|
HEAVEN Let us say there is a heaven And we all go there when we die Let us say it is a place Somewhere out there beyond the sky A jewel shining through the darkness In shifting hues of blue and green Just as we'd imagine heaven Just like photographs we've seen Now let us say your hour had come And you had slipped the coils of time There to find that paradise Was the same world that you left behind If as below it were above Would you feel at all betrayed By the stories you've been told By the god to which you've prayed Is this a heaven you desire This garden burdened with our needs Plundered by rapacious hands Until little's left but sand and weeds I think the gods are far away And no more real than fairy dust I think by now it should be clear Heaven's fate depends on us If as below it is above Somewhere the line between them blurs No one knows but like as not We'll get the heaven we deserve WILD HORSES How long was I fooling myself? How long was I living a lie? Telling myself it doesn't matter I let all those chances go by. If it were mine to do over I'd blow off the doors to begin The lion would roar; the eagle would soar And wild horses would come charging in. So many good things disappear; so many good friends get away. So much precious time can be lost squandered on needless delay. Everything turns on the moment. Is it ever too late to begin? The slightest of moves brings a thunder of hooves And wild horses come charging in. When I dream I am never too old. I have not yet bought into the lie. The world is a wild and beautiful place and fear has not clouded my eye. Sometimes when I wake in the morning I'm not sure which world I am in, But I take it on faith I've come to a place wild horses come charging in. MY SECRET OF SUCCESS I do my business with the devil 'cause I'm not the gambling kind. I pay the higher price But it buys me peace of mind. He delivers on the goods And he gets them there on time, The other guy will often leave me hanging. The devil loves his line of work And he does it very well. He’s got his act together And he knows his clientele. And unlike the competition He will service what he sells, The other guy will often leave me hanging. There isn't any secret to my secret of success Just give in to temptation, let the devil do the rest. He gladly goes the extra mile to insure my happiness; The other guy will often leave me hanging. Oh sure, the devil's got his faults, but he's steady under fire. And he's quick to improvise as circumstances might require; And when push comes to shove he never seems to tire; The other guy will often leave me hanging. Oh but don't get me wrong, I try to keep an open mind. If a better offer came along I'd be the first in line. Right now I'd even settle for water turning into wine, But so far the other guy has left me hanging. ALL MY TROUBLES SEEM SMALL I've got a good friend she's been going through some bad times between a rock and a hard place where dreams disappear I’ve got my own troubles but when I think about her Looks like I’m having a pretty good year all my troubles seem small when I see these people with their backs are to the wall i watch what they go through I see how far they fall compared to them i've got no troubles at all I turn on my TV and see a grieving mother the look on her face says all there is to tell another child caught in the crossfire in some war-torn corner of hell A telephone rings in the middle of the night, leaves someone sitting alone in the dark. alone with their questions alone with their fears, alone with the sound of their thundering heart When I hear myself complain When life seems so unfair I think about these people Broken by despair STUMBLE INTO GRACE Sometimes I stay up all night just to watch the morning light chase the fading stars out of the sky has there ever been so sweet a thing as when that first bird starts to sing and tell the world how great it is to be alive The morning breeze smells fresh and clean it reminds me of my boyhood dreams so full of promise, so innocent, so grand if I add up all my past mistakes they come to one less than my lucky breaks but that's all it takes to prove I'm a lucky man We all get where we're going we move a little closer every day when all is said and done lucky is the one who has stumbled into grace along the way There's little bits of paradise in every corner of a life There's no such thing as an ordinary day Oh, but you don't have to take my word just listen to that little bird and see what an expert has to say MONEY Your money doesn't care about you Just look at what it puts you through You spend all your time chasing nickels and dimes and one fine day you're surprised to find You're dressed up in your Sunday best laid out for your eternal rest And all the money over which you've sweated and bled doesn't even know you're dead Money makes you big. Money makes you small. Money gets you high. Money breaks the fall. Money blows your horn and money makes you crawl, Your money's got you right where it wants you Money tells you what you want to hear It whispers funny ideas in your ear like how much better you are than the other guy so you deserve a bigger piece of the pie It says that you're a king among pawns it tells you you can do no wrong it says there was never anybody half as clever as you and you're just dumb enough to think it's true Money what we wouldn't do to sweeten up the pot Money who we won't abuse to get more than we've got Money it's the stuff of dreams; the tail that wags the dog A perfect substitute for brains or taste or God. CACTUS ED I was living in Seattle in the spring of '89 When I read the news about his death one morning in the Times I lay down my paper and stared off into the rain With Edward Abbey gone this world would seem a little tame So let him be remembered by the name of Cactus Ed With a monkey wrench in one hand and a buzzard overhead Drifting down the river with his fist around a beer Naked as creation and grinning