Lyrics

Lonely Hills

Seven

I throw my fortune to the water
and watch ripples hit the shore
Each coin is a year that I squandered,
Seven years I have wandered

All I hope is to catch these waves
and beg them fix my mirror
Its cracks are pains I once ignored
Each scratch a time I wandered,
Seven years I’ve squandered

But all my wishing’s not enough
to make them change my past
Even if I could buy my luck
I know it would not last

So bury these pieces deep in the muck,
send memories down the stream
This worthless mirror which cursed me from birth
has always been my shattered dream,
One day I’ll change my luck

Another year still by the water
Out of money, I throw stones
Each moment I wish they’ll go farther
is just time growing darker,
Eight years I’ve squandered

But all my trying’s not enough
if I won’t look beyond
For if I try to buy my luck
I’d never leave this pond

So bury these pieces deep in the muck,
send memories down the stream
This worthless mirror which cursed me from birth
has always been my shattered dream

I’ll never catch those waves
They won’t listen when I pray
So maybe I’ll change my ways

So bury these pieces deep in the muck,
send memories down the stream
This worthless mirror which cursed me from birth
has always been my shattered dream,
One day I’ll change my luck

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Arsonist Games

You ignited brightly into my hearth
with your roaring kerosene torch
The warmth of your flames drew me closer to you
as the pyre of our cinders grew

Then I smelled the wood you charred
and the blackened lives you scorched
And I wondered if I’d be a tree in your way,
the next one that you would raze

I know it’s your nature to follow your whims
But when you burn the forest, don’t it sear your skin?

You say it’s just the way we have
to blaze our own trail
Then you stoke the coals in my fireplace
and claim: “together we can’t fail!”

I know it’s my nature to follow those who tell me I’ll win
But now I see I made a mistake when I let your inferno in

So find a tree that likes the smell of your smoke
‘cause your path of ashes is making me choke
Take your torch away – I don’t want your flames
And don’t tell me I’m the one that’s broke
‘cause you can’t quit your arsonist games

I know it’s my nature to follow those who tell me I’ll win
But now I see I made a mistake when I let your inferno in

So find a tree that likes the smell of your smoke
‘cause your path of ashes is making me choke
Take your torch away – I don’t want your flames
And don’t tell me I’m the one that’s broke
‘cause you can’t quit your arsonist games

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Lonely Hills

These lonely hills I can’t ascend
Yet still I climb to hear you, my friend
You were once my song through this freezing rain,
but now your silence soaks me in pain

Where’s your melody,
My dove who slips away?
I know you’ve flown beyond the gray
But you once would nest with me,
Your wings stuck in love’s tree
Now you seek the sun and leave me in a haze

These lonely hills I can’t ascend
Yet still I climb to hear you, my friend
You were once my song through this freezing rain,
but now your silence soaks me in pain

My love, the raining stopped for a moment!
But I’ll never hear your melody again

These lonely hills will never end
But some day I’ll find another friend
Only your dove’s song keeps me searching in vain
to find a way beyond the gray
and see the sunshine break through the rain

Where’s your melody,
My dove who slips away?

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

My Andalusian Love

My dream is alive
in the blossoming air,
Andalusian paths
where oranges grow

Memories of you
are reflections in a fountain,
a trickling past
where the Guadalquivir flows

I’m desire unfolding
like branches of your flowering palms
You’re an orange
bursting from the tree,
a gypsy soul
dancing and breaking the calm

My olive-skinned
sighing seductress
with a voice of wine
to my eager lips:

Open! Open your courtyards!
I’ve come again for your fountaining love
Sing! Sing your gypsy song,
torrid passionate longing
from flamenco guitars

Our voices now join
singing a tune the guitarist strums
We’re the deep song
storming from the sea,
sorrowful noise
under a trembling sun

My olive-skinned
sighing seductress,
your voice is wine
to my eager lips

Open! Open your courtyards!
I’ve come again for your fountaining love
Sing! Sing your gypsy song,
torrid passionate longing
from flamenco guitars

Strange how your orange
grows in my sleep,
And when I’m awake
the memories fade

Dreams of you
trickle away in a fountain,
But I long again
to lie in your shade

Open! Open your courtyards!
My one last drink of your fountaining love
Mi amor! Mi amor, embrace me,
One day we’ll bloom like palm trees
planted in our Spanish heart

