ONE STONE I LIFT

All I've had has been taken back
All I've sought all at once disappeared
All I've wanted just left on a train
And the train won't be coming back here

It's a simple surprise
All you need is your fear and your heart
And your passionate eyes
Searching down the horizon past light to dark for

One stone
One stone to lift
One stone to lift to heaven
One stone
One stone to life
One stone to life to heaven
One stone...

All I've cared for has hit the road
All I've grieved for's been buried for years
Take my wishes and pack them up
They'll dissolve in my ocean of tears

We all march on this crust
With our journeys ahead and behind
But march on we must
With each step just a sliver of love we find, so

One stone
One stone I lift
One stone I lift to heaven
One stone
One stone I lift
One stone I lift to heaven
One stone...

Bending down is a prayer
And each breath that we take is a psalm
With each moment we dare
To alight on the clouds that float white and calm, so

One stone
One stone I lift
One stone I lift to heaven
One stone
One stone I lift
One stone I lift to heaven
One stone....

MIRACLE OF LOVE

Well this little baby boy
Was left to die one night
In a howl of rain and thunder
And the brown leaves taking flight

Well the officer who found him
Was a strange and lonely man
But he took him home and held him
And he tried to understand

All the one hundred ways that we can bruise each other and
Tear each other's sweet heart apart
But let the rhythm of the pain
Beat its desolate refrain
And let the miracle of love keep a-shinin' through you

Well they didn't have it easy
This sudden father and his son
Kid was born with an infection
That would kill him soon enough

But he fed him and he rocked him
And inside he felt it start
See the strange and lonely sergeant
Grew some kindness inside his opening heart

Well there's one hundred ways that we can bruise each other and
Tear each other's sweet heart apart
But let the rhythm of the pain
Beat its desolate refrain
And let the miracle of love keep a-shinin' through you

Well, I'd love to say this story
Had an end to make you smile
But put one and one together
And think about it for a while

See the officer kept staring
At the tiny, open grave
And the tears that he was crying
Were the rivers of grace of a God who forgave

All the one hundred ways that we can bruise each other and
Tear each other's sweet heart apart
But let the rhythm of the pain
Beat its desolate refrain
And let the miracle of love keep a-shinin' through you
The miracle of love keep a-shinin' through you
Let the miracle of love keep a-shinin' through you

DREAM AVENUE

I saw a man the other day
Just standing in the rain
He'd stopped to search his pockets for a dime
The front page crowned his graying head
The comics were a scarf
And the air around him smelled like rotten wine
Well he finally gave up searching
With an empty-handed sigh
And gathered up his bag of cans and string
And I held him in my aching heart
Though he probably never knew
As we trudged along down damp Dream Avenue

I saw a man the other night
Just watching from his porch
His daughter in the shadows with her guy
They were swaying in a deep embrace
Beneath the maple tree
Their hearts like stars were leaping through the sky
Well he wasn't even breathing
As they danced their private dance
To a melody he knew he used to hear
So he turned around to find his wife
And she was watching, too,
And he joined her sailing down Dream Avenue

He's only 17 but knows his mother's going to die
He runs upstairs with pot to ease her pain
She's filled with guilt and longing as she takes a desperate drag
Then slowly bows to sleep's dark mystery reign
Then he gently pries the potion
From her pale and papery hand
And smokes the rest as regal clouds roll by
And soon his eyes are closed as well
The streetlights flicker blue
And light their way along Dream Avenue

BALLAD OF BIRMINGHAM

"Oh, Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play
And march in the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?"

"No, baby, no, you may not go
For the dogs are fierce and wild
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren't good for a little child."

"But, oh, Mother Dear, I will not be alone
Other children will go with me
To march through the streets of Birmingham
And set this country free."

"No, baby, no, you may not go
For I fear those guns will fire
But you may go to the church instead
And sing in the children's choir."

The mother did smile to know that her child
Was in the sacred place
But oh, how that smile was the very last one
To come upon her face

For when she heard the explosion
Her eyes grew wet and wild
And she marched through the streets of Birmingham
Desperate for her child

She clawed through the bits of glass and brick
But only found a shoe
"Oh, here is the shoe that my sweet baby wore
But baby where are you?"

"Oh, Mother dear, I am not alone
For others went with me
And someday you'll find that we'll all return
To set this country free
To set this poor country free."

