LYRICS
OUT of the MOMENT
1
The LONGEST WAY
light falls on the rolling field
fragrant nights and stolen days
yeah I know
in the circle of one lifetime
the radius changes
we are in we are up and down
and round again
and should fate leave us here again
in this broad land
free to breathe, unweighed
I will know by the way you take the evening
and wrap it around me
I will know you by the way
you put my soul on display
take the longest way around the mountain
there’s no shame in passing up the climb
we’ll roll love out into the gentle valley
rest at the edge of time
my silence is like mortar now
a foundation
for some eternal building
if I take you everywhere I go from here
there will be no lines or points
for our path to betray
take the longest way…
all this stays
life is a show of come and go again
and I love the ways I will remember this
remember this, remember this
when I’m all the way around the mountain
and I’m all the way around
the longest way
take the longest way…
2
MOTHERLODE
cold in summertime
inside this new gold mine
deep into earth we go
bed of rock unknown below
crumbled walls ‘round me
where strong iron used to be
beautiful mineral show
melt me in this fluid glow
let’s go up to the motherlode
and pulverize these veins
I’ve got a full head
and an empty heart
and a cabin full of grain
how were you to know
you’d aim for the forest
fall into my flames?
I’d burn it down
I’d burn it down again
I’d burn it down again
just to feel your hot hot rain
may your strong
and steady hand
guide us through the caves
in this last deep stand
our bounty still to grow
you said this spring
would ever flow
let’s go up to the motherlode
and pulverize these veins
I’ve got some black art
and a secret code
and a tragic, magic brain
how were you to know
you’d aim for the forest,
fall into my flames?
I’d burn it down….
and this land will never lie fallow
remember all
of what the wise birds know
though each fall
cold wind may blow
come winter
I’ll heat you
in the driving snow
let’s go up to the motherlode….
3
FRONTIER
under the last blue slice
of a purple evening
they climb the trail again
they wander
they take the long way
as a host of stars
begins to light the sky
no end in sight
no end in sight, nowhere
two seagulls soar
in the warm night air
he walks her home
along the fault line
she says, “look, we can see
the whole world from here
it’s more than me
it’s more than you
kiss me like the first time
wrap me in your long twine
and cast me to your heart’s frontier”
horizons
there will be new horizons
but tonight
the islands off this coastline
are blinking synchronized
“tell me,” he says,
“will you wait for me?
on the beach near the cove
where you first held me with your eyes”
though they may lose
these soft, long days
remember love
warm and true
always
he walks her home along the fault line….
OUT of the MOMENT
4
status change
slowly come over me
feather harness, lift me up
in this light
everything curves into the bending
in this light
grace is a showdown
in this light
everyone stand and pray
I am falling out of the moment
receiving every message
and tone sent
and I think I saw the ending
I saw the ending
and it took my breath away
all these chutes and ladders...
is this a trial game?
cast me out there on the rim
and the chase is on
in this light
all that I know is rending
in this light
heaven’s a boom town
in this light
I want to always stay
I am falling out of the moment….
the clouds were empty
and the sun was high
I sent my signal to the big wide sky
they said, "if you jump you will surely fly"
oh oh oh
give me one more lifetime to break this chain
one more heart to feel all this pain
one more moment to love you, sane
and in the lighting there
everything changed
in this light. . . .
