The following lyrics were created for the musical stories which were published as our second collection in 2004 under the title of “Swinging Statues.” Simply click on the images below to go directly to the original story, music and complete lyrics along with other related links.
Back to Reason to Stay Forward to Never Sleep
Swinging Statues
Dusk chases the day’s heat, shadows dim, dark and deep
Grass smells sweet, moist under bare feet
Side yard, beneath the oak, we always meet
Take my hand, swing me
Make me different than I used to be
The summer silhouette, swinging statue
Twist and turn, be bold
Spin me into gold
Spin me around into gold
My whole wide world is right there with me
Playing under that tree
Strong hands lock onto my hands
Anticipating, I close my eyes
Spinning force takes me high
Gravity somehow defied
I defy gravity
I wonder when this swinging will cease
Then a sudden release
Dizzy, landing on my feet
Laughing, stumbling on uncertain knees
Strike a pose and then freeze
I am different I believe
I believe differently
Coffee coaxes a lost thought
Younger days, lessons taught
Memories remain, drawn to the game
Eyes close, imagining amazing change
Amazing change
Take my hand, swing me
Make me different than I used to be
The summer silhouette, swinging statue
Twist and turn, be bold
Spin me into gold
Spin me around Into gold
Make Believe
Deep in the summer night
Shooting star falls to earth
Picked from a list of maybes
Wishes, dreams and starlight flicker and glow
We want to know
Where do they go
Candles on a satin cake
Eyes reflect dancing flames
Picked from a list of maybes
Wishes, dreams and candles flicker and glow
How can we know
Just where they go
Where are the wishes
Under consideration
Is there a warm waiting room
Before their destination
Room filled with light
Holiday candle, shining star, copper coin, mistletoe
Lucky kiss, rainbow’s end, silent prayer
Where do they go, all of those
Dreams and hopes
Seemingly lighter than air
Somehow just barely there
Are they just barely there
Or are they true and pure
Solidly down to earth
In fact, reality
From all we make believe
If only we make believe
Everything’s make believe
Moss-covered wishing well
Smooth coin is kissed and tossed
Picked from a list of maybes
Wishes, dreams and copper flicker and glow
We want to know
Faithful wishes go on
Courage to Dance
To believe in no limits
To embrace possibility
To imagine the infinite is to take a chance
To find comfort in solace
To discover simplicity
To dissolve into silence is to begin romance
Quietly turn the page
Laced with change
Day to day
Filled with grace
Written on each yesterday
Bravely facing the truth and the trust every day
As boundaries fade
And doubts fall away
Strength will remain
Courage created
Stepping out of the shadows
Crossing onto the floor
Face to face with my partner
Wondering what is in store for me
Pressing palm to palm—synchronized movement
To enjoy independence
To explore commonality
To create connectedness is to dance with life
Take a chance to romance life
May I please have this dance with life
Twenty Paces
Twenty paces
Standing back against back
Empty faces
Pivot steady for attack
Twenty paces
Slowly step by step
Dueling thoughts and words
Bring us to this fight
We wall ourselves inside ourselves
Protecting what is “right”
What is right
Who can remember what it is we’re fighting for
Can’t your eyes mirror me
The me I long to be
Reflecting understanding
Who will win the war
To reconcile regret
To recognize a piece of peace
So we will never forget
Never forget
Twenty paces
Staring face into face
Cautious gestures
Each step closing empty space
Twenty paces
Hoping for embrace
We must decide to trust
In spite of how we feel
We can’t hold out for what is just
Or we may never heal
We may never heal
Never heal
We may never heal
Never heal
Hunters Still
Just before daybreak
Lone hunter walks
Quiet and unnoticed
By the grazing prey he stalks
He is hungry, empty, alone
Searching, so far away from home
Fresh tracks to follow
All senses meet
Instinct and nature
Determine if he eats
He is hungry, empty, alone
Searching, so far away from home
Every valley, the lay of the land
Living, thriving by his own hand
Every hillside, the river bend
He learns
Every day is just the same, the game
Nightfall brings time to reflect and collect
All the wanderings, wonderings
Justified grounds for the hunt
Long after sunset
Gathering grain
Lamenting losses
Taken by the rain
He is hungry, empty, alone
Searching, so far away from home
Knowing the harvest
Chaff from the wheat
Instinct and nature
Determine if he eats
He is hungry, empty, alone
Searching, so far away from home
Every valley, the lay of the land
Living, thriving by his own hand
Every hillside, the river bend
He learns
Gather, harvest, hunters still?
