Put it to Rest
She has a smile you can’t deny
The world is turbulent outside
She can make you long for your home again
The place where it all began
In the chatter of the room
You hear her name
It lights the flame again
You wonder where you’ve been
And you struggle with the way to put it to rest
When you finally move it’s not the time
Your reflection shows your thoughts are misaligned
On the winter streets below
They are bundled from head to toe
If she was there would you even know
The violence of the cold
It plays the game
It lights that flame again
You wonder where you’ve been
And you struggle with the ways to put it to rest
The summer fades and returns again
The way you feel changes with the seasons
The chance may never come again
As you watch her walk off into the distance
The sun calls you out to play
You’ll find a new flame
as you curse the way you’ve been
And you wonder why you waited to put it to rest
Holding out
What have we become In this age of isolation
Children who have lost, their imagination
The weak who've survived on bitters pills alone
The echoes still ring in our bones from the lies they told
I can’t help but hold out fate
that we are still able to change
With the weight of your will to mend
And their silent demands
As tomorrow comes
You despise the fact
That you’re one day older and
You’re one day less in tact
Wisdom failed to replace your youth
A hollow stare is the only sign of you
I can’t help but hold out fate
that we are still able to change
With the weight of your will to mend
And their silent demands
He said our path has been laid
That each of our faces it’s been written
Demands that the will can’t help but show
Leaves us with nothing but desire to kill
I can’t help but hold out fate
that we are still able to change
With the weight of your will to mend
And their silent demands
Time is a Healer
I see you so far away
or rather what you were then
Has time been kind between
Your lovers and your friends
Well you could push it to the back of your mind
To brew and boil there
You just never made peace with it
and you're holding out in dispair
Time is a healer
a medicine man and his dance
it can break your heart to loose
but your sorrow you seek it out
He never was much for acquaintances
It seems he was a loner from the start
And all that time spent denying
It never was from the heart
You will push it to the back of your mind
And lay it down when it comes time
You just never made peace with the two
The words you speak and what you live
Time is a healer
a medicine man and his dance
it can break your heart to loose
but your sorrow you seek it out
Carry it with me
It's funny how I still carry it with me
The discoveries of a child are always there
We lived on commercial street behind city hall
With all that open air and all that open time
I never spent one day inside
Sometimes I think
Where are the children of the world
And where do they all hide
I was hurt but it didn’t slow me down
I played my fathers records into the ground
I had no idea that this would soon begin
And those tunes, I still carry them around
With all that open air and all that open time
I never spent one day inside
Sometimes I think
Where are the children of the world
And where do they all hide
Our TV showed only black and white
And some would say we’re behind the times
But it was never on, we spent our summer gone
We had better things to do with our time
It's funny how I still carry it with me
The discoveries of a child are always there
We were broke but the house was full of love
And I’ll always treasure my time there
With all that open air and all that open time
I never spent one day inside
Sometimes I think
Where are the children of the world
And where do they all hide
Happened to me
Come here closer and show me you’re for real
Not just something that I’ve dreamt and will awake from
The pieces are in place
Come spare the one who cares, just a little bit of grief
There is no love in the wake of their demands
But who would be the one to say so
As the sun creeps up on us from behind
They plot against the things that keep us sane
You happened to me
Just as all good things should
You happened to me
You make it all a little sweeter
Now I choose this path and therefore where it leads me
If we meet again, will you see me
Again, the pieces are in place
Come spare the one who care, a little bit of grief
There is no love in the wake of their demands
But who would be the one to say so
As the sun creeps up on us from behind
They plot against the things that keep us sane
You happened to me
Just as all good things should
You happened to me
You make it all a little sweeter
Forward
You awoke from sleep
Six shots rang out
You found out the next day
What went down
It’s the subtle clues
That life seems to be giving you
You may need some time alone
The lessons learned in our war for peace
They slip our minds so easily
As the dead man’s lore keeps some hope alive
We all need a place to hide
Your mother just called
God bless her heart
She was worried about her baby
You can’t live your life
In fear of what’s outside
Just turn off the TV
The lessons learned in our war for peace
They slip our minds so easily
As the dead man’s lore keeps some hope alive
We all need a place to hide
From here forward is the only way
Altered Skies
The thought crossed your mind
And it’s feeding your frustration
This too will run its course
But you must find the strength to let it
We go running through the night
Illuminate the trail by firelight
Searching for answers
Waiting, waiting
The fire burns within
And it clouds your judgment
You feel alive
For the first time under altered skies
when this fog lifts
the sun burns your winter skin
you run for the shade
and the comfort you’ve know
Nothing but the pain now all but the truth is forgotten
You’re building up your armor, to keep you safe and
Help you to sleep
It seems there isn’t a friend,
that could begin to understand
The pain you suffer within, when without
The meanings begin to twist
On the pages inside the book
You bend them to meet your own ends
And return
Do you feel cheeted, as you go there now
You let your shadow lead you
And your footsteps betrayed you
I will give all I can, just to know that all has not be lost.
Nothing but the pain now all but the truth is forgotten
You’re building up your armor, to keep you safe and
Help you to sleep
Shilo
A call to God or a call to arms
a bit of peace in a cloud of scorn
The vice becomes the blade
the futile call is made
On a waning eastern wind
Amidst the tension and the sand
The moss wept to the music of the waves
And the things that make you ill
Will be cast from you still
There’s no way to turn back the time you’ve taken
These moments are too few to waste
Let us cast our memories around
Those of us here bathed in laughter
We’ll be washed clean, as it dissolves
There’s no way to turn back the time you’re living
I see Shilo
Place your immortal words here
May they fill the void when you’re alone
Friend and Foe
Your children grown up without me
She may have got her wish
Still after all this time
I still don’t know what that meant
Our time is infrequent
I feel closer still
As we gauge what we know
against what we kill
My friend you're always welcome here
My foe, forgiveness is all I can show
What came between them, was there all the time
With no reason to cross that space
It never did seem right
Though I hold her near me
I’m honest in this exchange
We just come from different places
And the riff there shall remain
My friend you're always welcome here
My foe, forgiveness is all I can show
I’m out of my mind again
But nothings really changed
Except the things around me
When there’s time I’ll see
That you’re my peace
You said so yourself
Words were never really enough
But they always seem to help
My friend you're always welcome here
My foe, forgiveness is all I can show
Storyteller
There was a place outside of town
An old white house
The river ran down below
An old rebel called it home
The town was different then
Before the city moved in
And all the good old boys
Are gone now
What was it to me?
Just some place to be
I’d sit and listen to the old man tell stories
There was no place he hadn’t been
We just gravitated towards him
He was blessed with a tongue of gold an pearl
He was caught in morocco
Put in prison for possession
As a means to survive he killed a man
This was not a killer
Simply a survivor
They never would have let him out otherwise
he lived from that day on
with an intense sense of freedom
something I may never witness again
One night he called us down
The river had risen to his doorstep
I think he really felt confined
In that little house
He came across the flood plane
In that little boat of his
It was a trip of many colors
We took with him
what a place to be
the stars came down to greet me
as I sat and listened to the old man tell stories
there was no place he hadn’t been
and we just gravitated towards him
he was blessed with a tongue
of gold and pearl
I remember from that day on
That intense sense of freedom
Something I may never witness again
I remember from that day on
That intense sense of freedom
Something I’ll long to find again