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Shipwrecked

Oh to be a shipwrecked soul
when the storm whips you around
Round and round and round
Pounding rain will breach the hull
And even when you think you’ve found
a way to stay afloat,
Clouds surround your only boat

All my life I’m fighting the tide,
sailing night to find a shore
I thought the lighthouse guided my way
but the beacon’s fire lead me astray
right into the storm

Throw me, throw me overboard!
I can’t live like this anymore

Oh to be a shipwrecked soul
when the storm whips you around
Round and round and round
Pounding rain will breach the hull
And even when you think you’ve found
a way to stay afloat,
Clouds surround your only boat

My anchor’s ripped away
by a wave that will not rest,
thrown into the ocean
like a wasted piece of bait

The raindrops fall and mock me
and the wind begins to laugh
There were days I could brave these unfriendly seas
Now my sunken hope won’t raise the mast

Oh to be alone
and never chased around
So run my boat aground,
Make me now your shipwrecked soul
Make me now your shipwrecked soul
Make me now your shipwrecked soul!

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

The Shell

When the sea foam washed me away
I prayed for a home to stay
A place where the wind lay still

And there I’d say goodbye to the clouds
And hide in the shroud of the waves
A place to be a perfect castaway
A place,
A place to protect my heart

So I throw my broken ship to the fish and the krill
Wash ashore and crawl through the sand
Like a naked hermit crab searching for his shell
I look for a place to protect my heart

And then I see her gleaming in the tide
A queen conch rising from a watery throne
Her body could hide the cracks in my life
Even if I know I should fill them on my own
But the promise of her counsel is an ocean swell,
a pink pearl that calls me to her shell

Oh shell, will you be my friend?
Bring my days of rainclouds to an end?
Then tell me where to start

‘Cause I’m sinking like my boat in the bay
I’m tired of trying to find my way
So help me, help me to mend
Let your pearls,
Let your pearls fill my heart

When I put my ear up to her lips
To let her whisper the wisdom I’ve missed
All I hear,
All I hear is an echo
Of the sea I left behind
And when I reach into the shell
I only find,
Only find pebbles inside

Oh shell,
All you do is bring back my fears
When I listen to you
The angry storm reappears

Now you leave me with no choice
It seems it’s either you or me
I must make you end your noise
So I’ll throw you back and break you in the sea

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Low Tide

Alone in the low tide
Melting in the heat
Water can’t cool the wounds of defeat
Sand rubbed in my pride

Let me forget . . .
Let me mend . . .
Let me forget . . .

There were days I could brave the sea
And moments I could fight
But the time I had a captain’s might
Was lost in a mutiny

I look for
Something tender, something sweet
To leave these bitter memories
Let me forget
That I feel so frail

Let me forget . . .
Let me mend . . .

I waste away in the breaking waves,
Faith thrown to the undertow
My head has never hung so low
Yet my eyes are up in the tree

I look for
Something tender, something sweet
To leave these bitter memories
Strive to regain
My will to sail

But shell, your echoes haven’t died
Your broken pieces haunt my coast
So I spend my days a sulking ghost
Living in retreat

I know you tried to be my guide
But you steered me to my fears
And I’d rather be a pool of tears
Melting in the heat,
A heat that won’t subside

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Staring at Fruit Out of Reach

Gazing at dates at the top of the trunk
My eyes raised but faith is sunk
Praying for fruit to take its place

Every day I ask the leaves
then I beg to the boughs:
“Can you make your canopy
shake me from my doubt?”

Still nothing heeds my pleas
I’m staring at fruit out of reach
So I hatch a plan to climb the tree
and bring seeds into my hand

When I’m ready to scale the tree
something holds me to the ground
I guess I’d rather melt in the sand and the heat
and the fear that keeps me down

My head has never hung so low
Yet my eyes are up in the tree

Staring at fruit out of reach,
Asleep in a dream where seeds fill my mind
Wearing out time to make them mine, all mine
If I eat just one
My life will be complete
But I can’t climb the trunk
When sand has burnt my feet

I’m tired of being disgraced
with desire that’s only waste
All I want is a little taste
and the answers in my hand

My head has never hung so low
Yet my eyes are up in the tree

Staring at fruit out of reach,
Asleep in a dream where seeds fill my mind
Wearing out time to make them mine, all mine

Are seeds what I really need
or am I just wasting time?
‘Cause the longer I gaze into the tree
the less I try to climb
I’m only drawn to the tempting fruit
to keep me from reality
So don’t cut me loose
I put down my roots
Let me stay in fantasy

