After This Time

 

1.  After This Time                    - Max Garland

 

Soon I'll say my prayers and lay this mortal body down

Soon I'll say my prayers and lay this mortal body down

 

Hand me the moonlight, hand me the wind

Hand me my coat of rain, this journey's about to begin

 

The fields have all gone brown, the crows are tangled in the breeze

The fields have all gone brown, the crows are tangled in the breeze

 

Give me your best goodbye, lend me your smile

Save me a place inside your heart for awhile

 

Someday we will walk down by the waters that don't run dry

Someday we will walk down by the waters that don't run dry

 

Give me my sailing boat, my anchor and line

Hand me my folded map of what comes after this time

 

Soon I'll say my prayers and lay this mortal body down

Soon I'll say my prayers and lay this mortal body down

 

Hand me the moonlight, hand me the wind

Hand me my coat of rain, this journey's about to begin

 

 

2.   Sometimes - Bernard Duyfhuizen                                           

Sometimes you’re in;  Sometimes you’re out

Sometimes you scream;  Sometimes you shout

Sometimes you wake up in the morning

Sometimes you sleep till the crack of noon

Sometimes you go out in the sun shine

Sometimes you’re howling at the moon

 

                But I know in the morning

                The sun is going to rise

                And this old world it keeps on turning

                Every time I look into     your eyes

Sometimes you win;  Sometimes you lose

Sometimes you’re picked;  Sometimes you choose

Sometimes you go out for the evening

Sometimes you stay out all night

Sometimes you think your odds are even

Sometimes you think it is not right

 

                But I know in the morning

                The sun is going to rise

                And this old world it keeps on turning

                Every time I look into     your eyes

 

Sometimes you’re hot;  Sometimes you’re cold

Sometimes you’re young;  Sometimes you’re old

Sometimes you laugh so hard you cry

Sometimes you’re life’s turned upside down

Sometimes you think you have the answer

Sometimes it’s better to leave town

 

                But I know in the morning

                The sun is going to rise

                And this old world it keeps on turning

                Every time I look into     your eyes

3.  Miss My Home- Dennis Sampson and Joel Pace

They’re over there and I’m over here;

Seems like I’ve been almost everywhere.

Sailing away on a big black ship:

Going off on a mystic trip.

 

Cuz I miss my home

And I miss my home

And I miss my home . . .

I miss my home

 

Little brother, how have you been?

Man, I wish I could’ve been there for him….

And darling sister, it’s you I miss most.

Bought you gifts at every foreign coast.

 

Cuz I miss my home

And I miss my home

And I miss my home . . .

I miss my home

 

Must have been around this whole damned world,

But I still haven’t seen my girl.

And I hope she’s been faithful to me

Cuz you know I haven’t found no mermaids at sea.

 

Cuz I miss my home

And I miss my home

And I miss my home . . .

I miss my home

 

So this song to you I send.

I hope my journey has an end,

And I’ll be home again,

Yes, I’ll be home again

 

Cuz I miss my home

And I miss my home

And I miss my home . . .

I miss my home

4.     Orphan Child     lyrics Charlotte Brontë; music Bernard Duyfhuizen

My feet are sore, and my limbs they are weary;

Long is the way, and the mountains are wild;

Soon will the twilight close moonless and dreary

Over the path of the poor orphan child.

 

Why did they send me so far and so lonely,

Up where the moors spread and grey rocks are piled?

Men are hard-hearted, and kind angels only

Watch o'er the steps of a poor orphan child.

 

Yet distant and soft the night breeze is blowing,

Clouds there are none, and clear stars beam mild,

God, in His mercy, protection is showing,

Comfort and hope to the poor orphan child.

 

Ev'n should I fall o'er the broken bridge passing,

Or stray in the marshes, by false lights beguiled,

Still will my Father, with promise and blessing,

Take to His bosom the poor orphan child.

 

There is a thought that for strength should avail me,

Though both of shelter and kindred despoiled;

Heaven is a home, and a rest will not fail me;

God is a friend to the poor orphan child.'            

