GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN lyrics
TALES OF THE ISLANDER
An ode to Walter Anderson
Tales of the islander
Tales of you and me
Floating on our raft
Down the Mother Mississippi
Caught myself a fever
Took a hospital stay
Tied some sheets together
Crawled down and was on my way
I was on my way
Let’s take to the water
Let our bodies roam free
No more taste or smell
No hear nor see
Then greet the morning star
As we dance along the beach
Embrace this mighty sunrise
As the cranes fly to meet it
Cranes rise to meet it
Birds call to me
They call - They call to me
They call so deep
Got to feel it all
No time for sleep
No time at all
When they call
They call to me
They call so deep
Got to feel it all
No time for sleep
No time at all
We found a paradise
And its own garden gate
Adam in a hat on a rowboat
Phosphorescence in the wake
The squall has passed
And we’re tied to the decay
One day may the hurricanes come
And carry us away
Carry us away
Waves call to me
They call - They call to me
They call so deep
Got to feel it all
No time for sleep
No time at all
When they call
They call to me
They call so deep
Got to feel it all
No time for sleep
No time at all
Give me a sunset
Of lilac, gold and green gray skies
I’ll give you spirals and zig zag lines
It’s the magic hour of a halcyon day
And all of mankind stands there
Barely awake
A full moon rising
On all of nature’s powers
Stars just observers
Of zinnias and moonflowers
We could bathe in the nullah of a gulf stream
Prowl like cats in the night
Then transform like moths
In a chrysalis of light
Chrysalis of light
Moths call to me
They call - They call to me
They call so deep
Got to feel it all
No time for sleep
No time at all
When they call
They call to me
They call so deep
Got to feel it all
No time for sleep
No time at all
When they call
A TURN UPON THE HILL
A turn upon the hill
As the sun reclines
I lie upon the grass
And your eyes meet mine
Then I run as fast
As my legs will carry me
From a camera’s lens
And a stranger’s plea
Can you see inside my soul
Can you make your body roll
Can you see inside me
Watching the world
From a warrior pose
Wondering what’s inside these clothes
A turn upon the hill
As the sun reclines
I lie upon the grass
And your eyes meet mine
Can you see inside my soul
Can you make your body roll
Can you see inside me
Inside me
Inside me
THE DOZENS
for Larry Levine
I had a few more questions
I never knew to ask
You were feeling downhearted
The last time we parted
With a shock of white hair
Life has changed a lot you know
And I’m kind of scared of that
It bottoms out in seconds flat
You said you had a good friend
He died so needlessly
Knocked over by a garbage truck
They threw him down
Then they picked him up
And your son was back home again
Your little boy and his children
He’s fighting off a mean disease
That’s killing off his faculties
Tell me a little joke
Let’s play the dozens
Say something about my mama
In a veiled quadrille round
I’m just a white girl from a segregated town
And I’m looking for some answers
That I haven’t found
I remember Memphis
Like it was yesterday
And a Ford station wagon
So full of us it was dragging
With your books in our grasping hands
We heard you speak
We made our plans
To hoist the flag and rule the world
All the hopes we had unfurled
Tell me a little joke
Let’s play the dozens
Say something about my mama
In a veiled quadrille round
I’m just a white girl from a segregated town
And I’m looking for some answers
That I haven’t found
I want to be just like you
I want to love first, I do
Look people in the eye
Make them feel good
Then I’ll make them think
Just like you would
Y’all were off on a night stroll
Down the capitol boulevards
You were emboldening another son
Of this grand nation
I would vote for you for president
But you’re floating with the butterflies
Soaring with the seagulls
Or the eagle as he takes the skies
Let’s eat some democratic soup
And Eastern Market cheese
Meals with you and Cornelia
Were my most precious memories
I don’t know what the hell to do
Please give me a little tap
Tell me I can take it
That I won’t bottom out in seconds flat
ABUELITA
I should have known why I loved
Driving through the cactus fields
Or wearing white leather gloves