If I eat just one
My life will be complete
But I can’t climb the trunk
When sand has burnt my feet

Just when I’m free, I cut my feet
on the last piece of the shell
And as blood goes into the sea
my fantasy dispels

Left again in the low tide
with hope that has capsized

If I could look past the seaboard
to a place I sailed before
I would reach inside
for the will to fight
my self-imposed exile

But my heart is silent
in the fading shore

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

High Tide

All my life I was seeking a shore
a place to create my paradise

But I prayed for heaven in a temple of lies
Made my faith disappear
Resigned to my fear
And I can’t live like this anymore

I’m gonna wake my heart
wake my heart in the high tide
Then I’ll face the dark
and try to find my light

Too many times I let the waves toss me around
I let them drown the voice inside

But it’s time to stand my ground
Time to rebound
So come, my heart
and meet me in the tide

I’m gonna wake my heart
wake my heart in the high tide
Then I’ll face the dark
and try to find my light

I’m gonna wake my heart
wake my heart in the high tide
Then I’ll face the dark
and try to find my light

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Eye of the Storm

Soon I’ll prepare to leave my sand
and sail in darkness
This time I’ll hold no anger
regardless of where I land

But I hear the rumbling near me
and feel my fear churn
Like waves crashing back into place,
clouds always return
to steal away my anchor

Many tides I spent by a palm tree
staring at dates out of reach
Foolishly waiting for the fruit to fall
when nothing stirs on the beach

But if I ate them all
would my heart really be free?

Maybe I belong in the sea
‘cause sand can’t keep me afloat
If I could be the captain of my own fleet
maybe I could rebuild my hope

I could hold the anchor close to the boat
and let my heart go free
It says to me:

“Look to the edge of the water
past the reefs where horizons blur
there’s an island of peace where the air grows warmer
When your fears don’t stir
you’ll find the eye of the storm”

Winds laugh and tell me it’s over,
The cyclone says that I’ll fail
“You can stay here or voyage with a broken sail –
either way you’ll still run for cover”

But I can’t stall any longer
and I won’t fall any lower

I look to the edge of the water
past the reefs where horizons blur
there’s my island of peace where the air grows warmer
The clouds may form
but I’ll try to find the eye of the storm

I leave sand and float through the ocean
where darkness tries to break me again
Maybe I’ll find calm and maybe I won’t
But at least I’ll have some hope

“Keep sailing to the edge of the water
past the reefs where horizons blur
there’s an island of peace where the air grows warmer
The clouds may form
but don’t go back to the shore

When your fears don’t stir
you’ll find the eye of the storm”

© 2012 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Outer Light, Inner Darkness

Kissed by the Sun

Remember the day
when the sun kissed our backs?
Remember the way
light would fill the cracks in our life?

Remember our space
was free of fear and strife?
There was one place the sun rays missed
You backtracked into the shade
then you walked away

Come back,
come back to our place
to the glen where we began

We belong,
we belong as one
return to the glen where we began
kissed by the sun

Now I’m waiting for day break
when the sun will kiss my wounded face
It’s a light you still resist
Now I’m only left with one wish:

Come back,
come back to our place
to the glen where we began

We belong,
we belong as one
Return to the glen where we began

I trudge through the valley and wonder
why our space began to break
Was I too young, too new, too green to see
light could leave us one day?

Or maybe I was more in love with the sun
and all along, you were the stranger?

Kiss me, my sun
(We belong as one)

I’m alone but I’m back in my bliss
The light’s all I need to survive
So come my sun and give me another kiss

I’m back,
I’m back in the glen
Returned to the place where I began

I belong,
I belong as one
returned to the glen where I began
kissed by the sun

Locked

Confined inside a cell block
the ties that hold my people die
They look to me for a key –
a key I cast aside

To think I once united
they were rope and I was the knot
Now the group’s a noose around me
and the door to truth is locked

No hope, no revival
fear chains me
pride binds my fate

Locked up in my own survival
mind racing
heartbeat fading away

Surrounded by iron gates
links of lies seal our decline
Even if we try to break free
we’d still be slaves

No hope, no revival
fear chains us
pride binds our fate

Locked up in our own survival
minds racing
heartbeats fading away
minds racing
heartbeats fading away

Is there any way out?
Is there a place where we can live again
or does it just end?

Locked in our lies,
how can we survive?