 

 

5.  Good Day- Max Garland

maybe there's angels around us

maybe there's nothing at all

maybe there's a babe in a manger

maybe there's an empty stall

 

maybe there's a bruise on the moon tonight

maybe it's the shadow of fear

maybe there's world where everything you've ever

wanted is always near

 

maybe tomorrow will be a good day to arrive

maybe tomorrow will be a good day to arrive

 

maybe there's a knock in the engine

maybe there's a knock on your door

maybe the messenger delivers

the very thing you've been waiting for

 

maybe the breath is a ribbon

wrapped around the gift of a word

maybe you thought you heard something in the wind

nobody else ever heard

 

maybe tomorrow will be a good day to arrive

maybe tomorrow will be a good day to arrive

 

maybe there's a cool drink of water

maybe there's a fountain near

maybe there's wine so sweet and fine

you drink it and disappear

 

maybe you're waiting for something or somebody

maybe you're at the back of the line

maybe the clocks run quicker and cleaner

just around the corner of time

 

maybe tomorrow will be a good day to arrive

maybe tomorrow will be a good day to arrive

 

maybe your head is hanging by a thread

maybe your heart's on a wire

maybe there's a ghost who visits your bed

and sets your dreams on fire

 

maybe this is my only country

maybe this is my own fault

maybe there's a flag made of money flying

while the real one's locked in the vault

 

maybe tomorrow will be a good day to arrive

maybe tomorrow will be a good day to arrive

 

 

6.  Nick’s Postscript,  Lyrics based on F. S. Fitzgerald; Music Joel Pace and Bernard Duyfhuizen

And as I sat there brooding on the old,

Unknown world,

I thought of Gatsby’s wonder

When he first picked out the green light

At the end of Daisy’s dock

[It was the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock.]

 

And Gatsby believed the green light.

Yes Gatsby believed in the [red, gold, and] the green light

 

He had come such long way to this blue lawn,

And his dream must have seemed so close

That he could hardly fail to grasp it

 

Gatsby believed in the green light,

 

The orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.

It eluded us then, but that’s no matter¾

To-morrow we will run faster,

Stretch out our arms farther….

And one fine morning¾

 

Gatsby believed in the green light,

 

So we beat on,

Boats against the current,

Borne back ceaselessly into the past.

 

 

7.  Some Day You’ll Thank the Woman          - Bernard Duyfhuizen

When you first met him,   the sparks really flew

You thought you’d found the one   who completed you.

He said he’d love you forever,   you gave him your heart—

For richer or for poorer, until death do you part.

 

                    Some day you’ll thank the woman   who took that man off your hands

                    Now its not your problem when he says his wife don’t understand,

                    Or goes out to find himself, or tells her he wants a change;

                    Some day you’ll thank the woman   who took that man off your hands.

 

Soon the honeymoon was over,   sooner yet the kids came,

And he just parked his ass   in front of some ball game;

He started going out,   just to see old friends;

Comin’ home with perfume on his collar and strange hair with split ends.

 

                    Some day you’ll thank the woman   who took that man off your hands

                    Now its not your problem when he says his wife don’t understand,

                    Or goes out to find himself, or tells her he wants a change;

                    Some day you’ll thank the woman   who took that man off your hands.

 

                                Sometimes you still get lonely;    sometimes you still get blue

                                Sometimes you just need someone   to cuddle next to you;

                                But you’re better off without him,   and all his wayward ways;

                                Some day you’ll thank the woman   who gave you back your days.

 

Kids are growin’ up;   and you’re still on your own;

A good job, the bills paid, a house made into a home.

Saw him just the other day—lookin’ old, hair gettin’ thin

No sparks flew this time,   you’re really over him.

 

                    Today you thank the woman   who took that man off your hands

                    Now its not your problem when he says his wife don’t understand,

                    Or goes out to find himself, or tells her he wants a change;

                    Today you thank the woman   who took that man off your hands.

