River flow and the mountain snow
Call from the west.
Trees of green in a wild unseen,
Follow west,
Back to where you started from.

There is one who knows all the words you lost,
From years ago,
And there’s one who sees the lines, the steps, the aching depths,
From years ago

It’s not waiting here for you,
What you left up to fate.
The life you found, but didn’t choose
Oh, you still know the way
To the west.

Foggy morn and a heart untorn
Call from the west.
The crooked love between crow and dove
Call me west,
Back to where I started from.

With nights I used to know
The paths that lead through the moonglow.
The days I used to see - the buck at bay, the bended tree,
From years ago.

Home is waiting there for you,
With the time that ebbs away.
But you have your life to choose,
Oh, you still know the way,
To the west.

Golden days without a care,
The light threads through your hair;
I catch my breath and stare.

Seventeen and so afraid
the words I hope you’ll say,
My nerves so sweetly frayed.

And I have felt this so long,
Felt this so long.
I have wanted this so long,
wanted this so long.

Closer still, we brush our knees,
Both blushing in the breeze,
As secrets we unweave.

Heartbeats quake at fingertips,
So joyous in your grip,
As we learn each other’s lips.

And I have felt this for so long,
Felt this for so long.
I have loved you for so long,
Loved you for so long.

You can’t ask me what to say
When it seems your choice is made.
Because I can’t say all that I’d like,
So please, stop asking me “Why?”

Why it stings so bad, and why it smarts,
Why it takes it’s claws and drags them through your heart.
Through your heart that never chose me.

A couple drinks, you’re all broken up,
You say she’s gone, but you’re still in love.
You say there’s no one else for you,
And I’m too good at hiding what you put me through.

But through the rainfall, and through the storm,
Just call and I’m at your will,
Because I am still in love with you.

So morning breaks on day made new.
If I was weaker, I’d have made a move.
But it hurts too much to open that wound,
And I know you don’t feel like I do.

And how it stings so bad, and how it smarts.
How you took your words and pierced them through my heart.
Through my heart that’s still not over you.

So you’ll grab your coat and then you’ll go
Well, I won’t cry for what I already know.
Maybe I should move but I just can’t go.
It’s still so hard to tell you “no”

But through the rainfall, and through the storm,
Just call and I’m at your will,
Because I am still in love with you.

Here, another summer has come and gone.
If my time was burning up, would I take so long?
Try so hard as another year has passed.
If you hear those bells ring out, don’t let me fall last.

Wait for me,
I’m giving all I can.
Wait for me,
I’m drowning in my plans.

Waves crash in as we try to learn to tread,
Pulled down below by that voice of dread.
Pressure from all sides, I just can’t sleep.
Well, if diamonds rise from this, don’t let me fall weak.

Wait for me,
I’m giving all I can.
Wait for me,
I’m drowning in my plans.

After all this time,
Still I wander here.
Pulled out through the brine,
To soothe the wound of a year.

Waves ebb & flow,
And men on their ships
All must come and go.

Twenty months have gone
Since I’ve seen you last.
Sleepless nights so long
Meet all the days that pass.

Waves ebb & flow,
And men on their ships
All must come and go.

Stayed up way too late tonight,
Trying to ignore first light.
Staring at the stress that fights off sleeping,
And wondering how we make it out alive.

Read those stories that you like
Of those who spend their lives in flight
And I’m certain what we have is so much better,
Even though certainty’s not always on my side.

So let’s be married with the wolves still at our backs,
And I will choose you every time.
Ten years from now, whatever chance or choice may bring,
I’ll still have your hand clasped in mine.

Straight from school and smeared with debt,
Somehow left with no regret
About the place we met, where you first loved me,
Before we knew of darker days to come.

So tell me it’ll be alright,
That brighter dawn will follow night.
Tell me we’re ok, and I’ll believe you,
As long as you swear you’ll be at my side.