No hope, no revival
fear chains us
pride binds our fate

Locked up in our own survival
minds racing
heartbeats fading away

(locked in lies)
minds racing
heartbeats fading away

(locked in lies)
minds racing
heartbeats fading away

© 2015 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Fragments of Sleep

How can you see
with the fragments of sleep in your eye?
Why won’t you sweep them under
the place where you lie?
You snag your feet when you drag through your day
and absent-mindedly sleepwalk the night

How can you think
if you won’t even wake?
You snag your feet when you drag through your day
and absent-mindedly sleepwalk the night

Dreams lay in front of you
but all you did was jumble them
So enjoy the pieces
as you fumble through your rest

You’ll never see
with the fragments of sleep in your eye

Dreams lay in front of you
but all you did was jumble them
So enjoy the pieces
as you fumble through your rest

(You’ll never see
with the fragments of sleep
you snag your feet
and drag through the day)

Your Arms Hold Them to the Dark

In church light, you eye callow young things
who stumble and follow you around
Your pray for them in hollow tongues
sung without making a sound

But the fools don’t know that your hallowed ground
is built on a shallow grave
And they swallow your shadows,
give themselves to your embrace
Now in darkness they wallow

Your arms hold them to the dark
Your arms hold them
Hold them

Burrow your lies into their skin,
tell them: “End your sins and atone”
And when your flock tries to repent,
suck the marrow from their bones

Let their weakened columns crumble to stone,
their stained glass melt away
All the heroes will be broken,
crushed by your embrace
and their sorrow will be forever

Your arms hold them to the dark
Your arms hold them
Hold them

Aoide, Goddess of Song

Awake, Aoide, it’s time to write
My mind is running wild
I’ve packed the soil, the sun will rise,
but I toil in an empty field

Pages ache for the maker’s seeds,
and you are my rainfall to feed them
If you bring your water
I’ll have many songs to yield

Without your whispers bringing words to my lips,
I’m a grain chasing the wind
Inspire me, help me begin
Plant your roots deep in my mind

Pages ache for the maker’s seeds,
and you are my rainfall to feed them
So bring your water,
we have songs to create,
and then I’ll sing your praise

Aoide, Goddess of Song,
I loyally serve you
Tune needs a creator
Creator needs a muse

Aoide, you’re my melody,
sound that resonates in the void
Choose my words, be my voice
Set my music free

As clouds race across the sky,
your water brings my field to life

Lyrics spring up like stalks that grow strong
Music blooms to a song

I sing in the meadow
Sing on the mountain
Sing in the valley below

Sing in the meadow
Sing on the mountain
Sing in the valley below

I sing your praise with all the notes that I sow
With you, everything grows!

Aoide, Goddess of Song,
I loyally serve you
Tune needs a creator
Creator needs a muse

Aoide, you’re my melody,
sound that resonates in the void
Choose my words, be my voice
Set my music free

The Last Oasis

Jutting through dry sand
perched high over parched ruins
The last oasis
Full wells for those who still dream
of wetter days soon to come

Moonscape

Part 1: The Frontline

They tell me:
“March for glory
‘til white flags are hung!”
“Be the blazing banner
parading in the sun!”
“When you storm the ramparts,
let your enemies feel
the fury of you and your gun!”

They say:
“When the war is won
we’ll remember your bravery –
your story enshrined
in the halls of history.”
“All you have to do is kill at will
‘til you clutch
the torch of victory”

Though I wouldn’t choose this path
My direction is clear
I guess a light will shine on me

So I bind my life to the frontline
And pray that all they promised is what I’ll see . . .

Part 2: Fool’s Fate

Dusk comes early,
covers my trench like a veil
skylines exhale
and I draw a final breath of sunset

Mud and debris –
the only soldiers who stay
ghosts roam the waste
laying to rest rusted bayonets

Will the dust clear?
Will the sun shine?
Or did I bind my life to a fool’s fate?

And if black is all that remains
when poppies wither and die
Will I light a lonely candle,
and burn it to the wick? –
the only flame
flickering in the moonscape?