 

 

8.  This Wheel                          - Max Garland

this wheel never stumbles   this wheel never falls

though hearts may grow emptyand silence will call

this wheel never flares up   or burns like a brand

it bears itself lightlyin woman and man

 

this wheel runs through rain   and torrents of flood

spins through the bone   and hallows the blood

this wheel nevertwists      itself from the pain

when roads are demolishedthis wheel will remain

 

this wheel is abundant    this wheel is alone

sudden as lightning   and steady as stone

this wheel never wanders   beyond hope of repair

rolls straight to the heart of   whatever is there

 

this wheel is a vagrantthis wheel has no name

it ransacks the jailhouse   and bears off the shame

the smell of the roses   the strangeness you feel

waking at midnight   is the work of this wheel

 

this wheel is a bandit   this wheel is a blade

it steals through the shadowsof heavenly shade

this wheel is of waterthis wheel is of wind

softer than moonlight   it travels your skin

 

this wheel runs through rain   and torrents of flood

spins through the bone   and hallows the blood

this wheel never twists       itself from the pain

when roads are demolished     this wheel will remain

when roads are demolishedthis wheel will remain

 

 

9. The Other Side                - Dennis Sampson and Joel Pace

Got no socks and no shoes

My feet hurt from standing all the day

And I can hear the sounds of the rolling trains

But it’s not the same on the other side

 

We got to…

Get to the other side

 

No one knows my name

No one plays my games

No one weighs my gains

But it’s not the same on the other side

 

We got to…

Get to the other side

 

No one to cry for you

No one to cry for you

No one to cry for you

No one to cry for you

 

And if we both cross over

This burden that we shoulder

It will subside

 

But you’ll still be on

The other side…

 

Got no socks and no shoes

My feet hurt from standing all the day

And I can hear the sounds of the rolling trains

But it’s not the same on the other side

 

Chorus

We got to…

Get to the other side

 

We’re on the other

On the other side!

 

 

10.  Sharon Malone- Bernard Duyfhuizen

Sharon Malone was a country girl;

She cut out her dreams from magazines,

Pasting together a scrapbook life

of what her future would be

 

When she left the country

For the bright lights of New York;

Cosmopolitan ladies with their

Sophisticated eastside talk

 

Sharon Malone was a country girl

She left in the winter of ’69

One way ticket on a Greyhound bus

Scrapbook pages floating through her mind

 

Expecting the action

The excitement of old Broadway

The hustle of the crowds

To fall in love by Valentine’s Day.

 

Hello New York City

Promised land of my dreams

Where are all your beautiful people now

This isn’t how it should be.

 

Sharon Malone was a country girl

The taxi man took her for a ride

The waiter added up the bill all wrong, and

The shop girls made sure she’d buy

 

Her purse was snatched in the 30s

Packages all scattered in the snow

Brown from the people walking fast and

Not caring to see which way he’d go

 

Sharon Malone was a country girl

Alone on the great white way

Her hotel’s a locker at the bus depot

After that, she’s no place to stay

 

Wishing she could get back home

To that quaint, old family scene

Wanting to sleep in her own bed again

to try and rebuild her dreams

 

The glue is dry and cracking now

The pages are starting to tear

The pictures all have yellowed, and

Sharon’s changed the color of her hair.

 

Sharon Malone is a city girl . . .

 

 

11.  Man Out of Snow      - Max Garland

Snow on the rooftop snow in my soul

Snow in my heartabout an inch or so

Can't build much of a man out of snow

Can't stop a woman when she's ready to go

 

Here comes the weather bearing more bad news

One of those dayseven the blues got the blues

Crows singing my favorite song

About how you don't know love till it's gone

 

Snow on the rooftop snow in my soul

Snow in my heartabout an inch or so

Can't build much of a man out of snow

Can't stop a woman when she's ready to go

 

Wake up little dreamer my momma said

All those dreams gonna cloud your head

I believe I believe I believe she was right

If I'd listen to her I wouldn't be lonely tonight

 

Snow on the rooftop snow in my soul

Snow in my heartabout an inch or so

Can't build much of a man out of snow

Can't stop a woman when she's ready to go

 

They saythey saythey say

You always remember the one that got away

By the milk of the moonon the shadow of my hand

I can count the reasons but I can't understand

 

Snow on the rooftop snow in my soul

Snow in my heartabout an inch or so

Can't build much of a man out of snow

Can't stop a woman when she's ready to go

 

Hallelujah the choir boys sing

About all the blessings heaven will bring

I was thinking about heaven just the other day

Watching my baby walking away

 

Hallelujah the choir boys sing

About all the blessings heaven will bring

I was thinking about heaven just the other day

Watching my baby walking away

 