Admiring the virgin
As she stands upon the moon
Waltzing behind a second line
Or harmonizing on gospel tunes
Abuelita underneath the trees
Of Costa Rica and her dark shored seas
They won’t tell me about you
They don’t want me to see
Abuelita you’re just like me
I do not have your mind
Nor your body
Nor your circumstance in time
But I feel something rising
Up through me like a song
It’s fragile and lovely
It’s powerful and strong
Abuelita underneath the trees
Of Costa Rica and her dark shored seas
They won’t tell me about you
They don’t want me to see
Abuelita you’re just like me
Oh grandmother
Did you have to say
Sometimes life
Well it just turns out that way
Waiting for a boy
Waiting for a train
Waiting on something to
Make you feel again
All of the girls
Lined up the stairs
Dressed like queens and princesses
With jewels in their hair
Wrapped up in old furs
You gave to us that night
We were the midnight fireworks
We blazed in a New Year sky
Abuelita underneath the trees
Of Costa Rica and her dark shored seas
They won’t tell me about you
They don’t want me to see
Abuelita you’re just like me
I’m just like thee
A LITTLE BIT OF MERCY
Time goes by so quickly now
On this freight train line
Through my hometown
There are days I wait for night to come
When I fall asleep just to wake again
Oh to walk beside an honorable man
Honey, sometimes I just do the best that I can
And you show me a little bit of mercy
Of mercy, of mercy
More than a little bit of mercy
Striving for that golden crown
Will He say well done
When the trumpet sounds
Standing where our fathers stood
We learn their ways to make them good
But where is the heart in an honorable man
Honey, sometimes you just do the best that you can
And I show you a little bit of mercy
Of mercy, of mercy
More than a little bit of mercy
Underneath this house of stones
A whole wide world beckons us on
To leave behind the walls and doors
Windows, ceilings and floors
Let us breathe in mountains
Breathe out sun
For ourselves and this race we run
If you’ll show me a little bit of mercy
Of mercy, of mercy
More than a little bit of mercy
And I’ll show you a little bit of mercy
Of mercy, of mercy
More than a little bit of mercy
THE GREAT UNKNOWN
Just get in there
Gas up the car
If you’re gonna go
You’ll need fuel for the road
But if you stay
Forget the past
Things that haunt you
They never last
Oh but can they last
Just one more day
Somebody light a candle
Light my way
Like those two who crawled out
From the devil’s claws
And then they saw the stars
From the center of the Earth
Or crashing through the atmosphere
The answer unclear
Though written in stone
And when those break
There’s nothing but the great unknown
It was a long wait
And a walk down an aisle
He placed his hands on my head
And said “Bless you, my child”
Sweet chrism crossed
And incense burned
Throughout the ages Amen was heard
Are we fools who stay our fear
Declaring one desire most dear
Like those two who crawled out
From the devil’s claws
And then they saw the stars
From the center of the Earth
Or crashing through the atmosphere
The answer unclear
Though written in stone
And when those break
There’s nothing but the great unknown
Teachers line up in rows
To tell me things I already know
As I separate the wheat from the chaff
Until there’s no wheat
No laughter left
The sun and moon have disappeared
Might some light enter here?
Like those two who crawled out
From the devil’s claws
And then they saw the stars
From the center of the Earth
Or crashing through the atmosphere
The answer unclear
Though written in stone
I am afraid of the great unknown
THE WILD ROSE
Compiled from the poems The Wild Rose by Wendell Berry and The Light Wraps You by Pablo Neruda, musical arrangement by CH
When you are hidden from me
When I cannot feel the beating of my heart
Walk me where wild things grow
Where grace and light surround me
There I’ll see my wild, wild rose
Ablaze in all her glory
Choosing what before I chose
The blessings of God’s bounty
Light wraps you as you stand
Oh sacred stem in mortal flame
Great roots of night they grow
The things that hide come out again
Come to me my wild, wild rose
Ablaze in all your glory
Choosing what before I chose
The blessings of God’s bounty