Dust will never clear
Sun will never shine
‘Cause I bound my life to a fool’s fate

Black is all that remains
when poppies wither and die
So I’ll light a lonely candle,
and burn it to the wick –
the only flame
flickering in the moonscape

When the war is over
don’t remember my folly
my story’s a stain
in the halls of history
‘Cause anyone can be made
to turn their light
to darkness

They told me:
“March for glory . . . “

Part 3: Outer Light, Inner Darkness

Instrumental

Bathed in Moonlight

Twisting and straightening
spires rise from the waves
winding through twilight

Selenite veins
wrap around like a rib cage
circling the skin of night
warm to the touch

Bathed in moonlight
cleanse the rust of a worn age
bathed in moonlight
on the cusp of a new frame

A serene glow stirs
calls the tides to converge
brings calm to the lake

Seeking peace in starlight
earth leaves fear behind
blind to the opaque
warming to trust

Bathed in moonlight
drawn to the heart’s expanding
bathed in moonlight
dawn of a new understanding

With crystals covering the land
and the sky crowned in white,
the whole world is an open soul
reborn in selenite

If All Goes Wrong

Faith

I see you making plans for my salvation
You pray for me every day to show you care
But you never ask my views on your preparation
You just tell me to preach the good news that you share

Lay your sins in silver bowls,
Say your prayer, fill the holes in your life,
Repeat your creed,
Sing your hymns,
Scream your pleas,
Save your soul, but
Don’t waste your faith on me

How can you always know the answer?
How do you know my final fate?
How can you speak out against blasphemy and slander
when your brain is vacant and your heart is full of hate?

Lay your sins in silver bowls,
Say your prayer, fill the holes in your life,
Repeat your creed,
Sing your hymns,
Scream your pleas,
Save your soul

And if the final judgement’s here
I’ll stand up tall while you fall to your knees
But I don’t see the rapture coming, so
Don’t waste your faith on me

Lay your sins in silver bowls,
Say your prayer, fill the holes in your life,
Repeat your creed,
Sing your hymns,
Scream your pleas,
Save your soul, but
Don’t waste your faith on me

Last Crash

Want me to freeze when I race my car too fast?
No! I’ll slam the gas so hard I break my feet
Want me to ease before I shatter glass?
No! I’ll squeeze the shards ‘til my fingers bleed

And I don’t care if it pains me
I don’t care

You’re the one who runs me off the road
yet you fret when I crumble in a wreck

But I don’t care that it pains you
I don’t care

‘Cause all my life you tried to worry me to death
but soon I’ll relax and take my last crash
Cry to the skid marks that scatter in my wake
but never make me hit the brakes again

Then I’ll take my last crash
Then I’ll take my last . . .

In the moment when I slam against the wall
Your sham concern for me is all you’ll have left

But I don’t care that it pains you
I don’t care

‘Cause all my life you tried to worry me to death
but soon I’ll relax and take my last crash
Cry to the skid marks that scatter in my wake
but never make me hit the brakes again

Then I’ll take my last crash
Then I’ll take my last crash

All my life you tried to worry me to death
but soon I’ll relax and take my last crash
You can cry to the skid marks that scatter in my wake
but you’ll never make me hit the brakes again

Now I take my last crash
Now I take my last crash
now I take my last . . .

Absent Lovers

ACT I

Yesterdays
And heroes fade
Lovers wane
‘Cross the ocean

This sparkling sea
Means nothing to me
For a castaway is never really free

Seven years
And endless tears
Prisoner here
Of sweet Calypso

And yet three more
Lost, cursed to shore
But memories pull me onward

Home by the sea
With you my love, I’m free
Free from these wandering wastes
Never more a slave to the chase
Taunted by wonders pulling me to sea

ACT II

Home by the bay
A hero’s heart, should stay
Thunder cracks, storms gather ‘round
I’ll never be back if I run aground
Caught in this tempest pulling me astray

Lost at sea
My heart will weather this storm
Though the waves try to pull me down
I’ll retort:

“However you try me
Batter and defy me
I’ll be coming home

So go and forsake me
You think you can break me now?”

Cross the sea
Toward my shore I’m drawn
I’ll be free
Though years and years wear on

But however they try me
Batter and defy me
I’ll be coming home

I know I will outlast them
Push on and surpass them
I’ll be coming home

They think they can deface me
Sink me and erase me
Though I’ll soon be free

My god, am I dreaming?
I think that I’m finally home

ACT III

Yesterdays
And heroes fade
Distance made
Absent lovers

While time forgot
Still you did not
So I’ll take back
The life I lost

Home by the sea
With you my love, I’m free
Free from these wandering wastes
Never more a slave to the chase
Now that I have you with me

Better Off Before

There was a time when things were clearer,
When life looked better through the rearview mirror
Now each day, you fade away
And there’s a feeling too strong to ignore
That we were better off before