Snow on the rooftop snow in my soul

Snow in my heartabout an inch or so

Can't build much of a man out of snow

Can't stop a woman when she's ready to go

 

 

12.  Springtime Blues,         Joel Pace and Bernard Duyfhuizen

I got the springtime blues

You’ve been on my mind

When the seasons change

They leave me behind

But I said “Ohh! Without you I have no center

Because you were my core

So I’m still lost in winter

 

But I got my brand new Chevy

And I shined it up real nice

I got those white wall tires

Baby, I bought you lots of ice

I said “Ohhh! If it’s the material things that are going to bring you round”

But just like a new flower growin’

Your deceit was springin’ from the ground

 

I got the springtime blues the Canadian Geese return

Baby, our last supper left me with heart burn

I said “Ohh! It’s beyond Pepcid AC or Zantac”

Cuz the way you left me,

nearly gave me a heart attack.

 

So I gotta play my horn….

 

I look outside and I see lots of squirrels

However, when I look outside I do not see any other girls

Because baby you are the only one I my mind this spring

But you know they call you “The Scorpion”

Cuz you sure know how to sting

Yes you do….

 

13.  Dance with Me       - Bernard Duyfhuizen

Dance with me, dance with me, dance with me darlin’

Come let me     twirl    you once round the room;

Dance with me, dance with me, dance with me darlin’

Come dance beneath this bright August moon.

 

Round and around we turn in our circles

Each one is different yet always the same

Round and around we turn in our circles

Life is a dance spinning out of its frame

 

How do we know the dance from the dancer?

Each step is measured in time

How do we know the song from the singer?

Life turning round on a rhyme

 

So, Dance with me, dance with me, dance with me darlin’

Come let me   twirl    you once round the room;

Dance with me, dance with me, dance with me darlin’

Come dance beneath this bright August moon.

 

Come dance beneath this bright August moon.

 

 

14.  Marcel Marceau     - Max Garland

Marcel Marceau never spoke a word

He flapped his arms like a dying bird

He made you feel that bird was real

But I can't get to you

 

The summer moon never had a prayer

Never had no ladder to climb up there

Yet there she hangs from heaven's gate

And I can't get to you

 

I can't get to you      I can't get to you 

I built a boat but it would not float

I stole a car but the wheels caught fire

I try to walk but my shoes they stray

And I can't get to you

 

The rain glides down the mountainside

The rivers race from place to place

The water lies sweet on your tongue

But I can't get to you

 

The wind has nothing to his name

He wears a coat made out of rain

And yet travels this rich man's world

But I can't get to you

 

I can't get to you      I can't get to you 

I built a boat but it would not float

I stole a car but the wheels caught fire

I try to walk but my shoes they stray

And I can't get to you

 

I can drift and I can dream

And I can float upon the stream

And I can dive into the deep

But I can't get to you

 

I write a letterI place a call

I paint your name upon my wall

I throw a bottle out on the sea

But I can't get to you

 

I can't get to you      I can't get to you 

I built a boat but it would not float

I stole a car but the wheels caught fire

I try to walk but my shoes they stray

And I can't get to you

 

Marcel Marceau never spoke a word

He flapped his arms like a dying bird

He made you feel that bird was real

But I can't get to you

He made you feel that bird was real

But I can't get to you

He made you feel that bird was real

But I....

 

 

15.  Via Canzone,                 Joel Pace and Bernard Duyfhuizen

Your father would never return

To the place he left at seventeen

On a donkey-drawn cart

Pulling past silver-tipped olive trees

 

On a road slithering through the mountains

How he must have dreamt of the sea

Atlantis across the Atlantic

And “drinking life to the lees”

 

Fourteen hours a day mending shoes

All across a salty sea

Sewing and polishing memories

Unstitch every worn bit of hope

To pull the soul away

 

Dreams come apart at the seams

And you worked by his side all way

On cold winter days you’d make coarse coffee

Sweeten the air by placing an orange rind

On the coal stove top that sat behind

 

We are walking the way of the song

We are walking the way of the song

 

Returning six years shy of century since he left

You with only eight months left

Winding our way through mountain roads

Past the heart of the lion

We find his village nestled among the peaks

Like the cygnet folded among swan wings

 

And there are miracles

And there are miracles

 