TIP OF A KNIFE

Danny's walking down the street at night
Suddenly five black kids come in sight
Gazes are exchanged
Rapper D is blasting through the air
Poised like the tip of a knife at the heart of a dream

Danny wonders if he's being wise
The robberies and rapes are on the rise
But wait a minute, now,
Could every black kid be a thief or thug?
Poised like the tip of a knife at the heart of a dream

They built a brand new prison up at Hillside
Now the State wants another two more
And you and I know who they will be filled with
Funny how quickly solutions seem right
When you look through a lens colored just black and white
Poised like the tip of a knife at the heart of a dream

Danny walks on by without a scene
But his heart is thick with shame and feels unclean
Still he marches through his house
Locking every window and each door
Poised like the tip of a knife at the heart of a dream
Poised like the tip of a knife at the heart of a dream
Poised like the tip of a knife at the heart of a dream

INVISIBLE LOVE

The quarter drops into the slot
The light goes on
And I stand before him suddenly:
My invisible love

As I place my hands upon my breasts
I stare in his eyes
Yeah, the very eyes I cannot see but
Can't help but see me

I wonder who he's left behind and
To whom he'll return
As I palm myself from hip to hip
Obliging him

Then the lights go out
There's silence, dark, and a curious pause
Then again it's on, and what I feel
I can't tell you

I had barely learned to walk when I had
Started to dance
There's a picture of me
In my leotard

I was two or three and glaring
At the camera man
And the other girls were laughing
Yeah, the other girls are laughing
See, the others still are laughing,
They go...

RIVERBIRD

"Riverbird, tell me what you've heard
From all the rain that fell at night
Riverbird, tell me what you've seen
When you have soared above in flight"

"You'll always be a child of the river that will
Flow to the luminous sea
So you must swim with all the colors gliding by
Until you find that you believe..."

"Riverbird, tell me what you've learned
From all the clouds that form each day
Riverbird, tell me what you've tasted
In the winds that blow away."

"You'll always be a child of the river that will
Flow to the luminous sea
So you must rock with all the rhythms gliding by
Until you find that you believe..."

"Riverbird, tell me all the answers
To the questions that keep on and on
Riverbird, where is all your wisdom
Has it come and gone?"

"You'll always be a child of the river that will
Flow to the luminous sea
So you must dance with all the music gliding by
Until you find that you believe..."

Riverbird (flying, flying)
Riverbird (flying, flying)
Riverbird (flying, flying)
Riverbird

ANOTHER WAY INTO THE FIRE

All of our breathing is from just one breath
From all of our crying comes a tear
All of our stories tell a single tale
We are all of us nearing
And all of us fearing
Another way into the fire
Another way into the fire
Another way into the fire
Just another way into the fire

All of us listen for the rain at night
All of us are shadows in the dark
All of us open up our dusty throats
As we stumble and lurch
We are lonely and searching for
Another way into the fire
Another way into the fire
Another way into the fire
Just another way into the fire

This is what we're living for
The beauty that can burn the night to day
This is what we're dying for
To dive like moths then blaze away

All of us are children with a magic heart
All of us are wild like the wind
All of us are thunder in a broken sky
And we rumble and roar
'Cause we look for nothing more than
Another way into the fire
Another way into the fire
Another way into the fire
Just another way into the fire

BREAD

My husband leaves me in the car
While he runs in to get some bread
It's one o'clock, about to rain
"Back in a flash" is what he said

I tune the radio to rock
And listen to the young man cry
About the love he had but lost
And how he feels as if he'll die

And at this time of day
It's only mothers that I see
Pushing strollers with their
Toddlers hanging on their knees...

I watch my husband leave the store
He's headed towards this Chevrolet
The bag of bread is like a child
It's cradled in his arms that way

He pulls the door and climbs on in
The bread is tossed behind the seat
He turns the key and pumps the gas
And fiddles with the fan and heat

The rain has now arrived
As we drive home the headlights glow
Another song comes on
The wipers dancing to and fro

We're finally home, the engine's off
My husband hops into the cold
He runs around to get my door
Extends a hand for me to hold

By now, it seems, I barely stand
The chemo drains me, that I know
The doctors say it helps the pain
For that I'm grateful, I suppose

We walk in arm-in-arm
Through the raindrops falling gray
The bread is left behind
In its bag to rot away...

I MUST SPEAK TO MYSELF

What do these ancient eyes of autumn
Attempt to tell me with devoted tears?
I'm a reflection of dejection
I blink, and then I disappear

And why is it the one we want to hear us is always deaf
To all that we say? And why is it the words that would convey what we feel won't come?
I must speak to myself alone...

Who owns these secrets that I'm keeping?
What throws these shadows in which I hid?
Why must my life be lived in darkness
Impoverished by my lonely pride?

And why is it the one we want to hear us is always deaf
To all that we say?
And why is it the words that would convey what we feel won't come?
I must speak to myself alone...

The voice I hear, it comes from somewhere
Somewhere I have read about
It's faint like fire
Doused with years of long-neglected rage and doubt
But still it leaks into my mind
And spreads upon my battered shore
And rips into my mind until I swallow hard and open the door...

Will I always ask the questions
Without an answer to be lost or found?
Am I alive enough to listen
To the silence that explodes with sound?

And why is it the one we want to hear us is always deaf
To all that we say?
And how is it the words that would convey what we feel won't come?
I must speak to myself alone
I must speak to myself alone
I must speak to myself alone....

ARISE

Last night I touched the cheek
Of a woman in a dream
Whom I'd never seen before
And her eyes blazed

Last night I touched the cheek
Of a woman in a dream
And my fingers fondled fire
Then she went away

I awakened with a shiver of desire
Tell me why when I'm awake I cannot
Have this woman close to me
Must passion bring such misery?
And then I watch my sleeping wife arise...