And now I see, looking back,
That I took for granted all I had
I fear I’ve made a grave mistake
And now I face a lonely life that I abhor
(We were) better off before
Better off

I’ll be alone
No matter which way I go
Without you I’ll be kept awake alone in the night
With you I’ll be lonely only opening up in a fight

Can’t you see, woe is me
You haunt my melancholy dreams
So I’ll return, I never learn
And I’ll consider that once more
We were better off before

I’ll be alone
No matter which way I go
Without you I’ll be kept awake alone in the night
With you I’ll be lonely only opening up in a fight

In the end, we both know
I’ll never have the heart to go
It’s you and me, eternally
And we’ll be dancing around with the thought
That we were better off
We were better off
(We were) better off before

Castle in the Sky

I float to you in the dead of night
to show you truth inside your myth:
Behind the moon lies my fabled castle in the sky
I’ll sail you there – make a wish,
and I’ll be your airship
Fly!

Climb my bow, and hold on tight
Wrestle with the clouds as we zip right through the mist

All your life you wanted to fly,
so flow and glide to my castle in the sky

The kingdom’s here – open your eyes,
see the myth revealed

Now I give my wings to you
so you will always soar,
you will always soar,
you will always soar
Take this gift and fly

Savage in a Fancy Suit

I caught him digging in your dirt
sniffing for words to make you hurt
He ripped the earth and left a hole,
he clipped the roots that held your soul

The scavenger smiles
in his coat and tie
He treats you nice
so you’ll never hear him strike

Find the truth,
remove his disguise
See through the black heart
of a savage in a fancy suit

Now he’s tearing up your house,
wears down your walls without a sound
Soon they’ll fall with nothing left
and yet you still call him your friend

The scavenger struts
in extravagant cuffs
He’s running amuck,
drunk from your reckless trust

Find the truth,
remove his disguise
See through the black heart
of a savage in a fancy suit

Why can’t you see through his deceit?
Why do you leave and choose defeat?
Hear him laugh at your disgrace
He’s glad to smear it in your face

The ravager glows
‘cause he’s broken your home
You gave him all that you own
but you still won’t let him go

Find the truth,
remove his disguise
See through the black heart
of a savage in a fancy suit

Dream Within a Dream

I hear the hazy waves on a solemn summer shore
It’s all so quiet now – no sign of the storm
Sand surrounding me – I’m pulled down with the tide
I fall in the sea and sink through my mind

Churning
Turning
Slurring swells whir in my ear
Drifting
Shifting
Then in an instant disappear

Scenes like grains of sand
sifting through my hand
In and out of focus these
images coalesce and –

I’m not sure if this is real
Can I trust what I touch and feel?
Is everything I hear and all that I’ve seen
a dream within a dream?

Sleeping again,
time seems to leave me
Seeking a meaning,
I spiral endlessly

Whirling through a blur of mismatched episodes
Hurling in infinite space – through worlds within worlds

Twisting
Resisting
I can’t lift my eyes to the present or past
Gasping
Clasping
The future slips right through my grasp

Scenes like grains of sand
sifting through my hand
In and out of focus these
images coalesce and

As I tumble through
each reality
Every place I see
draws me deeper, still –

I’m not sure if this is real
Can I trust what I touch and feel?
Is everything I hear and all that I’ve seen
a dream within a dream?

Come up for air
my body is so light here
I feel myself grow:
a breath in a sphere

There’s a wind that flies inside my head
high above the haze
Where shifting dreams and memories
slowly take shape

Now it’s time to change my life,
embrace uncertainty
Embrace the dream
that lives in me

Now I know that this is real
I create what I touch and feel
Everything I hear and all that I’ve seen –
I’m the dream within a dream

Wild Hunters

Crash the pack,
Dash with wind behind your back
Rushing legs flutter in a flood of motion
Your nose grows mad from a scent of blood
Make deadly chase through an ocean of grass
forever . . .

Embrace your primal restless drive
Stake your claim and ride with wild hunters

Sound a howl,
Hound the kill with gnashing jowls
Licking lips flicker in a flash of moonlight
Your ears hear whines of the frightened prey
Prowl midnight fields ‘till your crying makes him
surrender . . .