So let’s be married with the wolves still at our backs,
And I will choose you every time.
Ten years from now, whatever chance or choice may bring,
I’ll still have your hand clasped in mine.

It’s been a while now,
The trees number the years.
And I haven’t felt so calm,
Since under skies so clear.

Follow the same track,
The rusted old lines.
Down by the same stream,
After all this time.

If you’re still waiting to know you’re truth,
If you’re looking for the one you knew,
You’ll find me here.

Feeling much older now,
Know full well of all I lack.
When the ones you loved seem colder now,
It’s true, you can’t go back.

If you’re still waiting to know your truth,
If you’re looking for the one you knew,
You’ll find me here.

And day will end.
I’ll wait right here.
As the hours bend,
When it’s all so clear.

A life that’s told by immeasurable dusk,
I long to know.
So silently, the sky turns to rust,
And the halcyon days go.

And at the end,
I’ll stay right here.
My timeless friend,
Through all these years.

The sun will meet the western shores,
the stars keep watch for aeons more,
The days are written in the lights
but your eyes have gone blind.

How quickly you forget your place,
claiming every sweetness for your taste,
You shape the land to build your walls;
do what it takes to feel tall.

Your wish and whim are just whirlpools in the water,
as you’re pulled along by the tides of Fortune’s Daughter.

Could you turn the motion of a stream,
could you quell your plight, by gods - unseen?
Could you make your breath that of the breeze,
or even the least of these:

Could you ease a heart with only a tune?
Could you call down the moon?

Swift suns and long nights, the winding road.
Stay on the path, moon lend her glow.
Stray into the dark, meet the forest’s woe.

Swathe a wound and splint an ankle,
here, take something for your head.
Lie back, gently; you’ll be walking soon,
though I might miss you in that bed.

Catching glances that linger too long,
Easy laughter, and a smile like a song,
And the question in your eyes - Oh I’m drawn to you.

I could work a bit more slowly,
leave this hand to trace your chest,
And I know you face a journey,
but it seems you still need rest.

Daring fingers that linger too long,
Flushing cheeks as your lips teach me songs,
And that ardor in your eyes,
Oh how I’m drawn to you.

Out in the garden, there is a vine
That holds thorn and pith and petal, intertwined.
I like to sit, surrounded, in the wild’s mess of time,
So if I waited here, would you stay behind?

As this forceful feeling quickens,
And that glance I catch, I’m stricken,
And the marrow of our meeting,
When my heart cries that it’s beating only for you.

Out in the garden, I’ll trail your steps,
Moving so lightly with this aching in my chest.
I’ll watch you quietly, no words safe to say,
For in a moment, this burning I’d betray

As this forceful feeling quickens,
And that glance I catch, I’m stricken,
And the marrow of our meeting,
When my heart cries that it’s beating
only for you.

All my years, I was never waiting
for the fates to mark my season
With some predetermined Eden,
Did the work that made me strong,
and I never worried long about love.

I would never think of looking to a stranger
and I know I shouldn’t trust
Someone foreign to our custom,
But you spoke so tenderly
And your eyes gave way to secrets I believe.

Now I see the outline of
A story fit for skies above.
The fruit borne of the vine,
A glance that questions time.

You stumbled in and I forgot all hesitation,
When I’m normally so cautious,
For every hope, a second thought,
It’s just that it came so easily,
Falling deeply before knowing I was caught.

Now I see the outline of
A story fit for skies above.
The fruit borne of the vine,
A glance that questions time.

I know it isn’t safe,
And these words I shouldn’t say,
But I want you
To stay.

You should know why the winters pass so slow. (𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸)
You should fear the curse upon the ground we sow. (𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸)
Take your time, don’t be hasty with your choice. (𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸)
But beware the night the Forest Light takes voice. (𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸)

When the wind whispers strange,
And day hastens its end,
As the stones, they rearrange,
And fearful make amends.