Finding the street where he was born

“Via Canzone”: the way of the song

A single flower to adorn

The door

We had come to adore

The place of his birth

Bearing common sense and mirth

 

We are walking the way of the song

We are walking the way of the song

 

Singing the songs your father sang to you

You sang to me, as a child

And I to you as you lay swaddled in white

In a cradle surrounded by wise men

And we stayed by your side

Singing till morning was night

And you and your father

Looking down on us from the way of the song

In the sky

 

We are walking the way of the song

We are walking the way of the song

 

So I’m “borne back ceaselessly

into the past”: Down dusty roads

Silver-tipped olive groves

Stung by the honeyed barbs of memories

Down dusty roads

Silver-lined olive leaves

As I hum along

Walking the way of the song

 

    Better Weather

1.  Red Wing          - Max Garland

It was a farm so small                                                   

Hardly there at all                                                    

But every time one falls

It's all the world to you

It's all the world to you

 

Mother worked her youth away

We were the bills she had to pay

Her backbone paved the way

Down the golden mile

Somebody's golden mile

 

The river built this town

And Walmart tore it down

I watched the sweet land flow

Into the Gulf of Mexico

Down the Gulf of Mexico

 

They told us how the mine

Would make us rich in time

But I ain’t seen a dime

Just sand grains in the sun

Sand grains in the sun

 

Sell my soul down the river

Bare my bones to the sky

Red wing help me remember

To kiss the rainbow goodbye

Kiss the rainbow goodbye

 

Now the high school kids are wired

And the Golden Rule's retired

And the Congress is for hire

Buy one get one free

Buy one get one free

 

I might have one more drink

The satellite’s on the blink

And the slot machine odds stink

It's a bells and whistle world

A bells and whistle world

 

The good fathers of the church

Left Jesus in the lurch

Now they've organized a search

Don't try to apprehend

Might be a dangerous man

 

They melted the school bells down

To forge a rich man's crown

I saw him high above this town

Tip his silver wings

Tip his silver wings

 

Sell my soul down the river

Bare my bones to the sky

Red wing help me remember

To kiss the rainbow goodbye

Kiss the rainbow goodbye

 

 

2.  Summit ParkR. L. Stevenson, Bernard Duyfhuizen and Joel Pace

As from the house your mother sees

You playing round the garden trees

So you may see if you but look

Through the windows of this book

 

Another child far far away

And in another garden play

 

But do not think you can at all

By knocking on this window call

That child to hear you. He intent

Is still on his play-business bent.

 

Another child far far away

And in another garden play

 

He does not hear he will not look

Nor yet be lured out of this book

For long ago the truth to say

He has grown up and gone away

 

And it is but a child of air

That lingers in the garden there

 

The page is but a window to the past

Or perhaps a looking glass

garden is naught but your heart

fence around the inmost part

 

Grass overgrown with weeds & snares

Bowling green o’erwrought with cares

Brittle pages of this book

Merely await your second look

 

As from the house your mother sees

You playing round the garden trees

So you may see if you but look

Through the windows of this book

 

Another child far far away

And in another garden play 

And it is but a child of air

That lingers in the garden there

 

 

3.  Winter Light,                   Max Garland

Don’t fall, don’t fall tonight

I’m not ready for winter light

I’m not ready for winter light

 

I hear them gathering in the sky

How do they know which way to fly

How do they know which way to fly

 

Some good wind will shake this tree

Leaves come down 

They were the best part of me

They were the best part of me

 

Don’t falldon’t fall tonight

I’m not ready for winter light

I’m not ready for winter light

 

Strange space inside my bones

Where else would the first snow find a home

Where else would the first snow find a home       

 

Some good wind will shake this tree

Leaves come down 

They were the best part of me

They were the best part of me

 

There’s ice in the water trough

There’s stains the moon can’t scrape off

There’s a girl in the broken field

With a voice that sounds almost real

Singing......  