5
SIMPLE SILENT STAR
I’m brave
but I know I’m close to broke again
it’s late in the game
but I’ve still got magic to spend
I don’t understand it all
but I know there’s beauty
in the catch and fall
on days like these
I move the chairs outside
I’ve got all the green leaves in Eden
with nothing left to hide
yeah they can try to sell me anything
but I’m only buying
what time cannot divide
maybe love is just the way you are
when you look past me, so quiet and far
maybe your heart outshines my galaxy
with one simple, silent star
well I measured every heavy atom
between us there
now I’m defending my sight lines
and bracing for
your uranium stare
yeah you could soar like Superman
and I would hold your cape tight
in my two lead hands
maybe love is just the way you are
when you look past me, so quiet and far
maybe your heart outshines my galaxy
with one simple, silent star
so I’ll keep tuning in
to every frequency you play
match the atmospheric pressure
of all the storms you send away
and some day soon you’ll find me
near your distant, island shore
surfacing in the breakers
reaching for your golden oar
maybe love is just the way you are
when you look past me, so quiet and far
maybe your heart outshines my galaxy
with one simple, silent star
6
SKYLINE
clouds ascending
wind takes the leaves
in a rogue tailspin
there’s a blue line ripping up the sky
storm’s coming in
in the cold rain, all the words we bend
everything we mean, and all that we pretend
when the summer’s green again
and I’m long gone, away
they’ll still be here for you
under the ironwood
so you’ll remember all that we didn’t say
run⎯rounds and countdowns
and hiding in the margins for another year
I guess losing goes easy
when you wrap the pieces of your heart
like souvenirs
in the cold rain….
and oh oh
I’ll keep forgetting
every word
you never gave away
oh oh oh
until I soar back over
that skyline
until I soar back over
that skyline
some day
in the cold rain….
FOUR HANDS
cruel spring
the teasing sun
burned out again
and you were there
a soldier at his mountain
guarding, comfortably
rose bush sting
Helvetica in white and red
you came to me
a temple ‘round a fountain
and drank in every drop I bled
only four hands in the world
only the words we say tonight
though I know you’ll never
run away with me
when you cross down the border again
when you cross down the border again
look for my light
stranger, free ranger
wrap your nomad heart around me
lie me here
suspended in the day you found me
across the years I’ll trace
a silver line back to your face
never lose this memory
only four hands….
am I losing everything
to try again with you?
it feels like full moon fishing
in a crowded lake
you’re careful
with what you say
not careful what you do
and I am waiting baby
dare me, dare me, dare me
dare me into love
dare me into love
with you
though I know you’ll never
run away with me
when you cross down the border again
look for my light
7
8
OPEN CIRCUIT - instrumental
9
STANDING WAVES
he rolls me down again
like a broken bamboo shade
he comes around again
when his blue shifts back to grey
desiccated
though the clouds are full of rain
inebriated
by a monsoon that never came
I I I’ve heard about a place like this
where every Barstow gets just one jungle kiss
lead me down there
lead me down there
we sped through a moment
in a long last escapade
bargained for delayed atonement
when the trip was never made
suffocated
by the dusty road and range
stranded
waiting at a lonely interchange
I I I’ve heard about a place like this
where every Barstow gets just one jungle kiss
lead me down there
soon soon soon
before we’re just standing waves
come change the phase
holy liquid days
and leave me to drown there
leave me to drown there
brave one, brave one
your fuse breaks on the changing lines
that groove the arid landscape here
save some sand for the only one
who can make your desert flower reappear
I can still discard the embers
of a tumbleweed enflamed
a blaze so swift and tender
could never burn me, bone nor brain
soon, before we’re just standing waves
oh oh oh change the phase…
in this cool night rain
10
NONSTOP FLIGHT
caught again, under me, in my bed
did you think I would be easily led?
what kind of arrangement would keep you
on the upper side of the down
an occasional traveler to this outlying town?
the time had come to give away
what I could not sell
and you and I, for a moment there
were trading well
craving the deep space
waiting in the shallow end of the sky
Aquarian radar always scans long and high
you wanted a nonstop flight
well you flew through the wall right into me
get your nav plan right
I don’t want you to blow the landing
don’t want you to blow the landing
baby don’t blow the landing
come on and bring her down low
crash her in slow tonight
I almost spent a hundred
on this three-token game
guess you were the one I ran to
when I was out of shame
something is broken
I can hear the engine needs a tune
jet me away from this cold little moon
you wanted a nonstop flight….
now you’re circling round the bay
in the morning light
can’t see me waving from your altitude
when the flying’s over
and the ground feels right
tell me that you’ll always
keep this long, safe runway
in your range of sight
I walked you out the airfield
and right up to the plane
we stood there underneath the wing
kissing goodbye in the rain
and I may never travel far again
you wanted a nonstop flight. . . .