On moonless night, hold close your kin,
Bar windows tight before, before she begins.

This the eve we sacrifice
For survival through the year,
Dare not trust your eyes,
For she sets alive,
She sets alive the skies

As the gleaming shimmers above,
Her song catches in your mind
Calls you with words of sweetest love;
Hide your thoughts
And pray that she won’t find you.
Hide, until you meet the dawn.

If you see the lights,
You’ll soon know her price,
On moonless night.

Look, I don’t want you to forgive me, I don’t expect you to understand.
But I’ll try to tell the troubles that were fated in the lines that here lie etched into my hands.

A village low on grain, followed by the year we were abandoned by the rains.
As some would pray for mercy, for the harvest, others, well we found a faster way.
And these bargains are never cheap.

They asked for food for all the hungry, so the hungry had to be lessened.
A plague tore through the people, fulfilling this cruel blessing.
Then it came to him, came to my husband.

Oh my love, I won’t let it take you, I won’t let it take you,
I won’t let it take you.

I made a choice, there was no chance for any other way.
There was no path I would not take or price I wouldn’t pay.
And these bargains are never cheap; they chose this first.

It needs a body. Well, that’s easy enough.

And it worked, and he was better, and stayed that way some time,
But soon enough the plague returned with all its telltale signs.

So I culled another.

Oh my love, I won’t let it take you, I won’t let it take you,
I’d trade them all for you, I’d trade them all for you.

Years and years went by and I stopped counting lives;
It makes it easier to forget all their cries,
But louder still they’d grow with one solution I could find;
I gave it mine.

Oh my love, I won’t let it take you, I won’t let it take you,
I gave myself for you, I gave myself for you.

No rest for the wicked, my soul was bound;

Like the coursing of a stream,
Like the sorry ships as waves careen,
As the leaf falls from the tree,
I am pulled.
I am pulled by your gravity.

I can't ask you to choose, but if I could,
I would take your sorrowed mind
And give you all the time you need
And I would guard your heavy heart my dear,
And for you I would bleed.

And I would pull you from the waters as they run.

I'm telling you to go,
You're safer if you leave this place.
Can't bear to mention what you surely know,
But I'll leave you this kiss upon your face.

I can't ask you to stay, but if you did,
I would mend your tattered soul
And love you oh so tenderly,
I'd trail my fingers down your spine
And be forever bound to thee

And I would pull you from the waters as they run.

Oh my love, have you forgotten?
I’ve guarded you your whole life through, made safe the ways you’ve trod.
And I only ask for what you’d gladly give for the one who loves you best:
Your remaining years as music of the spheres,
You’ll keep your dearest blessed.

Who knows what harm may soon befall?
My love, you’ve this chance to save them all.

You were lost in the haze, but I call you back tonight.
My love, always, just look into my light.

Who knows what harm may soon befall?
My love, you’ve this chance to save them all.

My Breath, my Blood, my Soul, my Love,
If you leave, I’m going too.

My Breath, my Blood, to stars above,
I would trade these things for you.

My Breath, my Blood, my Soul, my Love,
With all I have, I’ll follow you.

You were just passing through town,
Should have gone another way,
Injured on your journey
And looking for a place to stay,
Someone points you to a healer,
And says I’ve got a spare bed too,
And so I met you.

Always thought that when it came around,
I’d know.
What he’d look like, how his voice would sound,
I’d know

Someone I’ve seen for nearly all my life,
He could provide and I’d be someone’s wife,
A simple tale of truths I thought I knew,
Until I met you.

You were kind and you were earnest,
And stayed with me a dozen nights.
You had this way of speaking,
Open words with loving might.
But you were too easy to heal,
I lied to keep you for a while,
You knew and just smiled.

Then you walked out that door, and suddenly
I knew.
That my heart can’t bear for you to leave, I know,
I know.

