BRAVE FOR YOU
We pushed it before us
Like a plow in a winter storm
We’d seen it all along
This blade that would cut us loose
But our then became now
Left us wetted and worn
As we rowed battered ships and called out
Brave
I will be brave
Brave
I will be brave for you
Sat faithfully by your side
While machines worked to keep you alive
With only our prayers as a guide
We cried ‘til our tears ran dry
But our fears were abashed
As you fought to survive
And pulled back from the verge of the night
Brave
I will be brave
Brave
I will be brave for you
Angels of trust, angels of mercy, angels of love
Hung above us
Then as now, and all of the days of our lives
Brave..
SOLITUDE
I’ve been waiting for warmer weather
All though this tardy cold Spring
I’ve been waiting for time together
Despite the perils this virus brings
Will this fear of nearing others
Infect our lives at long last
Will the hug between friends and family
Be a habit that is lost from the past
We can wish for smiles and closeness
We can hope for a touch so renewed
But as long as this death do so haunt us
We’re left in our solitude
Will the boredom of isolation
Be the doldrums of life’s new routine
As a wind dies near the equator
And leaves us in seas unforeseen
But my eyes turn toward the heavens
In hope of a joy now returned
And hope for the healthy recovery
For those who lay bedded and spurned
We can wish for smiles and closeness
We can hope for a touch so renewed
But as long as death do so haunt us
We’re left in our solitude
As my heart longs for Summer evenings
My mind’s eye a vision of peace
Where death has been dealt such an arrow
And where hatred and strife have ceased
My hope is for such a kind future
Where truth is not turned into doubt
Where lies are not routinely spoken
Where falsehood is brought to a rout
We can wish for smiles and closeness...
WHILE DAYS UNWIND
In the morning
When I awake
I come to wonder
Why my heart aches
Though my troubles are but few
In a world that seems so blue
I seek to find, presence of mind
But still my heart misses you
We went to look for
The August moon
She smiled so easily
Seemingly immune
To a future still unknown
Where I sing my songs alone
I sought to find, your hand in mine
But still my heart misses you
And now, who am I without you
Redefine who I am on my own
Though I know you will always
Be a part of me
We took a walk in
The September sun
You shined so brightly
On all that we had won
I still wait for something new
See your face in all I do
I seek to find, while days unwind
And still my heart, misses you
I still miss all of those little things the everyday brings
My hands miss a making a mess of your hair
I miss those philosophical, theological wonderings
Your everyday tears over life’s beauty and tragedy
Your way of scratching your back on the door jam like a horse
YOUR OLD, MY NEW
I met you past your median
Though I was yet in Spring
And longed for every moment
As a bird upon the wing
That flies to heavenly perches
Or at times lands on the ground
We loved and played and sang our songs
And together we were bound
But the years have fled so quickly
And time did catch us yet
Your old, my new
Your age, my youth
Our fates have now been set
So I pack my things together
Though each a memory bears
The tears that come are rueful
And lay my feelings bare
The day our parting nears us
A count so marked by tears
And night has left me sleepless
Though you are lying near
But the years have fled so quickly
And time did catch us yet
Your old, my new
Your age, my youth
Our fates have now been set
We did the near impossible
But could not stop the bell
As time itself refused us
And sealed our last farewell
Though friends tried to dissuade us
Our love their symbol of truth
We knew a way much truer
To walk this path so blue
But the years have fled so quickly...
