "ooh"
Let me hear you sing, "ooh"
One more time.
I think you better uncork that bottle babe,
And let this thing breathe for a while.
And I'll do my best to sit pretty babe,
And look like the sun on the Nile.
'Cause you're my wanderin' fool,
Or didn't you know?
Take whatever you're takin' for granted
And I'll take what you leave for show.
Let me hear you sing, "ooh"
Let me hear you sing, "ooh"
One more time.
Cold Rain Fell
Cold rain fell, full up was the well
But the water circled ‘round cabin doors
Spirits raised as she played her fiddle
And she played it till the middle of the morn
Guitars strummed the bass it hummed
Soon the sound of voices
Songs that night were filled with light
(And) drove off all of the darkness
The last three days we fixed our gaze
On the clouds, river and lightning
Walls are strong but won’t last long
If the noose of the water keeps tightening
Papa soon picked up his spoons
Mama frailed her banjo
Songs were prayers like Heaven’s stairs
Reaching high where winds blow
Her fiddle’s strain broke the rain
The flood fell away along the shore
Seven days they stood and played
Thunder always rapping at the door
Hickory flames danced and sang
Winds howled a warning
But all were calm and sang along
Deep into the hours of the morning
Compose
Sewn in the lining of her coat
Verses, sonnets and prose
And she knows
It’s all just ribbons and bows
Some rhymes are harder and sometimes it shows
I suppose
Rain in the middle of the day
Blue skies fading to gray
Whisked away
She sets off with words to explain
All of the places her heart’s been since dawn
Yesterday
Calm, walking down the street she’s on
Aimless, wandering and strong
Life moves on
One moment here and we’re gone
Come ‘round to find out that it’s been a song
All along
Go to any other shore you know
Send me what you compose
Highs and lows
Weather of sun or of snow
Whether it wilts soon or whether it blooms
Like a rose
Sewn in the lining of her coat
Verses, sonnets and prose
And she knows
It’s all just ribbons and bows
Some rhymes are harder and sometimes it shows
I suppose
I Will Find My Voice Again
Though my skies are filled with rain
My heart is broken, my spirit is lame
I’ll sing in laughter, I’ll sing through pain
I will find my voice again.
Talking with a friend about hopes and dreams
Fears and love and mountain streams
Sittin’ in the sun in an old pair of jeans
Sometimes it all falls apart at the seams.
Walkin’ a mile up a mountain road
Lost in thought, held by the cold
Eagle up high cries praise to the day
Snatched up my blues and he carries them away.
Keep on walkin’ though my feet feel sore
I cannot feel the fears anymore
Catchin’ sixty winks on a Sunday drive
Glad to be breathin’, glad to be alive.
Top of the mountain sing a victory song
All my friends sing right along
Hold me up with joy and love
Heaven, Heaven ringing above.
Eyes wide open let the sunrise in
Fill my heart up to the brim
Keep on dancin’, never sit down
I can feel vibrations coming up from the ground.
Greyhound Days
Greyhound starts crawling at quarter past nine,
Leaving this county now, so say the signs.
I look out my window but nothing I find
Can change my direction or settle my mind.
I’ve been wild and reckless and often been tame,
I’ve been proud and honest and sometimes ashamed,
Been clever and certain, free from all pain,
Sometimes so lost all I knew was my name.
The man sitting next to me chuckles and sighs,
Leans back his head and he fixes his eyes.
“Never trust comfort, it’s weak and it lies,
Have faith in the struggle, don’t rest till you die.”
The cross that he wears through a hole in his ear,
He says killed a prophet who then reappeared.
“Though I ain’t religious his message seems clear
Each eye that we meet, son, is only a mirror.”
Through Arizona the desert’s in bloom
At night all these cities seem haunted as tombs
Freight trains in Denver move down the line
While ghosts of the hobos drink red boxcar wine.
Depot to depot drifting along
Looking for somewhere to be and belong
Graced now and then with a phrase from a song
St. Louis this morning, by midday we’re gone.
The lands that I’ve traveled, the places I’ve been
Know all my secrets, my pleasures, my sins.
Weather vane forecasts lost in a spin
When life’s accidental and random as wind.
Polly (Lyrics by Megan Smith)
I am Polly,
Pretty Polly was my name.
I am not that devil's flame, turned your heart to cinders.
Poor young Polly,
Death is just another game.
Fortune spins to suit my aim, madness with my sending.
On that high hill up above the lights of home that night,
Ragged with your raging heart.
Prayers of mercy all were stuck up in my throat,
And the night grew deaf to my cry.
I am Polly,
Polly with a blood-soaked mane,
Battered to a faceless shame.
In your endless nights you'll hear my screams.
He tore at the walls with a keen desperation,
Hands up and pleading for some kind of sweet salvation.