Embrace your primal restless drive
stake your claim,
give your life
to fly with wild hunters

Embrace your primal restless drive
Stake your claim and ride with wild hunters

If All Goes Wrong

When my fears come alive
I need you by my side

When my heart races,
When there’s trembling in my spine,
Will you be there
To ease my troubled mind?

And, oh, my love,
I feel it deep inside my bones
But all I want to do is hide from my tears,
So stay with me, my dear
Don’t leave me here alone

If all goes wrong,
Take my hand
If all goes wrong,
Help me take a stand

You’re my rock
When waves surround me
When hurricanes rip the air,
You ground me

And oh, my love,
My burdens hound me ‘til I’ve had enough
But you never let me face them
Alone

When my worries grow
Please don’t let me go
If all goes wrong, I turn to you,
And your love will help me through

If all goes wrong
You never let it break me
Help me stand strong

Back to the Water

Swim your sea of years
to the day you turned nine
Breathe the waves that paint the rocks,
Smell the seaweed and brine

The sun shined brighter then,
Saltwater tasted sweet
Not a care or burden in the world –
Just the surf beneath your feet

As you wade through your youth,
your worries will unwind
And now you journey further
through the oceans of your mind

Back to the water
Back to the sea
Back to the water
Back to the sea

And if your troubles come to drown you
Will you let them pull you down?
Or will stand in the memory of the tide?

You’re done with oceans
on the day you turn twenty-one
The tide recedes, the sun has set –
Your new life’s begun

The wind is bitter,
coral reef is bleached
No joyful sounds fill your world –
Just the noise from the street

As you hit the pavement,
your worries will unfold
And now you journey farther
from the things that kept you whole

You turn your
Back to the water
Back to the sea
Back to the water
Back to the sea

Way out in the distance,
a memory calls your name –
it’s the dock where you went fishing at age ten

If even for an instant
you could step back on the beach
you might find the peace you’re seeking once again

Come
Back to the water
Back to the sea
Back to the water
Back to the sea

As you wade through your youth,
your worries will unwind
Now – journey further
through the oceans of your mind

The Age of Misinformation

Born into a swarm of eyes
Where hoaxes grow like thorns
Distortion roams the forest floor
Deception flows from high
Every corner, every moment
Nowhere you can fly

Can’t run
There’s no escaping
Can’t hide
You’ve got to know how to fake your way through

The Age of Misinformation looms

Can’t run
It’s fast approaching
Can’t hide
It soon will take a hold of you

When The Age of Misinformation reigns
You’ll learn to take your place

Move into the city
To flee the changing tide
Where all your friends deny the truth
And every stranger lies
There’s nowhere you can go to,
So greet the new disease

Take your place
In The Age of Misinformation
Say your grace
And obey the rigged coronation

Sing in the chorus of fraud
Silence the facts with blind applause

Now you fit into its mold
Now you’re misinformed
Transformed every thought you had
There’s nowhere left to go

Don’t run
There’s no escaping
Don’t hide
Now you know how to fake your way through

The Age of Misinformation rules

Don’t run
It rules forever
Don’t hide
The truth is severed
and it won’t save you now

The Age of Misinformation reigns
So learn to take your place

Take your place

L.I.A.R.

Another night of pain in the alley
Sirens carry more to the morgue
I hear a mother’s wailing,
Cracked roads failing
A streetlight flickers
And fades to a dot

I’m a scrap of rags clinging to life,
The trash that the rats ignore
Yet my small hands hang on,
Still pray to the same god –
Statues of men
Who let it all rot

The suit wants to find a solution
The statesman will give it a shot
The priest declares his contribution
“Won’t that clear the air?”

But false prayers and thoughts
Are all that they’ve got
In secret they whisper:
“Let it all rot”

Another day of no rain in the valley
Towers bear down on my picket line
I scream for answers
to the slow-spreading cancer
A sickness
the wicked forgot

They say that they’ll fix their institution
They claim that they care a lot
They even promise they’ll buy me absolution
“Won’t that clear the air?”
“Won’t that clear?”
“Clear?”

Liars and deceivers
I try to believe
I could make them stop

But my drive is displaced
By the lies that I face
Now all I say is:
“Let it all rot!”