FINAL DIVIDE
I seek you in the morning hour
Still watch as the day lingers on
And mourn your loss in evening hours
And weep as the night passes on
I know that we have left all hope
A parting as final as night
Our farewells were quietly spoken
Life’s venture took on a new flight
Oh, and though we’d foreseen this
Oh, and though we have thrived
Oh, if time could be frozen
And turn this final divide
Your eyes were my window to love
Your hands more caring than I could hope
Your embrace worth all I could offer
True friend and cherished love
Oh, and though we’d foreseen this
Oh, and though we have thrived
Oh, if time could be frozen
And turn this final divide
PLACE OF REST
Peaceful quiet in the evening
Sitting on the porch
In the light of the last few rays
The sun is willing to give
Moonlight, soon to be our comfort
Searching out my dreams with its silver beams
Reflecting, from afar, a life giving light
Come still a heavy heart
Come give a weary mind
Some rest
Hoping to open up a new door
Walking thru to new
Warming, enticing rooms
Where love is truly found
Wishing to root myself completely
A home more lasting than I’ve known before
In beauty, from within, a life giving spark
Come colors of the rainbow
Come flowers in my windows
Come grow
Growing in your loving presence
Your hand upon my shoulder
Your will bound in my all
Your seed in our future hope
Aging in a place of rest
Resting in a life well lived
Live side by side, lives intertwined
True to our call in the years to come
Come that I may live
Come all that is meant
Come now
Oh, come that I may live
Come all that is meant for us
Come now
INTE NU
Aldrig vågat ta farväl av dig
Har aldrig nånsin vågat se
Att tiden bryter inga mönster
Formar inga nya tankar
Utan dig
Ville aldrig ta ett steg
Jag ville aldrig vända bort
Jag vet det måste hända, men du
Inte nu nu nu
Inte nu nu nu
Inte nu nu, inget händer nu
Stanna, tiden verkar rusa iväg
När allt jag vill är att stå still
Har stått så stadigt här
Har skjutit upp det som är svårt
Det väller över nu
Ville aldrig ta ett steg
Jag ville aldrig vända bort
Jag vet det måste hända, men du
Inte nu nu nu
Inte nu nu nu
Inte nu nu, inget händer nu
ECHO OF THE NIGHT
Dreams they fill the cracks between our tales
The morning washes memories and
Stories noble mysteries away
Away they fade, and all those
Brilliant colors fade to scales of grey
Contours lose their form and names
In shadows lurk the fears that we avoid
All that’s left is just the echo of the night
Waking fills the day with light and truth
We wander onto paths so safe and green
Stepping lightly as we sway
Sway in time, and all those
Trees they grow and cover over head
Their leaves do block both sun and rain and
Gather in their will to do us well
And all that’s left is just the echo of the light
So much love and beauty in this broken world
So much friendship and loyalty
So many promises solemnly given and kept
Many vows never broken
Between friends and family
Between strangers too
And all we ever wanted
All I ever wanted
Was to be the echo of the light
SHALLOW WATER
I’ve been swimming in shallow water
I’ve been digging in stony ground
I’ve been searching in hidden shadows
I’ve been searching in vain
Wait, do I need to wait till I die
Stay, will you stay through the night
So I might just for once let go
I’ve been thirsting in arid deserts
I’ve been drinking from drying wells
I’ve been striving without direction
I’ve been striving in vain
Wait, do I need to wait till I die
Stay, will you stay through the night
So I might just for once let go
If I’d wade thru a thousand waters
Make my way thru a million tears
If I’d wait for your loving laughter
Then I guess I could wait
Wait, I guess I could wait till I die
Stay, promise to stay through the night
And then I will for once let go
JACKIE'S WAITING
Jackie found a box of roses
In a bedroom dresser drawer
The pedals all dried out and mourning
As if they remembered a life before
The colors were all but faded
Their life lost and hidden for years
Their beauty abandoned and waning
And falling like Jackie’s own tears
Jackie’s been desperately waiting
For a future that never arrived
She mourns for a loss so grievous
It’s a miracle she ever survived
The miracle of walking on water
That so inspired her passions of youth
That a song could ever really save her
Was obviously not the whole truth
So what is left to revive her
Are there songs that can bury her fears
Who will sing that song now so fabled
That could lead her to new frontiers
As Jackie now hides her sorrow
Enclosed in a prison so blue
She waits for a morning to wake her
For a sunrise that lifts to renew
But what will finally happen
If hope has been lost for too long
And her gift of love never taken
And the giver forgotten and wronged