ear to ear It's a fool's life; it's a rogue's life and it's a good life If you can laugh all the way to the grave. There's a book you ought to read called "Desert Solitaire" Everything you need to know about Cactus Ed's in there part-time ranger, part-time writer, die-hard desert rat born a hundred years too late and a long way off the map And he wasn't one to sugar-coat when he had a point to make If it rattled someone's cage that was just icing on the cake He said "Society's like a stew and it's good to stir the pot otherwise a lot of scum starts rising to the top." In matters of the heart Ed was always passing through I don't want all the girls, he said, just all the ones I do Some say a roving eye was what kept leading Ed around But I'd guess it was something just a little lower down There's worse things you could do than take Abbey at his word They still ring loud and clear and they're still worth being heard Be rebels with a cause; fight for ground you love Take solace from the wilderness but leave it like it was Now somewhere in the desert a lone coyote howls The rattlesnakes are restless, the mountain lion prowls The spirits are afoot, take comfort in the thought: Somewhere out there tonight the ghost of Edward Abbey walks A DELICATE BALANCE Deep within there is a vision That time is nothing but space And between every minute and mile that is in it Somehow there is a beautiful face And it's all such a delicate balance That the sport of infinity gives Expectations we have can lead down the path Where that devil discouragement lives I dreamed I was barer than naked And it scared me so bad that I called "Help me back to the prison, with the chains of the living" Although nothing had hurt me at all And it's all such a delicate balance As it turns through the circles of air To worry does nothing but steals from the loving And robs from the pleasure that's there Deep within there is a feeling That love and understanding's the door And honesty is the key that was given to you and me To open it and so many more And it's all such a delicate balance Takes away just as much as it gives To live it is real, to love it is to feel You're a part of what everything is. LOVE BIDS THE HUNGRY COME Love is the arrow, love is the bow Love is the moment the archer lets go Love is the flight straight to its mark Upon the unsuspecting heart Love is the field that yearns for Spring Love is the rain that washes clean Love is the seed that lies below Waiting for its time to grow Love is the bread, love is the wine Love is the grace by which we dine The feast prepared denied to none Love bids the hungry come AN IRELAND LEFT BEHIND It was raining in Seattle The night we said good-bye The lights of Queen Anne Hill Lay soft against the sky As we looked down on the city And spoke a final time And then we turned away And left Ireland behind How many nights we lay awake And dreamed how it might be To walk the green and misty hills Above the Irish Sea It's dreams that linger longest When all else is gone and done Our dream times in Seattle Were as close as we would come Sorrow follows sorrow What a lonely path it is That brings the one to finally say I have no more love to give And so we went our separate ways And sorrows dimmed with time Except perhaps for those we kept Of an Ireland left behind Now here I am in Dublin On the docks at the harbor-side Watching ships put out to sea Upon the evening tide And bittersweet the memories That call you to my mind So far from Queen Anne Hill And an Ireland left behind TANGLED IN A SPELL The wood fire's burning high again my friends will soon be dropping in The room will quickly fill up then like so many times before With songs sent up the chimney flue along with talk and laughter too The same old scene that's always new we ask for nothing more Across the weathered windowsill into the dooryard lamp light spills Where kittens chase the their tails until they've caught all that they can Inside we'll sit with feet propped up sipping brew from old tin cups No one wishing to interrupt the moment now at hand. Then someone sends a fiddle tune spinning toward the rising moon A mandolin joins in and soon the music's riding high Like silver scattered to the floor slipping out beneath the door It seems to fill the night and more than half a summer sky Feet raise the dust around themselves the dishes rattle on the shelves We're tangled in a spell that leaves the world outside behind A long way toward the breaking dawn we'll go then put the coffee on And while it makes we'll sit and yawn and talk away the time and in the stillness our voices rise and fall like candle shadows dancing on the wall From down the meadow now I hear a greeting rise to meet my ear familiar faces soon appear and I step outside to see My friends arrive I welcome them we pile coats high on the bed and then It's time to roll up the rug again and let the magic be. I'M GONNA TAKE IT WITH ME When it's my time to go it's not the dying that I mind But I'm sure gonna miss some things I'll have to leave behind So I've thought the whole thing through and I've decided what to do I'm gonna take it with me when I go I'm gonna take it with me over to the Glory Land I know they say it can't be done, but I've made other plans I'll have more than I can carry when I hear that trumpet blow 'Cause I'm gonna take it with me when I go I'll say good-bye to my old walking shoes And leave them here for someone else to use All our stories from the road will add up to quite a load And that's what I'll take with me when I go I'll hand down my guitar to someone else to play May it take them just as far as it did me in my day I'll miss it when I'm gone but I'll hang onto my songs That's what I'll take with me when I go No more shall I mingle with the many friends I've known But I shall not forget the love and kindness I've been shown The light of all those hearts will be a beacon in the dark And that'ss what I'll take with me when I go. |