We learn
My Treasured Heart
Through ancient windows
And across weathered sills
I can see everything
I can feel everything
Concealed arches and covered ruins
Cloaked in green velvet years
Voices swept away with time
Somehow seem strangely near
Amid stone with pasts so deep
Walls that refuse to fall
In the place where mountains peak
The search ends
I hear them call
They inspire my thoughts in song
And set my spirit free
The language that they speak seems
Only meant for me
Clear the path, mark the way, light the fire
Rebuild the walls, take them higher, higher
Then doors and windows from the stone can be carved
That’s where the buried treasures are
The digging always frees my heart
My treasured heart
Through ancient windows and across weathered sills
I can see everything
I can feel everything
I can be anything
I can be anything
Footsteps
Footsteps on the staircase
Wake me from my sleeping
Listening my heart races
Was I merely dreaming?
Do I dare ask—someone there
In my night
Disturbing favorite places
Much too close for comfort
Disrupting private spaces
Waiting just outside
Invented strangers pry
Distracting, trespassing my privacy
Standing by the door
Often without notice
Watching, waiting, Imposing
Constantly trying to get in
Footsteps on the sidewalk
Take me from my writing
Listening my heart pauses
Did I just imagine
Strange sound
No one found
In my life
I raid my favorite places
Ignoring best intentions
Diverting true direction
I hear footsteps
My own footsteps
My worst enemy is always me
Silent Messages
Like I’ve been here before
I know the way, I sense an image
Some random memory
From far away, these frozen moments start to flow
Releasing secrets that I know
Some other place
Some other timeI know the way
Careful yet unafraid
Silence is where I find
Messages in my mindA haunting echo
A song sung to myself
I hear the soundI am a stranger
And yet my name is known
I am at homeImagination takes a breath
Suspending hours and I am left
Some other place
Some other timeI hear the sound
Quietly drifting down
Silence is where I find
Messages in my mind
Two Pilgrims
Winter was white, the chapel was near
We sang our song for no one to hear
Good times were easy to find
But in that day we couldn’t stay
So we left it to our hearts
To remember
Two remember
Scarves beneath chins, gloves holding hands
Lost in a foggy cloistered romance
Pocket days stashed safely away
Pressed into time, placed out of mind
Yet still trusting in our hearts
To remember
Two remember
Those were the days that were filled with
Simple seeking, quiet questing, longing for paths unknown
Two lonely pilgrims
Together, yet on our own
Those times were ideal and common
Such innocent days
Now, thirty years have come and gone,
Barely a breath or time for our song
Memories revive suddenly
Once stashed away appear today
As we fall into our hearts
To remember
Two remember
Those were the days of two pilgrim
These are those days
Out of the Block
Eye to the next hundred years
Burning the midnight oil
Surrounding himself
With sounds only he hears
Echoes of his toil
Scrape of the chisel, chipping the stone
Tap of a hammer on cold steel
Pace of his breathing, shallow and light
Marble dust swirls and falls
Sifting down, drifting down like fresh snow
Silently blankets the night
Out of the marble form is released
Cut from the block the image is freed
Vision is far more than we can see
Carving the marble is destiny
Quietly working, standing alone
Sensing the power within his hands
Layer by layer, deeper inside
He is drawn as he becomes the stone
Sifting down, drifting down like fresh snow
Silently blankets the night
Worn fingers trace smooth lines
Details forever known
Reminding himself
The reason he designs
Freedom from the stone
Reminding ourselves
The reason we design
Freedom from the stone
Rhythm of the Road
On the open road, into the cool of night
Settle in, enjoy the ride since we will not be back
Roll the windows down, speed is set for cruisin’
City lights disappear, fingers tap to the rhythm of the road
Unfold the map onto the dashboard
Country roads wandering, zigzag, and narrow
Highways unending, straight as an arrow
Town edges, county lines, pass in easy rhythm of the road
Don’t know just where we’ll be tomorrow
Might make Grand Canyon by tonight
Driving from coast to coast on our time
Meantime, rocking to the rhythm of the road
Finding new people and places, everywhere we go
Past journeys map their faces, soundless testimony to the road
On the open road, into the light of day
Settle in, enjoy the ride since we will not be back
Roll the windows down, speed is set for cruisin’
Morning sun, another day, fingers tap to the rhythm of the road
Fingers tap
We won’t be back
Fingers tap to the rhythm of the road
Quality time is undeniably great for relationships. We've discovered that quantity of time can provide that quality. Perhaps it takes Time to Partner.
Uncommon promise 