Here from the heavens, in this ancient cradle of time,
I’ll watch you in your garden, whene’er the stars align.
You’ve no need to worry now; fill your days with honey and wine,
And when the evening falls, is your promised heart still mine.

For we had only a moment, but that was all it took
To forever turn these streams, to set this soul adrift, adream.
Still this aching, still this burning, but better still to know
That in your eyes, forever I’m aglow.

As I’m beating only for you.

Here in the garden, petals caress my skin,
the sweet aroma through a veil wearing thin.
I’ve spent years out here, wondering which path to take,
But see so clearly now the choice I am to make:

Though I hold so dear these vines and trees, I’ve seen the life that waits for me,
With all the things that I couldn’t be, because I’d choose your eternity.
Speak my vows into the starlight and I’ll never be alone;
I won’t need these hands to hold the heart that’s home.

Still I’m beating only for you.

Dreamy eyes, rest in ease
Leave your breath with the balmy breeze
Afternoon that lingers a lifetime
A goldfinch swoon,
Irreverent windchime

And the amber I’ve ascribed to your light.

I’ll trace some freckles, old and new
And the creases of years we’ve spent,
And those to pursue.
Eventide that blinks for a moment,
A summer night forgets what the cold meant,

But your amber gleam remains in the light.

Here with your hand on my shoulder
Cover your words, as the night’s falling colder.
Going through motions,
Well, it always feels the same.

When all that I sow takes its turn to grow older,
Days and the years, but my choices no bolder,
Treading the path that only leads us through frames.

Take me too far,
Where the skies get so dark.
I want to see the stars.

Looking for lines made of story, not reason,
Hallowed old tales left to guide through these seasons.
How ancient the eyes that know life’s chaff from the grain.

Shine on the way with no tether to hold.
Ready to leap, forget all we’ve been told,
To meet the unknown with a heart so enflamed.

Take me too far,
Where the skies get so dark.
I want to see the stars.

Silver thread,
Shivering through my neck,
Whispers of all the names you are.

Borrowed sight,
Your mists of pearly white,
You're leading me on,
But it won't be far.

Pulled by the darkest of matter from stars

A spirit's breath,
And passing chill in my chest,
I come here for you, I won't turn back.

Glaze my eyes
To greet the Elden Wise,
Drawing me down
Under a night sky so black.

I know where I'm going, I won't come back.

On the eve just past the ides,
You weave your thread with mine.
Through the years we've weathered the tides,
Waiting for stars to align.

On the equinox,
The conflux between night and day:
Here vow these souls
To meet each ever halfway.

As the dusk surrounds,
I'll take you true, just as you take me
For equals know
To love is to bind and yet remain free

I need a place to put roots in the ground.
I need to rest in terrestrial sound,
To wander the woods on paths yet unfound,
I need a place to put roots in the ground.

I want a home with those windows wide,
With room to drink in each morning's new light,
Where we will laugh, we will grow, and we will cry,
Oh, I want this home and I want you by my side.

The horizon's flutter of trees,
On the porch reciting Wild Geese,
Oh, "you do not have to walk on your knees"
I'm learning what it means now to believe,
Cradled by the land where I am free.

I want a field with a soft sheath of snow,
A garden where lilac and peonies grow,
And, if we're lucky, a view of Tahoma.
I want to live where the warblers go.

Where I dance on the blessed of days
In celestial light, gold and silver rays.
We will walk together through every new phase,
Settled in the haven we have found,
Cradled by the land to which I'm bound.

As the August sun is dying down
We're running around on the trails
I've tenderly tracked through this wood.

Naked feet on the ground
And flowers in my hair,
Blackberries and plums fill the air,
Borne on the softest breeze.

Little house with the blue door,
And a sense that I've lived this before

With the soil I've known,
This garden grown,
And though it took so long to find
As the years have flown,

This place is home.

And when nightfall brings back her bite,
Take my hand in yours,
You know I'm holding tight
As we wait and watch the moon.

