1. SOUTH SIDE OF THE SKY
A river a mountain to be crossed
The sunshine in mountains sometimes lost
Around the south side so cold that we cried
Were we ever colder on that day a million
Miles away
It seemed from all eternity
Move forward was my friends only cry
In deeper to somewhere we could lie
And rest forthe the day with cold in the way
Were we ever colder on that day a million
Miles away
It seemed from all eternity
The moments seemed lost in all the noise
A snow storm a stimulating voice
Of warmth of the sky of warmth when you die
Were we ever warmer on that day a million
Miles away
We seemed from all eternity
The sunshine in mountains sometimes lost
The river can disregard the cost
And melt in the sky warmth when you die
Were we ever warmer on that day a million miles away
We seemed from all of eternity
2. SUN SONG
As the sire of a boy
Who is only five you see
I find I must pass judgment
On a million matters
Once he woke me from sleep
The sun began to touch the sky
He hit me with a question
And I had no answer
Can the sun sing?
He had heard singing
Once voice ringing
Coming from beyond his room
Searching out the source
He dared to part the curtains
Then he saw the morning sun
Some would say he dreamed it
Fibbed ad merely schemed it
Yet I’m really not so sure
Seeming so convinced he
Stirred form deep within me
Meditations on a theme
We were very young
We were racing through a garden
Laughing in the sunshine
And reveling in the sound of his
Singing, singing
Such the sound
Snuggled close beside me
Here the boy was waiting
Waiting for the answer
To his mystery
Dare I kill the magic
Rob his world of beauty
Toss away the morning joy
We were very old
We were climbing toward the summit
Far above the meadows
Far above the clouds
Just to hear him singing
Once again
So the next dawning
Found us waiting in his room
Bundled up in blankets
Sharing secrets in the gloom
Suddenly we heard it
Morning captured in a song
He who made the sunlight
Bidding us to sing along
When you hear him singing
Night is nearly over
Climb to the sun for there you will find
All is bathed in light
3. LIFE BY LIGHT
I look to your heart
Seen only in part
But then I’ve
Shared both it’s gloom
And its laughter
We search of the same
And crawling
We lurch for its flame
But sprawling
We lay in the dark
Awaiting answers
Answers
It’s taken us years
So many tears were falling
Washing away all that mattered
Remembered at last – desire
A spark from our past, a fire
That rose from our midst and left us longing
At times we see it almost clearly
At times it fades before our eyes
The glimpse withdrawn
The world turns common
It’s out of reach until we name it
Searing light now come light
Beyond the deeps of time I remember a place
In the cool of evening we walked, life by life
Up the storm-swept heights we climbed
As if our doom followed
Men may mock
Climb, though men may mock
Longing for things
Never even named, never seen by man
Some transcendency, some desire divine
If it – if it can be longed for surely
Surely it must exist
Climb with me till we see those heights
They must exist – they must exist
Longing, sweet desire
If we search for something not of earth
Then we search out this cold rock in vain
4. EMBER WITHOUT NAME
I shut my eyes to see the distant years
Before I was before the first breath
To days when we walked in the brilliant light
Before the fall before first death
I dare not look too long—a secret guarded well
I’ve never seen this place but been here many times
I know here I belong but danger here does dwell
An Old Familiar Face a million mirrored lines
Swimming, Dimming, Shadows, Fear Grows
Drowning, Crowning, Dark Skies, Birth Cries
We weren’t meant to see
I wasn’t meant to see the inner weave of me
But deep within the dark
Sometimes we catch a spark
A silver glow as warm as angels
Would fill out souls like mead from Eden
And in this dream I’m so close yet
To see it’s not a dream my eyes begin to burn
A moth drawn to the flame to ashes add a speck
The memories of all who here have had their turn
In strobes and strokes and strikes like noose connects to neck
Swimming, Dimming, Shadows, Fear Grows
Drowning, Crowning, Dark Skies, Birth Cries
We weren’t meant to see
But deep within the dark
Sometimes we catch a spark
A silver glow as old as angels
Would blind us all like snow from Everest
And in this dream I’m far too close
We weren’t meant to see the inner weave of things
No, I can’t tell you when we first met
Possibly before we were born
As fragments on a thread that binds us all
But hot or cold we touch
And black and white we touch
Man and woman touch
Spare and fire touch
And after all I’m not a snail at all
But an ember of a raging fire!
