RAVEN
Raven fly on a river
Rapids raging in her chest
See her body flying over
With a song of wild unrest
River roll down a mountain
Wash your face in the sea
Tell the sirens I’m a comin’
I’m a comin’ and they’ll see
Siren sing us a love song
Something old that’ll put us at ease
All these bones and all their tremblin’
All these bones and what they keep
Raven cry on a river
River roll to the sea
Siren sing me a lullaby
Lay my tremblin’ bones to sleep
Raven cry
River roll
Tell the sirens I’m a comin’
I’m a comin’ and they’ll see
I’m a comin’ and they’ll see
SHADOWS OF A MAN
I stood below the Lincoln
Lily white in a marble seat
He stood a trifle tall and so
They took him off his feet
The war has not been won he said
"The dyings just begun" he said
"The dying of our will to crawl
Up the ranks of men"
The shadows of a man will keep you guessing
The shadows of a man can take their toll
The shadows of a man can break your back then take your hand
But the shadows of your own can take you whole
I stood in a sea of stone-etched names
Some I recognized and others blurred into the same
Like the colors of a flag when all the red's run in the ground
A meadow bed of fallen men
Their shadows standing round
Standing in the shadows
Walking through their dust
Wading in the echoes
The shadows of a man can take their toll
But the shadows of your own can take you whole
TIDES ARE FOR SIRENS
Which heartbeat is yours and which one is mine?
Am I the water, the mist, or the sky?
Your sorrow’s heavy here mingled with mine
And its lighter that way
Which voice is yours and which on is mine
Our songs by the sea, a blend of red wine
Tides are for sirens, for singing in time and
I’ll echo yours and you echo mine
And its lighter that way
It’s lighter that way
You take me in and I
I don’t know what to say
So I’ll hum here beside you now
And we’ll sing of the day
It’s lighter that way
I’ll echo yours and you echo mine
I’ll echo yours and you echo mine
I’ll echo yours and you echo mine
I’ll echo yours
Whose breath on the glass is blurring that light?
Long as we’re breathin’ we’ll do wrong and do right
I don’t wanna die but I don't wanna fight
So tell me your story and I’ll tell you mine
And its lighter that way
It’s lighter that way
You take me in and I
I don’t know what to say
So I’ll hum here beside you now
And we’ll sing of the day
It’s lighter that way
I’ll echo yours and you echo mine
I’ll echo yours and you echo mine
I’ll echo yours and you echo mine
I’ll echo yours
TUMWATER
That was just another thing that I lost in the fire
It settled in the ash and nail and a curl of barbed wire
And I haven't found the gold yet
Refined like I've been told yet
Here she is, a fires plunder, looking out a blackened glass
Spring is pouring out her tender but I've not the nerve to ask
See I haven't found the gold yet
Refined like I've been told yet
Ashes on ashes
Ten miles wide
Ashes on ashes
Ten miles deep
And I haven't found the gold yet
Refined like I've been told yet
I thought that I'd do better than this
I thought that I'd be better than this
I thought that I'd fare better than this
I fought and I lost and I cried
Ashes on ashes
Ten miles wide
Ashes on ashes
Ten miles deep
And I haven't found the gold yet
Refined like I've been told yet
TAKE WITH YOU LOVE
Love suffers long
It's kind to the bone
Love doesn't envy your things
And it won't write down your wrongs
It is not rude or greedy
Or puffed up with pride
Love delights in the right things
And never in the lies
Singer, sing
And poet, write
Prophet, speak like angels
Wise men, lay the mysteries plain
Healer, lay those hands on me
But take with you love
Wherever you go
Cause without love it's just an empty show
Love wears a cross
Love washes feet
Love reaches out
When you're drowning cold and deep
SWEET ON YOU
If I had known ten years ago
That I’d be on this road with you
Bare feet on the dash
Three dollars in cash
I got it made as far as I’m concerned
Cause I’m sweet on you
I’m sweet on you
I’m sweet on you oh
Like Bonnie and Clyde
Your hand in mine
I’m sweet on you today
I’m not gonna lie
you make me sad
and sometimes mad but oh
I know its worth the fight
The fight for love
signed up with the law
in front of all
under God that oh
I’d be in this fight
for life
I’m sweet on you
I’m sweet on you oh
Like Bonnie and Clyde
Your hand in mine
I’m sweet on you for life
for rich or poor I am
better or worse I am
like cherry pie I am
sweet on you my love
MORNING STAR
She walked along the seam of a roof
Arms stretched out to side and I wondered why
What a morning she said
Fog lay like lashes on a the quiet rye
to a wild eye
Don't fall
Don't fall
Please don't fall
Where the wild things close their yellow eyes
A boy a sailor becomes a king
Tows this heart near
On foreign seas here
But I'm losing line
Sure as the time
Don't fall
Don't fall
Please don't fall
Morning star rise up to meet me
Like a diamond in the dark
"Love like this" he said
"Love like ours fills the poets pages
paints those cavern walls"
Don't fall
Don't fall
Please don't fall
I walked along the seam of a roof
Arms stretched out to side
Like a dragon fly
If I fall
If I fall
If I fall
Hang my picture on the wall
SEATTLE RAIN
Seattle rain
You bring me down
Like a chain I’m rusty from
The rain, rain, rain pouring out
On seven hills
My city lays
Like a penny in a well
She waits days days days for light
From the sky
Salty sea and summer sweet blue and
Emerald green
Seattle rain
You bring me down
Like a chain I’m rusty from the
Rain, rain, rain pouring out
So my sailor
So my Queen Anne
Grab yourself some hot hot coffee
Be a long long time for sun
When I wake up
It's pouring down
Heat my tea up
It's sideways now
Take a walk and
It's down my neck
Through our clothes and
To the bone
We’re soaking wet
Seattle rain
You bring me down
Like a chain I’m rusty from the
Rain, rain, rain pouring out
BROTHER
Oh I went off to see my brother
went off to mumble at his grave
his humbling grave
thought I would say "hello"
maybe stay a while
and watch as the roses unfold
but the quiet's got me thinking
I've nowhere to go
Said "Oh, brother can you hear me none?"
Said "Oh, brother where ya gone?"
Oh I went off to see my brother
brush the dust off of his grave
his weathered grave
told him off a dream I'd had
how it's cold and broken in my hands
these clumsy hands
how I'm supposed to be the living
but I'm dying instead
oh brother, where you gone
it's been a while
it's been too long
oh brother, meet my son
will he be like you?
will he be strong?
DAYS OF NIGHTS
I don't remember much
But I still feel that floor
Cold on my face and alone as before
A swarm in my head of voices unkind
Some of them his and none of them mine
He said don't fight it
He said its too late
He said I'm just like the others
As he gave me away
To that red light
Where my days are made of nights and he said
"Won't nobody love you like this"
Touch the scar on my skin
Where the ink used to live
Said that I'm his for the take or the give
I took up the lies
All at once over time
Some of them his
And none of them mine
Would you take this
Would you take this cup from me
Touch the scar on my skin
Said I'm just like the others
Oh that red light
Not going back to that red light
I belong to me
I will walk through the fire into a new day
Oh I will walk through the fire into a new day
Would you take this
Would you take this cup from me