 

Don’t falldon’t fall tonight

I’m not ready for winter light

I’m not ready for winter light

 

I hear them gathering in the sky

How do they know which way to fly

How do they know which way to fly

 

Some good wind will shake this tree

Leaves come down 

They were the best part of me

They were the best part of me

 

Don’t falldon’t fall tonight

I’m not ready for winter light

I’m not ready for winter light

 

 

 

4.  Staring Down,                 Olaf Lind

There's a man upstairs sitting there as time goes slowly by

passing through a waking dream the sun falls from the sky

there's a man upstairs sitting there

with a tear drop in his eye

 

The ghost is in the attic

an imprint of the past

no one seems to know him

but the children always ask

 

There's a playground on the corner where all the children played

broken bottles and shotgun shells are all you'll find today

there's a playground on the corner

but the children stay away

 

The ghost is in the attic

an imprint of the past

no one seems to know him

but the children always ask

 

On a city street lying there hunger is in wait

if you can't work pull up a bench and answer to your fate

on a city street with solitude

the hour is always late

 

The ghost is in the attic

an imprint of the past

no one seems to know him

but the children always ask

 

There's a voice inside my head today I wish would go away

a foolish voice, a voice of dreams I dreamt would never stay

there's a voice inside my head today

I wish would go away

 

There's a man upstairs sitting there, lonely, staring down

at the faces of his children wrenched toward the ground

and the city street that answers

with a silent sound

 

The ghost is in the attic

an imprint of the past

no one seems to know him

but the children always ask

No one seems to know him

but the children always ask

 

 

5.  Hard Time,                      Max Garland

It’s a hard time all the way around

You cannot fly and you can’t stay on the ground

It’s a hard time all the way around

 

Went down to see my love, my love had fled

I hope someday to get that vision from my head

It’s a hard time all the way around

 

It’s a hard time all the way around

You cannot fly and you can’t stay on the ground

It’s a hard time all the way around

 

She said she loved me, I was her care

Now I’m just another ribbon in her hair

It’s a hard time all the way around

 

It’s a hard time all the way around

You cannot fly and you can’t stay on the ground

It’s a hard time all the way around

 

When you go down in love you go down alone

Down to the bottom, down to the bone

It’s a hard time all the way around

 

It’s a hard time all the way around

You cannot fly and you can’t stay on the ground

It’s a hard time all the way around

 

Stood in the kitchen, stood in the hall

Stood on the back porch just to watch the evening fall

It’s a hard time all the way around

 

It’s a hard time all the way around

You cannot fly and you can’t stay on the ground

It’s a hard time all the way around

 

 

6.  Ballad of an Aging Hero,        Daniel Zerr

Taking flight is quite a tall order

These days I prefer the ground

The buildings I can still leap are much shorter

They take more than a single bound

I can no longer go without glasses

My disguise is incomplete

And the speeding bullet it passes

No matter how I move my feet

Maybe it’s true I’m not what I used to be

But I’m still me

 

Remember when our view of the city

Was from high above the crowd

The world was lush and green and so pretty

As we sailed beyond the clouds

Now it seems the world has grown colder

The theme music no longer plays

And you and I are both a bit older

Time to put the cape away

No longer the hero everyone’s used to

But I still love you

 

Is the yellow sun a bit dimmer

Is there too much kryptonite

I know my waist would be a bit thinner

If I didn’t snack at night

For truth and justice I’m still fighting

I’m still a friend to all of man

I’m just in need of slightly better lighting

But you can bet I’ll do all I can

The suit’s a little tighter now than it used to be

But I’m still me

 

 

7.  To Wage This Love,        Max Garland

This is what I say. This is who I love

This where I live out my days

But never enough.  This is what I say

 

I wake at night. Somebody says

That was just a dream you had

Better lay back down your head.

 

Sometimes I’m here. Sometimes I’m almost there.

Sometimes I’m halfway between

Myself and thin air.

 

This is what I say. This is who I love

This where I live out my days

But never enough.  This is what I say

 

The wide winds turn. The great grasses sway.

Sometimes it’s almost enough

To carry the heart away.

 

I walk this town, steel and stone.

In every face I think I see

A little bit of my own.

 

This is what I say. This is who I love

This where I live out my days

But never enough.  This is what I say

                                           

I hold this hand so close in mine.

It’s wrapped around my fingers

Like the hold of time.

 

Are you there? Will you be?

The morning like an arrow

Aimed straight at me.

 

You come down like roses from the sky.      

I know better by now than to wonder why.

Stronger wills than mine have come to dust.

It takes a lot to teach the faint of heart    to trust.

