The Last To Know

She acted so calm
Not a word passed her frozen lips
Intent on her task
Every breath heavy with regret

Silence gray and sure, a sentence to endure

I could not understand
I was the last to know
I was the last one to know

She made the bed
As I watched from another room
All in a daze
Every thought of another face

She counted the days, and never lost her way

I could not understand
I was the last to know
I was the last one to know

Somewhere else I want to be
Somewhere else not in front of me
Somewhere else only I can see
Somewhere else

In our better time
Red in bloom in a field of green
Never apart
Stolen moments under azure skies

But summer’s harmony, drifted out to sea

I could not understand
I was the last to know
I was the last one to know

She stared at her hands
Never once looking in my eyes
Pleading release
From the lie she could not sustain

Promise unfulfilled, a destiny made still

I could not understand
I was the last to know
I was the last one to know

Somewhere else I want to be
Somewhere else not in front of me
Somewhere else only I can see
Somewhere else

On My Way To Pittsburgh

Heavy winds blow sheets of white
To keep me from my aim
This snow in Spring cannot be right
I’m punished for my seeker’s game
On my way to Pittsburgh
On my way to Pittsburgh

Years ago, somewhere else
With no one you could know
Among forgotten nowhere men
I wandered in from time to time

At first I stumbled, lost for sure
But seeking nonetheless
To fill a hole inside of me

I saw her there, standing there
Her eyes as bright as suns
They gathered in my fantasies
And owned them without fear

She glanced at me, and there it was
Like nothing I had known
Her perfect smile a blessing

In a darkened room with a broken clock
There was something tender
Hidden in the late night shadows
The memories of my heart
In a darkened room filled with broken dreams
There was someone waiting

Heavy winds blow sheets of white
To keep me from my aim
This snow in Spring cannot be right
I’m punished for my seeker’s game
On my way to Pittsburgh
On my way to Pittsburgh

She said, “I’ve lived in Pittsburgh now
More days than I can say
There’s really nothing here for me
But somehow I remain”

She filled my glass and looked at me
Her soft brown eyes on fire
Her name upon my tongue

In a moment brief and effortless
She gathered up my story
A journey with no destination
A wanderer at rest
But in a darkened room filled with broken dreams
There was someone waiting

Heavy winds blow sheets of white
To keep me from my aim
This snow in Spring cannot be right
I’m punished for my seeker’s game
On my way to Pittsburgh
On my way to Pittsburgh
On my way to Pittsburgh

Cowboy

Cowboy, riding sideways in the rain
Singing a lonely wanderer’s refrain
Stretched out across a long deserted plain
A wasteland where nothing’s lost and nothing’s gained

Cowboy, you are smaller than you know
Scattered like the dust the west wind blows
Searching for the Rose of Jericho
Cracked and dry where the river used to flow

Waiting for the sun to rise
Waiting for a bird to sing
Waiting for the sky to clear
Waiting for anything

Cowboy, in a border town café
Cannot sing the new song that plays
Softly with a quiet rondelet
And carries all his troubles far away

Waiting for the sun to rise
Waiting for a bird to sing
Waiting for the sky to clear
Waiting for anything

Cowboy, riding sideways in the rain
Singing a lonely wanderer’s refrain
Stretched out across a long deserted plain
A wasteland where nothing’s lost and nothing’s gained

See You On The Other Side

We walked beside a stream that was clear and cool
our hands together all in the sun’s embrace
So certain of our love only we were there
caught in a moment of everlasting grace

How sweet the sound of joy in our children’s play
their voices calling both of us back again
They rise to touch a cloud and fall back to earth
a temporary thing that our love can mend

You stepped into the water
and crossed to the other side,
You said, “I’ll love you forever
and see you on the other side.”

We dug our garden deep near our house of stone
the rows of red and green burst with life anew
Your every breath a gift deep within my soul
my every word a book that I wrote for you

A river deep and wide spread before our feet
could never keep us from what our two hearts dreamed
In sadness dark as coal you were brightest yet
and with your patient smile every grief redeemed

You stepped into the water
and crossed to the other side,
You said, “I’ll love you forever
and see you on the other side.”

But now you wander far from this world of mine
a star across the sky that I cannot trace
A candle in a church says what you cannot
we’ll meet again someday in the sun’s embrace

You stepped into the water
and crossed to the other side
You said, “I’ll love you forever
and see you on the other side.”