Last night I danced a dance
With a woman in a dream
And we moved across the floor
Like a wave

Last night I danced a dance
With a woman in a dream
And I fell too far in love
To be saved

I awakened with such sorrow and despair
Tell me why when I'm not sleeping
I can't feel the same emotions flow
What happens? Tell me where they go
And then I watch my sleeping wife arise...

Last night I grazed the lips
Of a woman in a dream
And her hot ferocious kiss
Made my heart heave

Last night I grazed the lips
Of a woman in a dream
Till the air all rushed away
And I could not breathe

Does the music of a marriage have to be
Full of lamentations wept and sung
That thread your hearts and bind them tight
Like stars are bound within the night?
And then I watch my sleeping wife arise...

NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING

Nobody heard me but somebody saw
The sky was blue and the waves were white
They saw my arms, they saw my frantic wave
They thought it was my wet delight

Well I was much too far out all my life
Not waving but drowning
Well I was much too far out all my life
Not waving but drowning
Well I was much too far out all my life
Not waving but drowning

"Poor chap," they said, "he always loved to live."
But I could not tell my life from death
I was always dancing on the border, my toes pointing over
Always had to have me hold my breath

But I was much too far out all my life
Not waving but drowning
I was much too far out all my life
Not waving but drowning
I was much too far out all my life
Not waving but drowning

Well, some said that it must have been too cold
And others said it was my heart that just gave way
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, it's always too cold
And no disease could catch me anyway

Well I was much too far out all my life
Not waving but drowning
I was much too far out all my life
Not waving but drowning
Well, I was much too far out all my life
Not waving but drowning
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Not waving but drowning...

LEAVES

Here on a bench an old woman sleeps
Her head hangs limp against her breast
Here on the ground an old man weeps
His hair curled gray against his chest

And they all cling to the earth
But their hopes they hug the sky
And the soft grass is singing
Its wet lullaby

And the waterfront throbs
With a restless wind
And a foghorn moans
With the rhythms of our sins
And the dark dreams fall from us
Like a dress unpinned
From some lonely lady in the night
And they rustle in the pale, green light
And they rustle in the pale, green light

Rising and falling like ships at sea
Their sorrow whispers deep inside
And the park lamps flicker in reverie
Coaxing the shadows in which they hide

And some of them they snore
And some of them they kiss
The leaves like the lips
Of the lovers that they miss

And the waterfront throbs
With a restless wind
And a foghorn moans
With the rhythms of our sins
And the dark dreams fall from us
Like a dress unpinned
From some lonely lady in the night
And they rustle in the pale, green light
And they rustle in the pale, green light

FOLDING CHAIRS

How sad these changes are

Unscrew old nameplates from the door
Pack the pots and pans once more
But winding down the wintry stairs
You find the folding chairs

How sad these changes are

Ships filled with the sick for home
Seasick, too, and all alone
An advertisement for their cares
You find the folding chairs

Now they're all up in one motion
Now they're closed before their stares
Now on both sides of the ocean
Snaps the clap of folding chairs

How sad these changes are

Screw new nameplates to the door
Wash the pans upon the shore
But sitting almost everywhere
You find a folding chair

This furniture of grim departure
Meets the eyes with wooden glares
And up across the ramps they'll march her
Clinging to her folding chairs

How sad these changes are
How sad these changes are
How sad these changes are

THE MOUNTAIN OF LOVE

Some try to scale it a week or a two at a time
Some become furious, sick, and abandon this climb
But no one who tries ever gets to the top
We all pitch our tents, cling to its side, and we stop
And we hang like a feather and float
From the mountain of love

Everest, Kilimanjaro, and Fuji all seem
Like foothills beside these white peaks that erupt like a dream
Lives a devoured and fortunes are spent
On this treacherous, slow, and surprising ascent
Up the murderous, icy sheer cliffs
Of the mountain of love

Hung like an apple of white is the moon up ahead
The sky is a tree and the stars by the dark have been fed
But the closer you get, it seems farther away
We are lost in the clouds as the night swallows day
So we open our arms and become
The mountain of love
The mountain of love (climbing, climbing up)
The mountain of love (climbing, climbing up)
The mountain of love

THE WEIGHT OF LOVE

I remember late one night
Starting out an open window
As a tapestry of birds
Flew across the darkened sky

And my heart was filled with longing
As they left me for the clouds
And I felt the heavy weight of love we carry

Could one thousand kisses tell
All that we have tried to fathom
As we rowed the river wide
And got lost within its veins

Well they dragged the river's bottom
And the spirit that they found
Said it's always just the weight of love we carry

In the darkness, all I say
Falls like snow upon your body
And the eyes within my hands
See your soul with each caress

In the breathing of the shadows
We forget most everything
But the tender weight of love we love to carry
But the tender weight of love we love to carry