11
STRAY PINES
soon they’ll know
about the vapor trails
and the brine
I stole from the sea
soon they’ll guess
that the treasure I lost
was a trade
for a skeleton key
stray pines
‘round this fluid mending
on the ridge up here
those salt mines
and that vault of seeds unending
are they buried near?
birds in early spring
with their wings all on show
scattered songs they sing
only what they want me to know
stray pines
‘round this fluid mending
on the ridge up here
those salt mines
and that vault of seeds
unending
are they buried near?
so I trace out on my own
no more ruby red lines
in the snow from me
with all that I own
and all that I hold dear
until I take a new stranger
into this steel⎯bound place
I’ll wait with the wind
in the stray pines
way up here
soon they’ll know
12
QUARTER MOON
I’m fine
you found me on Jacob’s last rung
bargaining for time and space
I was blue, bluer than the old wine
in the deep moat around this place
come midnight
she’ll change up the rate again
light us at a slower pace
and every clock we set to be late again
still chime chimes time
that we can’t erase
but in the quarter moon
I still have half a life to love you
the quarter moon
she shades these 30 years away
the starfield cannot hide us
as we scratch, bruise and we stain
but time will always miss you
in the quarter moon wane
hold on
but most of all
believe me when I say
you’re ‘round the old dead bend
and I know
I’ll always have those moments
we spent that lunar dividend
the mourning way
you sang down the sun again
still heats me
to a safe, warm place
I knew some day
you’d take to the run again
restore those silver lines
on your pretty face
but in the quarter moon….
so close your eyes
and dream us back
from the light of day
wander with me
clear of the solar spy array
as the night hawk flies
apogee to zenith
wise may you shine
forever partial
never mine
in the quarter moon….
13
TREEBURST
tree light, hold me up
14
FLOATING BRIDGES
I dreamed of Vita
pale skin, jet black hair
haunting that old house again
she came through me like a locomotive
bells ringing, steam rising
up the river valley
yes, I left the waves
to find some slow, clean water
abandoned a harbor
I could no longer defend
oh like fishermen on floating bridges
we flow downstream
with all that we cast away
lines caught again
on those beautiful near misses
‘til we row back up to them
‘til we row back up to them
some day
oh eucalyptus
my sea-bound mountains
still standing proud at every dawn
I traded you
for a southern cross at midnight
and a rage of faith that what I lost
would not be gone for long
now into the dark
rattling my broken armor
awaiting the rumble
of that runaway train
oh like fishermen on floating bridges….
and tell me, do we bloom in winter here?
do we crack up through the ice
and melt the frozen shards away?
do they soothe the sinners here?
are the doubters welcome by the fireside
on a brutal, short cold day?
lines caught again
on those beautiful near misses
‘til we row back up to them
‘til we row back up to them
some day
15
HEADLANDS
a lone bird wings
through the harp
that guards the headlands
winter brings
a sky in sharp blue monochrome
over the line of the floating horizon
a little plane turns to the north
empyrean magnets again
I comb the beach for rings
seeking rubies
finding diamonds
but this treasure brings me no comfort
the prism bright and cold
I narrow my eyes
the kaleidoscope fades down
and then goes away
but I’ll let them bother me
with their colors again
I am stopping here
watch the waves in play
as they wash another heart clear
like the rocky shore
greets the ocean grey
I will always welcome
the swells near
so carve me like these stone cliffs
engraved by the sea lines
and map the only truth I know
‘til the end of my time
guide me safely
through the white splash down below
now, through the gate
I swim with the flow of the tidal return
never too late to spin
with the chariot wheels as they burn
oh universe
of eroding time and grace
how do we love
what we cannot replace?
I’m changed by this
but I’ll hold strong
in this long trace
until I climb, until I climb
to meet her
in that boundless place