 

To wage this love, to harbor you

Is the brightest thing in a dark time

That I know to do.

 

This is what I say. This is who I love

This where I live out my days

But never enough.  This is what I say

 

 

8.  Into Tomorrow        Lucas K. Fischer and Joel Pace

Birds twitter anxiously, awaiting dawn.

Lost in thought we walk into the morn;

Let us hike together, though the climb be steep.

The road goes ever on and on:

Miles to go before we sleep.

Puddle gives back the uncertain heaven, whose rolling evanescence

Window to the sky on the ground.

My heart recounts the essence of the scene now:

 

The mountains about us looked like cathedrals;

Twisted trees grew from vortices.

Southwest sun climbed the arc through the needles;

We followed past heart-shaped stones and leaves.

At the top, you walked out to a land-bridge,

The fall steep and sheer on either side.

Powerless should you stumble, I snapped a picture:

My love alone and looking back at me with independent eyes.

There thought I is the soul my heart fell for,

Toppling through memories and tops of trees.

After you, I, too, braved the rock tightrope;

We walked back, as the cool morning gave way to my heart-warming brave day.

 

In the evening of our days, we sip wine,

Lying in a hammock lazily creaking, keeping time.

Trees filter the breeze and frame the scattered stars--

Bright underbelly of leaves canopy for you and me entwined.

River serenades us, showing the bridge at the furthest sea;

We hop-scotch constellations, glowing breadcrumb trail to eternity.

 

We move from cardinal joy to cardinal joy,

Sorrow to sorrow;

A little happiness we lend,

A little we borrow.

Like robins skipping branches

We move from tonight into tomorrow.

 

 

9.  I’ve Been Waiting,         Bernard Duyfhuizen

I’ve been waiting for my time to come

I’ve been waiting all my life

I’ve been waiting for my time to come to take flight

I’ve been waiting all my live long life

 

I’ve been waiting for that morning star

I’ve been waiting for that morning star to rise

I’ve been waiting for that morning star to shine

I’ve been waiting, or am I wastin’ time

 

I’ve been waiting for you to come around

But you’re out there running all over town

I’ve been waiting for a chance to get next to you

I’ve been waiting, what the Hell am I supposed to do

 

I’ve been waiting for my time to come

I’ve been waiting all my life

I’ve been waiting for my time to come to take flight

I’ve been waiting all my live long life(x3)

 

 

10.  Better Weather,          Max Garland

Spring has come but I don’t see a flower anywhere

I don’t hear no pretty little bluebird up in the air

They say better weather will heal our wounds in time

Heal mine       Heal mine

 

Look down the river, the ice will not break

There’s a little bit of bitterness in every breath I take

They say better weather will heal the heart in time

Heal mine        Heal mine

 

Snowflake in the bloodstream, zero at the bone

When will this chilly wind chill and leave us alone

They say better weather heals our wounds in time

Heal mine    Heal mine

 

Can’t bribe the weatherman, can’t rob the sky

Can’t cheat the seasons, just got to let them roll by

They say better weather will heal our wounds in time

Heal mine   Heal mine

 

Headlights in the snowdrift, fading out fast

The hardest part of the rescue is making it last

They say better weather will heal our wounds in time

Heal mine    Heal mine

 

 

11.  Ophelia          W. Shakespeare, Joel Pace and Bernard Duyfhuizen

Where the willow grows aslant

A thorn-fringed stream

Crinoline soaked in troubles

Songs in bubbles scream

Her hair waves in the current

Poppy violets bloom on the banks

Blackcurrant wine in chalices

Drunk by the queen without thanks

 

Too much of water hast thou, poor    Ophelia,

And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet, Ophelia!

It is our trick; nature her custom holds, Ophelia!

Let shame say what it will: when these are gone, Ophelia!

The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord, Ophelia!

I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze, Ophelia!

 

[freestyle verse]

A speech of fire that fain would blaze

Beware what men do say

when you raise a toast

I do suppose

I’ve seen a ghost

Or is that a fly upon my nose

Lean in close

As we disclose

A fiend that grows

The Queen she knows

Who poisoned the king

Who joys in killing his brother

marrying my mother

With words as swords I’ll speak daggers to her ears

To show that this staggering good cheer is

Parrying with fears

I’ll fence in the truth through tears

The sadness hunting here

Madness of King Lear’s Cordelia

Who else is listening to my jeers Ophelia?

