Woke up in New Orleans one morning
Took myself to my favorite cafe
There I saw him, alone and playing chess all day.
What did he do, what was he when I wasn’t there to see?

CHORUS
Hey, mister, would you like a friend today?
Youth and old age side by side. partnership turns tide and tide
Or would you rather be faithful to your invisible partner?

Coffee in the a.m., in the afternoon.
Walking the quarter in between.
Shops and buskers line the streets--a picture scene.
Still my mind moves inward to that man in the shabby suit.

chorus

Sometimes I think I think too much.
Other times I know for sure.
Sitting, staring, dreaming...wanting more, more, more.
What will I do, what will I be in a time too far away to see?

chorus

I have no certainties. All I know is what I feel,
and what I feel is that we are for each other.
Fate wears a jester’s colors, keeps us from being lovers
when love flows free between us and makes our souls stir.

Cold, cold, cold are my nights. I touch my pillow instead of you.
You are careful, you are dutiful, you are torn--these things are true.
Care can’t make decisions. Duty carries a whip, and I love you.

CHORUS
I look like home, I feel like home, I must be home.
I’m where you want to be. Come home to me.

Whisper my name again. I’ll look into your eyes, and then
we’ll go our separate ways though suns explode in our veins.
Time will pass in prudent days, but the need for each other stays
And we are drawn together like the wind and the rain.

Cold, cold, cold are my mornings. I wake up, I don’t see you.
I am passionate, I am sweet, you are torn--these things are true.
Passion is the blood of life, sweetness its soul, and I love you.

chorus

Consider cut lilies. They toil not, neither do they grow
These days, like the lily full-blown, I am moving slow
The wind is not enough to move me on this blue, blue day
When I’ve been listless long enough I learn to think I’ve always been this way

Oh, pull me up. Oh, make me feel.
Illuminate the world outside my mind and make it real.
chorus:
Too much, too little-I don’t know.
I’m Shouting For The Sun
Do you feel this or am I alone
Shouting for the sun?

Some days are bigger than 24 hrs in a line
They flow out like a monstrous high tide. In this ocean where am I?
Drifting between think and do-the farther shore I miss
When I’ve been aimless long enough I learn to think I’ve always been like this.

Oh, warn my heart. Oh, make me feel.
Lift me to my knees. From there, I swear, I will rise.

chorus

Consider the red squirrel on the phone wire outside my window.
He’s halfway across the line. Halfway left to go.
Little brother. Busy creature, too quick not to run.
When I’ve been buried long enough I forget I’ve ever seen the sun.

Shine on me. Shine on me.
I want with all my heart to feel and act and be.

chorus

Oh, I know I’m not alone.

Hey there girl. Look at you.
I don't know you but you must be something.
Straight line mouth but you're pushing through.
I can hear your mother helping.

chorus:
Come on little soldier (left foot, right foot)
I know you can do it (left foot right foot)
Maybe the doctors will take the pain away.
Maybe they'll figure out how to make your legs ok.
We can hope for the best someday,
but until then you've got to be a brave little soldier.

Look at mom looking at her-eyes smiling, and a hand on her daughter's braids.
Still it must be hard to see eyes so tired in an 8 year old face.

chorus

Doors close. down we go.
It's just the mom, the girl, the braces on her legs, and me.
6 floors, not a sound. And the ride is longer than I remember it to be.
Ground floor. Out we go. First mom, then the little soldier goosesteps out the door.
Then there's me, hale and whole. And I love my own light legs a little more.

chorus

get into your car. you won't have to drive far. that mountain road is just ahead-give up on the steering. headaches all through school. you never knew you knew. it took a bad dream in a lonely night to set your memories screaming. now behind the wheel, admit to what you feel. the right song comes on and means its ok to keep breathing.

(chorus)what kind of god would make it happen? what kind of god would make you forget? what kind of god would bring it all back, bring it all back? you've opened your eyes for the first time today. suddenly the world is the color of rain and you wish you could go back to yesterday but it will never be the same, the same. it will never be the same.

home for the holidays. family in their places. lonely planets in their orbits, and money is the sun. father still is drinking. mother still not thinking. you sit there so far removed and big brother, what has he done?

chorus

beautiful bird from an ugly world, let it make you cry. then lift your wings and fly.

college finally done. there you found love, but all the kisses from now on won't feign the past in. shout out your anger, remember laughter. it's a long road back to yourself, and so you keep on walking.

ashes, the god who made it happen. ashes, the god who made you forget. follow the god who brought it all back. the world keeps turning. you've opened your eyes for the first time today. suddenly the world is the color of rain and you wish you could go back to yesterday but it will never be the same, the same. it will never be the same.

we passed words, we passed things. we came to dreams but the dreams grew wings. they flew away. now i'm alone. i can't fill my lungs, and yet i breathe on. this is a feeling i thought was too real for me ever to know. i should be grateful, i suppose.

(chorus)but where is my mountaintop? where is my mountaintop? where is my river, and where are you?

the sun shines in the night. it comes up in the west. you have a heart and it beats in your chest. the man i know most is mirrors and light, but i have caught glimpses of substance behind. love me and leave. say you're trying to live at your best--that's a lie. life without passion is half a life.

chorus

blue eyes. broad hands. pictures flow through me like sands through a glass. i've eaten the apple. i chose sin. i learned myself too well--i'd do it again. let's escape to the world you described or stay here, i don't care what we do. i just want to be with you.

chorus

I thought I'd go up Poughkeepsie,
look out o'er the Hudson,
and I'd throw my body down on the river.
And I'd know no more sorrow,
I'd fly like the sparrow
and I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I'd take to the sky with all my might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
no more drowning in my fright,
I'd just ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

There are those who know sorrow
and those who must borrow
and those whose lot in life is sweet.
Well I'm drunk on self-pity,
scorned all that's been given me,
I would drink from a bottle labeled Sure Defeat.

I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I'd take to the sky with all my might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
no more drowning in my fright,
I'd just ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

Then the skies, they fell open
and my eyes were opened
to a world of hope falling at my feet.
Now I've no more or less
than anyone else has,
what I have is a gift of life I can't repeat.

So I go up Poughkeepsie,
look out o'er the Hudson
and I cast my worries to the sky.
Now I still know sorrow,
but I can fly like the sparrow
'cause I ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

I ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I take to the sky with all their might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
no more drowning in my fright,
I'll just ride on the backs of the angels each night.