On The Edge of Someday

Standing on the edge of someday
Coffee and a dozen voices
Counting all the cars that pass by
A suitcase full of tomorrow

Carrying a broken story
Leave it where the shadows sigh
Your words to me still shine so brightly
Each is written on my heart

Try imagining your future
Down a long unsettled road
Try imagining your present
And this moment that we share

You’re the most amazing person
In this colorful realm of living beings
They say that Socrates was ugly
Chances are we’ll never know

There are roads I’ll never travel
There are times I cannot listen
Still I recognize the first star
When I walk my street at night

Try imagining your future
Down a long unsettled road
Try imagining your present
And this moment that we share

Come and sit here next to me
Sing an ancient lullaby
Tell the others that I’m sleeping
I’d rather be alone with you

Standing on the edge of someday
Coffee and a dozen voices
Counting all the cars that pass by
A suitcase full of tomorrow

Try imagining your future
Down a long unsettled road
Try imagining your present
And this moment that we share

An Interrupted Tale

Everywhere you look you see a sign of endless harmony
The handiwork of perfect love
It only takes an innocent to see behind the mystery
laughter and the open book

She carries all their moments in her head
An interrupted tale that will never fade away
She thinks she hears an echo in the rain
Simple words of love she always meant to say

Everywhere you look you see a sign of endless harmony
The handiwork of perfect love
It only takes an innocent to see behind the mystery
laughter and the open book

She opens all the windows in her room
A solitary breeze plays softly in her hair
She steps into the street to catch her breath
And say a word of thanks for everything they shared

Every Trembling Heart

You say show me
And then I might believe
Show me
It’s just the way I am, I need to touch these things
And see them with my own imperfect eyes

You say slowly
So I might understand
Slowly
I’m not the type so easily convinced
I need to hear the song before I sing

When I was young I didn’t need to see
But now my mind insists on certainty

I say hold on
Sit here next to me
Hold on
There’s more to this than meets the eye
If you listen to your heart I’m sure you’ll see

Tomorrow
The sound of falling rain
Tomorrow
There are things you cannot understand
Full of meaning unavailable

To hope the morning sun will rise again
An act of faith the world will never end

Every trembling heart must seek its home
Or be forever lost
Every trembling heart must seek its home
Or be forever lost
Every trembling heart

You say each day
Is someone else’s dream
Each day
Is like a walk along the same old path
The one I see each day in front of me

Mystery
Is just a children’s tale
No mystery
Can ever feed me what I need to live
The stars are nothing more than light

It’s easier this way for me
To live each day with nothing guaranteed

I say close them
Close your eyes for me
Close them
And open up the window deep inside
That let’s you see the things that can’t be seen

Sometime
Find a quiet place
Sometime
Let a mind at rest be all you need
To take you where the milk and honey flow

You may not always know the way
But surely you’ll arrive someday

Every trembling heart must seek its home
Or be forever lost
Every trembling heart must seek its home
Or be forever lost
Every trembling heart

The Calling

He doesn’t want to get up
It’s just another working day
He thinks there must be something more
Than to watch it slip away

Even when his sails are full
With the sun and wind at play
The wooden ship he steers home
Finds a path that never strays

He doesn’t want to get up
Even though he knows he will
There’s a family to feed
And a stack of bills

On the water he’s free
And his nets are his to fill
A bounty that is his alone
Borne of mastery and skill

Will this ever make any sense to you
This coming and going from shore to shore
Do you look past this moment for something that lasts
What are you waiting for, what are you waiting for?

Lay that burden down
Raise your eyes to a distant shore
And if you see it there
Standing right in front of you
Embrace it now
Embrace it now

In the village square
Once the market clears
The people talk of mystery
In voices only they can hear

He may only be a simple man
Made of sympathy and fear
But even he can recognize
That a light draws near

How long will you sit in that darkened room
Searching for a perfect chance to arise
Are your days so full and your nights so new
What are you waiting for, what are you waiting for?

Lay that burden down
Raise your eyes to a distant shore
And if you see it there
Standing right in front of you
Embrace it now
Embrace it now

Everything Under This Heaven

Everything under this heaven
Is dust on a mirror
Things of this earth are as straw men
All hollow and fading
Tao is eternal and nameless
An open door

Place them in order before you
And keep them from moving
Scatter them random and empty
Stones in a river
Tao is eternal and nameless
An open door

How does the rain disappear in the sea?
Whispers of sound in an afternoon breeze
Heaven and earth and the ten thousand things
Hearing a voice that made everything

Water is good but quiet is best
Gather your thoughts and forget all the rest
Formless and clear before heaven and earth
The smallest of things seeking its birth

Where is the silence
Ten thousand things send?
Tao is forever
World without end

Where is the silence
Ten thousand things send?
Tao is forever
World without end