Hot or cold we touch
And black and white we touch
Man and woman touch
Spare and fire touch
Ember without name
Rising from the flame
Free from where I came
I’ve burned down history’s stage
I’ve cooled through the age
I melt into the page
A voice calls through the haze
“You must rejoin the blaze!”
Dimming while swimming
This spark astride an uphill blast
And though an avalanche might fall
I must rejoin the blaze
Carried along on a song sung in fire
Float in the chords miss the words of the choir
Close to a name in the flame I’ve been drawn to
Tell me my name in the flame!
Tell me my name in the flame!
Tell me my Name in the Flame!
5. INTO THIN AIR
We were children then
Something bid us look to the sky
Saw the hawk that soared
And we saw the sparrow winging his way
Knew that we were meant for something,
Something more
For we would join them
We thought of angels and of jets
Of rockets and capes of crimson
Someone, long ago
Found a Himalayan majesty
Never climbed
Beckoning, its summit towering
Climb
Climb, we must climb
For to this we’re born
We knew that we were born to fly
We were oh so very certain of this
Children have such faith
And so we jumped
To fall like stones
Some to break their arms
Some to break their fragile hearts
Healing leaves its scars
We hoped that we were born to fly
For how else could we reach our destiny
Some would leap from porches
Some from roofs
To fall like stones
We tumble and we roll
On the ground that’s destined to reclaim us
The unrepentant climbers
Climb, we must climb
We must try
Try to reach the heights
For unto this we were born
We prayed that we were born to fly
We had no capes but improvised
Blankets will suffice for children
Yet we jumped and fell like stones
So our hopes were snatched away
Even as the hawk would snatch away the sparrow
Yet out hopes won’t die
If we can’t fly there
Maybe we could climb there
Clinging to the side of the highest mountain
Carried upon the wind
The scent of a secret thing
A flower never seen
Yet you know, you know it’s blooming
Far to the west of the world
Another sun is rising
Never to set again
And morning, morning is coming
Blest is the heart that echoes
With songs that were sung in Eden
But some would never climb it
And they linger in the shadows of it
Life rears up to windswept heights
Where one false step might send them plunging
When I looked
To the mountain I saw it
I desired
Yet had no name to call it
Like a dream
Or a memory repressed
Of a place
Where my spirit could rest
From the dark
Shadowed deeps of my heart
Came a song
Yet heard only in part
From the peak
Came the answering voice
So I climbed
That my heart might rejoice
I ascend
I grow blind and I blunder
Bitter cold
Does away with the wonder
There is very little air here
Where I stand upon the summit of
All creation
I will close my eyes and drift away
At last I learned to fly
And found the secret name of longing
Climb, oh we must climb
For we were born for something higher
Than we dream
Higher than we dream
Stones must learn
Learn to fly
6. REST
Even in the darkest dream s I still see your face
Frozen on that icy rock alone
Nothing but a monument of hope unfulfilled
Still I cannot let that be your home
I will climb for you
I will set you free from a tomb made of ice
I will call you—you will hear me
And together we’ll go home
As I climb for you
Are you by my side? Waiting all these years…
When I set you free will you be at peace?
Will you give me rest from the fact that I left?
I will die for you
Just to set you free from the chains made of choice
I will call you – will you hear Me?
And together we’ll be come
Even in your solitude I still taste your breath
How is it that you don’t feel Me near?
Nothing but an ounce of faith could open your eyes
Even on your mountaintops I’m there!
