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.

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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

“Swinging Statues” explores how the magical freedom of childhood games shapes our lifelong capacity for personal growth and transformation. Set beneath a backyard oak tree at dusk, the simple act of being spun around and freezing into a statue becomes a powerful metaphor for defying limitations, viewing the world differently, and transforming the ordinary into something precious. As the narrative shifts to an adult reflecting over a cup of coffee, the song reveals that the magic didn’t end on the lawn; the memory of that bold, dizzying trust continues to inspire internal change and renewed perspective years later.

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

This piece reflects on the mystical journey of human hope, exploring how our smallest, most fragile longings—from shooting stars to birthday candles—hang in the balance between imagination and reality. Ultimately, it suggests that “make believe” isn’t an idle fantasy, but the foundational act of faith through which intangible wishes take root and transform into real life.

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

“Courage to Dance” uses the metaphor of stepping onto a dance floor to explore the bravery required to live fully and embrace life’s uncertainties. The lyrics contrast individual independence with deep connection, framing growth as a daily practice of shedding doubt and leaning into change. Ultimately, the song presents life itself as a dance partner, urging the listener to step out of the shadows, take risks, and actively participate in the journey rather than remaining a passive observer.

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

“Twenty Paces” uses the imagery of an old-fashioned duel as a metaphor for interpersonal conflict, exploring how pride and self-righteousness often trap people in destructive standoffs. The song traces a journey from rigid hostility to vulnerable reconciliation, showing the duelists slowly closing the distance between them to seek an embrace rather than a fight. Ultimately, it delivers a powerful message about forgiveness: true healing cannot occur if both sides insist on absolute justice, requiring instead the conscious decision to choose empathy and trust over winning an argument.

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

“Hunters Still” explores the evolutionary transition of humanity from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled agrarian farmers, emphasizing that while our methods of survival have changed, our fundamental nature has not. By juxtaposing the physical demands of tracking wild game with the patient labor of harvesting crops, all tied together by a repeating chorus of hunger, isolation, and searching, the lyrics suggest that the core human drives to adapt, learn, and pursue sustenance remain unchanged regardless of the era.

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

“My Treasured Heart” explores the transformative power of connecting with history, heritage, and the enduring past to unlock personal freedom and creative inspiration. By framing the active restoration of ancient ruins, digging, clearing paths, and rebuilding walls, as a metaphor for inner emotional work, the lyrics suggest that unearthing forgotten roots ultimately frees the spirit, shifting the narrator’s perspective from quiet reflection to a feeling of boundless personal potential.

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

“Footsteps” examines the psychological weight of paranoia and self-sabotage, tracing a journey from externalized fear to self-awareness. Initially portraying an unseen intruder invading private spaces and interrupting creative focus, the lyrics pivot to reveal that the menacing disturbances are entirely self-generated, concluding with the realization that internal self-doubt and anxiety, not an outside threat, are the narrator’s true enemy.

Silent Messages

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

“Two Pilgrims” is a tender reflection on enduring love, memory, and the swift passage of time. Looking back after thirty years, the song captures the quiet nostalgia of youth—framing two companions as lifelong seekers whose early, intimate bond has remained safely preserved beneath the rush of life, ultimately revealing that their shared journey is just as alive today as it was decades ago. The shared journey has become an enduring foundation for what will become their solitary inner journey to come. 

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

“Out of the Block” uses the meticulous craft of stone sculpting as a metaphor for the transformative power of human vision and legacy. Through vivid sensory details of solitary, late-night labor, the lyrics depict creation not as forcing a shape onto raw material, but as liberating an image that was already waiting within the stone. By shifting from a single artisan to a collective “we” at its conclusion, the song suggests that working through resistance to reveal something lasting is a universal human drive—an act of fine art. 

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

“Rhythm of the Road” celebrates the freedom of spontaneous travel as a metaphor for living mindfully in the present. Contrasting winding country lanes with endless highways, the lyrics emphasize enjoying life’s journey on one’s own terms—noting that because time moves in only one direction and “we will not be back,” the true reward lies in embracing new encounters, steady momentum, and open-ended exploration along the way—in the unfolding, ever-present now.

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