Liars, deceivers
I still don’t believe it

Bet on Zero

She once had a simple love, a man of sweetness
She once had luck no one could touch
But the sour taste of easy green grew between them
Now he slaves to the neon hour, addicted to the rush

Bet on zero
Bet on zero once more

He’ll push her to the floor when she pulls him from the tables
He’d rather be dead than let her be right
He says: “failure only happens to the people in those fables”
But she’d rather nod yes than let him keep up a fight

Bet on zero
Bet on zero forever more

Five little shifty fingers clutch a tangled mess
A four-eyed spider stuck in his own web
She sheds three tears for the nest his greed broke
His two hands cut the one rope that kept them from the edge
Bet on zero
Zero

Life’s become a war, no victory in view
He’s off in blackjack jungles, battles for a winning game
She waits for him at home, hoping for something new
But she bet her life on zero, and he’s out of change

Bet on zero
Bet on zero forever more

Five little shifty fingers clutch a tangled mess
A four-eyed spider stuck in his own web
She sheds three tears for the nest his greed broke
But his two hands cut the one rope that kept him them the edge
Bet on zero
Zero

Dark Secrets

If I freed your heart from a cold cave
If I pave the sinkhole and heal the scars
Would it hold?
Would it close our grief?

If we leave new marks and mold them in clay
If we lay old wounds and seal them in an ark
We could keep a peace that we’d never betray

But I fear it’s too late
to save a heart of coal
Now you lead me astray
burn me with the sparks of your

Dark secrets
erasing your soul
Dark secrets
gaining control
Dark secrets
taking a toll on us,
a toll on us

Your bold deceits carve our grave
You break our bonds and drive us apart

I see it’s too late
I forgave a heart of coal
So lead me astray
burn me with the sparks of your

Dark secrets
erasing your soul
Dark secrets
gaining control
Dark secrets
took their toll on us,
their toll on us

Rise

I: The Cave

Lying
bound in a dim-lit prison
Sighing
sounds of flickering whispers
Crying
for crowns of wisdom
Held tight

Blinding
shadows are all we can see
Winding
they laugh as we crawl on knees
Finding
a path to be free
Ignite

Fighting
the darkness gripping our feet
Sighting
our marks of captivity
Lighting
dispel all the grief
Unite

It’s time to rise
Time to rise

Waking
pale eyes asleep in the maze
Breaking
the veiled minds of disarray
Aching
unchained from the haze
Inhale

Facing
the night won’t tempt us again
Bracing
endless light fills our temples
Racing
to exit the web
Exhale

Aiming
the fire will surge through our veins
Taming
the urge to crawl to the shade
Claiming
purge our minds and wait
Prevail

It’s time to rise
Time to rise

II: The Sky

Open eyes
Open minds
Lining to the light

Sprouting rose
Flowering grove
Open to the sky

Minds,
Now it’s time to rise
Minds,
Now it’s time to rise

Free to hear
Free to breathe
Minds that see what’s real

We will grow
We will flow
Free to live our lives

Minds,
Now it’s time to rise
Minds,
Now it’s time to rise

The Color of Flight

Show me the color of flight
Tell me how to break through the black and white

Málaga

Feel the electric pulse on morning drives
Lift up your heart to the beating hillside
Speed through a sea of green and blinding white
Keep going now – your dazzling city shines for you

Chase down a snaking pass to thundering bays
Hear mountain air wail to rolling waves
Climb down the ancient walls to quaking caves
Go deeper down – beneath the city lies the truth

Down below, Málaga stories pour like rain
Memories of ghosts from centuries gone
And present vibrations build into song

Down below, Málaga stories pour like rain
Memories of ghosts from centuries gone,
The present vibrations build into song,
And a golden future lies in wait
So, race beyond the dawn

Weight of the World

The ocean is heavy,
It soaks me with dread
Deafening silence,
Echoes from the depths
Over and over, I fled this coastline
But I’m sinking in this moment
Again and again

A weight that holds me
Below the waves
Leaden devotion
To a terrible fate
Over and over, I wrestle with this moment,
Will I float over water?
Break free and escape?

I want to glide
To the edge of the earth
Shed the weight of the world
And I want to find
The end of my burden
Shed the weight of the world

All I have left
Is to let this weight go
Will I let it rest?
Let my destiny unfold?

The ocean resists
It sows my pain
Pensive emotions
Kept me alone in stasis

Over and over, I wrestle with this moment,
But one day I throw these thoughts,
Break free and escape

And I, I’ll glide
To the edge of the earth
Shed the weight of the world
And I, I’ll find
The end of my burden
Shed the weight of the world

It’s time
To break through the noose
Unload this heavy yoke
And be renewed

All I have left
Are memories of the load
But I won’t forget the journey
As my destiny unfolds