But no peace, no saving light, for his soul's restless fight.
She was Polly,
Pretty Polly was her fame.
Lovely with a hallowed name, and I so undeserving.
My sweet Polly,
Killed upon my foolish eye.
Walk me to the scaffold high.
No comfort in my ending ...
No comfort in my ending.
Rainday (Lyrics by Lloyd Smith)
Not like Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
Or nothin' in between.
Got no worries, got no hurry,
It's kind of like a dream.
It's washin' time clean the face
Of stone and pine, give us grace.
It's rainday, rainday.
Top of rooftop splash and patter.
It's comin' down flat rock splatter.
Take it easy, have a walk.
Not to run, hear it talk.
It's rainday, rainday.
Sun and sparkle rainbow shine.
Pink and blue clouds are mine.
It's rainday, rainday.
It's rainday, my rainday.
Seven Hour Storm 2013
Seven Hour Storm
I was made this way,
In a seven hour storm
It blew and then was gone and I was born.
On a gust of wind,
My first steps all were stumbles
And they haven’t really changed at all since then.
Nothing new today.
I slip back to a time
Of easy memories but they aren’t mine.
I’m surrounded now,
Reminded of a letter
That I’d written to myself when I was ten.
Whose hand held the pen that scratched the lines
With these words that lie and stare at me tonight?
Seems I’m lost again,
I’ve curved my share of corners
And I’m back to where this winding trail began.
So I’ll push ahead
And chase that flickering lantern
That circles ‘round my island now and then.
Whose hand held the pen that scratched the lines
With these words that lie and stare at me tonight?
Whose hand held the pen that scratched the lines
With these words that lie and stare at me tonight?
I was made this way,
In a seven hour storm
It blew and then was gone and I was born.
On a gust of wind,
My first steps all were stumbles
And they haven’t really changed at all since then.
Calling
You’ve cut all your ties
Foolish or wise
Are you falling?
Something out there
Pulls you to dare
And it’s calling
You don’t know how to go
Even though…
It’s calling
Pleased with your plans
Wringing your hands
Soon you’re crawling
Play safe in a cave
And call yourself brave
But you’re stalling
Is it all a show?
Don’t you know…
You’re stalling
You may be pinned
Trapped by the wind
Down some quarry
(You) may be surprised
(There are) more than two sides
To a story
And you never know
How it may go…
The story
All that’s been claimed
The weight of the blame
You can bury
Leave what’s been said
What you don’t shed
You will carry
So you’ve cut all your ties
Foolish and wise
Now you’re falling
Something out there
Pulls you to dare
Yeah, it’s calling
You don’t know how to go
Even though…
It’s calling
The Upside
Someday you’ll feel better
Strange as it sounds.
You’ll pull your soul from the tether,
And lift off the ground
Don’t tread the trail of a failure
Others believe.
Steer clear just like a sailor
Judging the seas.
Maybe you’re falling
Maybe you’re falling down
Baby you’re falling
But maybe you’ll crawl to higher ground.
Bogged down, stuck in the middle,
Shackled and tied.
Sometimes life’s just a riddle,
Answers arise.
I know it feels like drowning
Questions and fear
Trust now the pressure pounding
Will soon disappear.
Maybe we’re falling
Maybe we’re falling down
Baby we’re falling
But maybe we’ll crawl to higher ground.
Stand in the sun…
See now the darkness fading
Shrug off the gloom.
Deep down hope is waiting,
You’d better make room.
Lovers Like Us
I asked for your shoulder
Not for your soul
You’re either confused
Or don’t listen at all
The lines are crooked
The colors are wrong
Lovers like us don’t fit in a song.
Can’t catch the beat
Can’t harmonize
I see you agree by the look in your eyes.
Called into question
All that we knew
Swimming in circles
What else can we do?
Sink or swim
It’s hard to decide
Drift in the current or drown in the tide
Can’t catch the beat
Can’t harmonize
I see you agree by the look in your eyes.
Half-lit the morning skies brush past our door,
Yesterday’s arguments tossed on the floor.
Heads in the sand: our favorite disguise….
Laid up in limbo
What’s there to say?
We can’t seem to leave
And we can’t bear to stay
A kiss for now
Don’t linger long
Lovers like us don’t fit in a song.
Can’t catch the beat
Can’t harmonize
I see you agree by the look in your eyes.
I asked for your shoulder
Not for your soul
You’re either confused
Or don’t listen at all
A kiss for now
Don’t linger long
Lovers like us don’t fit in a song.
Lovers like us don’t fit in a song.
Bird Street
He’s painting by the moonlight
Silver shadows bloom.
Peering out a window
At the world outside his room.
Midnight she was dreaming
She was falling through the stars,
Sweeping up her secrets
Then she seals them in a jar.