Too much water hast the fire that within thee burns

In turn I’ll learn

By feigning madness

Whose grating gladness

My dissent will be to give

Up sanity for lent 

Straining smiles or to beguile the true intent:

Who was sent for over miles

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

With a glance you will discern

How this heart within me burns

Mark but this fly and mark in this

How something rotten in the state of Denmark is

Watch how with the fiction of a play

And the crazed diction I will say

I’ll trap the conscience of the King

And the Queen & people of England,

The steeple’s jinglin’ with stolen coins

The virgin renowned has ruined church and crown,

Divided like light in a prism,

But I’ll veil my criticism

In Hamlet’s catechism,

Let drama heal this schism,

Appeal this prison

Sentence to appease us

Kneel or kiss him Judas to Jesus,

The holy ghost of father to the son sees us

Until the day is done what dreams may come to release us

This Beowulf the swords of middle earth

Slay Brother wolf with words of riddles’ worth

Please put some delay on my words Mr. Middlesworth

To be, or not to be

L - O – V – E

Get thee to a nunnery

 

Too much of water hast thou, poor    Ophelia,

And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet, Ophelia!

It is our trick; nature her custom holds, Ophelia!

Let shame say what it will: when these are gone, Ophelia!

The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord, Ophelia!

I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze, Ophelia!

 

Where the willow grows aslant

A thorn-fringed stream

Crinoline soaked in troubles

Songs in bubbles scream

Her hair waves in the current

Poppy violets bloom on the banks

Blackcurrant wine in chalices

Drunk by the queen without thanks

 

Too much of water hast thou, poor    Ophelia,

And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet, Ophelia!

It is our trick; nature her custom holds, Ophelia!

Let shame say what it will: when these are gone, Ophelia!

The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord, Ophelia!

I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze, Ophelia!

 

But that this folly doubts it,

OPHELIA 

 

 

12.  Somebody Like You,      Max Garland

somebody needs your love tonight

somebody cannot ask outright

somebody might not make it through

somebody like you     somebody like you

 

somebody cannot bear     the weight

of darkness that feels to them like fate

if there is rescue it’s too late

if not for you    if not for you

 

he was no one that I knew

flesh and blood like me and you

out of time and luck      let’s say

just in the world’s way   in the world’s way  

 

changea   wild cold world

let this be rewound

who are you fooling girl

boy you are falling down

this feels like falling down

 

somebody once held half a chance

out on the floor for every dance

now there is hardly even a glance

if not for you   if not for you

 

somebody folds his hand too soon

there is no future in this room

there is no wild card up your sleeve

no bluff you can believe   no bluff you believe

 

somebody talks to the empty air

somebody thinks somebody’s there

everyone knows that it’s not true

everybody but you     everybody but you

 

change a wild cold world

let this be rewound

who are you fooling girl

boy you are falling down

this feels like falling down

 

somebody needs your love tonight

somebody cannot ask outright

somebody might not make it through

somebody like you     somebody like you

 

 

13.  Headin’ Back to You,       Bernard Duyfhuizen    

Summer comes I’ll be headin’ back to you;

Summer comes I’ll be headin’ back to you;

When I left I thought that we were through;

Summer comes I’ll be headin’ back to you.

 

When the leaves started fallin’ from your trees;

When the leaves started fallin’ from your trees;

I started runnin’ south just feelin’ free;

When the leaves started fallin’ from your trees.

 

When the snow was driftin’ in your yard;

When the snow was driftin’ in your yard;

Somehow you found me with that Christmas card;

When the snow was driftin’ in your yard;

 

                How many times have I left you this a way,

                And how many times have I heard you say,

                “When your wanderin’s over you’ll know what to do.”

                So when summer comes I’ll be headin’ back to you.

 

Springtime comes early in the south;

Springtime comes early in the south;

The birds are already northern bound;

Springtime comes early in the south;

 

Summer comes I’ll be runnin’ back to you;

Summer comes I’ll be runnin’ back to you;

Now I know just what I’m gonna do;

Summer comes I’ll be runnin’ back to you;