I'll grab glasses and you pour,
Just us in her pail light,
But someday maybe more,
We've got time.

With the one that I adore,
And a sense that I've loved you before

With the seeds we've sown,
The life we've known,
And though it took so long to find
As the years have flown

This place is home.

My mouth is filled with crumpled paper,
The scraps I’ve learned to hide,
My fingers reach for ink again,
But the canvases stay white.

Guarding rooms of empty walls,
With paint-filled cracks
And linoleum floors,
When my legs lead to the door.

Maybe I’ll go to the museum,
See the works that hurt the best.
Maybe listen to an album,
One that proves I don’t deserve to rest.

The stack of empty frames sits by
The shelf of books unread.
I’ve made my space by boxing up
The works into which I’ve bled.

Maybe this old house has some nice hardwoods,
We can let the sky down
Find out where the light is good.
I don’t want to be afraid,
But I don’t want to be contained.

I am peeling back linoleum
From foundations buried deep.
I am shaking all the dust off
The memories with teeth.
I am shattering the glasses,
And I’m scattering these ashes,
As I’m peeling back linoleum.

I am peeling back linoleum.

Window, in the morning,
Revealing hazy light of dawn.
My skin still tender and warm,
In cocoon of reddening birdsong,

As I rise out of rest from bones and noses and thighs,
And a crooked spine, all mine.

Mirror, in the harshest of words,
The worst that I've heard,
Reflected in the chill of your light,
Your eyes with their bite perfected.
Perfected

Oh the clash in looking through glass.
The salve and the ash, the soft and the brash
And I stand casted through each,
Trying to tear more tenderly.

Some nights it's only the mirror's say,
But window lays bare
The reverent newness of day.

December, let me go.
Think I’ve borne all that I can take
From this year’s snow.
And it takes far too long
To wait for shadows to grow.

Well, I’m tired.
And I won’t wait here anymore.

Pack the car, and head towards 90,
’Cause I won’t wait for a plan.
If we leave now, We’ll see mountains
In Montana by Wednesday.

Courageous heart,
But the money always holds you back.
Three years down being smothered in your flaws,
You can’t get them back.

Pack the car, and head towards 90,’
Cause I won’t wait for a plan.
I’m gonna drench my soul in the Pacific,
And bury these woes in the sand.

Wait for you outside your last class,
Walk me through the city,
Catch your eye in the glass,
Nervous to hold your hand,
Can you hear my heart with how close you stand?
Don't know what this is, but I think that it might last.

Despite the tiny space, we had grown.
I considered London, and you considered home.
Cocoa at the market, your flannel against my cheek,
Caught in the rain with the greatest love I've known.

Snapshots that become reveries,
And pages we've dog-eared in this book,
If all we end up with are the memories,
Well honey, let's have another look.

Drove across the country
With our life in the backseat.
Tumbled through the years
Of quaking earth beneath our feet.
But meet me out in Paris
With a question on your lips;
Beloved, how you make this life so sweet.

Be my dearest friend
When the world stood still as stone.
Lost the years I'd planned for
As we all were caught alone.
Who knows were we would be,
But as long as your path lies here with me,
In your arms I will always find home.

Snapshots that become reveries,
And pages we've dog-eared in this book,
If all we end up with are the memories,
Well honey, let's have another look.

With the beckoning hand
That leads the steady to shifting sands,
Smoke to stone, tighten your grip,
Dragging down through shadowed mists

And I know I'm coming undone.

You only take what's yours,
Laying your claim and keeping score.
Bring the ache that borrows the gift
But let morning my spirit lift.

Spectre, here I pay my dues.
The simple or sublime,
Who gets to choose?

This fated trade for all of my woes,
Tout your worth in debts you're owed.
Whispered words that sow these doubts,
But I know I'm walking out.

Spectre, here I pay my dues.
The simple or sublime,
Who gets to choose?