Crossing to the canvas,
Turning on a dime.
Often while he’s painting
Every brushstroke seems to rhyme.
Tales spill on the pages,
Pouring from her pen.
Quiet inspiration
That will visit now and then.
Sunrise in the city,
Eighteen floors above,
Wondering why this yearning
Fits him like a glove.
Sewing in the garden,
Roots are growing ‘round her toes.
Naming all the seedlings,
Giving back more than she owes.
Cross-eyed from creation,
Sharpened like a blade.
Running down the alleys,
Free and unafraid.
There’s a sunny spot on Bird St.
In a corner tucked away.
They danced there on the sidewalk,
Hidden from the fray.
15 Months
Fifteen months, first deployment
I figured he’d be back by June
Just a little late to meet his baby
Thinking of it now makes me swoon.
Sweep the house and run my errands
Fill my day with lists of things to do
Seems like every moment’s filled with thinking
Of a different way to tell him “I love you”.
Midnight and the candle in the kitchen
Flickers once and rises clear and bright
Hugs and tears, white lies and bedtime stories
Questions without answers, wrong or right.
The first will be around again on Monday
Another month that we’ll be overdue
He fights a lonely war out in a desert
He fights a war to pay a mortgage too.
The envelope is worn where it’s been handled
I read the letter nearly every night
Sometimes I just hold it in my fingers
Or pressed between my palms with all my might.
I declare
I declare
Lord, I am scared
I declare
Sometimes when the distance dances heavy
And the danger looms above me where I lay
I know it’s only his for that I’m worried
While I am safe and he is far away.
While I am safe and you’re so far away.
Tamalpais
Climbing from the ocean
She rises from the tide
Beckons to the sailors
Looking for a guide.
Her eyes shine like a lighthouse
Her hair is like the wind
That sends all of our ships away
And pulls them back again.
From the seaports of Alaska,
The damp of Puget Sound
Down the coast of California
San Francisco bound
Seven years hiding,
A dozen on the run
Tell the truth, it breaks my heart
To see what I’ve become.
Tamalpais, Tamalpais
Crouched among the clouds
Waves break on our backs
I call her name out loud.
The mountain she’s sitting
Listening to the sea,
Patient as my lover’s eyes
Waiting there for me.
From the cabin on her shoulder
The ocean opens wide
Golden Gate down below
Arching ‘cross the tide
There’s no time like a sunrise
To make me long for home,
Skipping ‘cross that lonesome ocean
Wonderin’ why I roam.
Sails are full of wind now
The captain’s mind’s at ease,
Boys are throwing Liar’s Dice
And caution to the breeze.
There’s gold in other mountains,
Oil in other sands,
But my mind won’t be rested, Lord,
Until my boots touch land.
Next Time Around
I don’t know if I’m ready yet
I’ve only just begun
Even though it’s been so long
Since my eyes first saw sun.
I’ve slept like a log
Always bet the underdog
Now I’m praying that my pony comes around.
So please don’t weep when I’ve gone, when I’ve gone
Come downstairs, clear the chairs
And sing all my favorite songs
The love I have known
Is twice what I have shown,
But I’ll pay it back in kind next time around.
Never thought I’d stay here
I was only passing through
Done my crimes and wasted time
Been unkind and true
The slide down was slow
But I climbed from the hole
Now I find myself dancing in the sun.
So please don’t weep when I’ve gone, when I’ve gone
Come downstairs, clear the chairs
And sing all my favorite songs
The love I have known
Is twice what I have shown,
But I’ll pay it back in kind next time around.
They tell you ‘you won’t make it,
Your crops are bound to fail’
It may be you don’t disagree at all
The odds will rub you raw
Win, lose, or draw,
But anyway, the trick is staying in till you’re called.
Songs rang out as I came in
Music filled my ears.
When I go I do propose
Singing through our tears.
You get what you give,
You learn as you live,
And leave nothing but love behind.
Miles Away
There’s a simple satisfaction
In the skipping of a stone
Tossed across the water
Sinking all alone
Where we’ll finally end our day
The river hints but never tells
And always calls my heart back
Like the tolling of a bell
I sit beneath a willow
As the sun begins to fade
Sketching out revisions
To decisions that I made
You may not hear the first time
You have to listen twice
The last gasp of winter
The cracking of the ice
If you look close you’re bound to see
A hint of leaf beneath the snow
There are only two directions
To whither or to grow
I sit beneath a willow
As the sun begins to fade
Sketching out revisions
To decisions that were made
There is no destination
In the skipping of a stone
Tossed across the water
Sinking all alone
Spun off of your fingertips
Count the skips, not the tries
For whatever else we’re after
There’s no finish line or prize
I sit beneath a willow
As the sun begins to play
These visions though so vivid
Seem a thousand miles away