World of Wonders Lyrics
All music and lyrics by Barbara McAfee unless otherwise noted.
© Big Bug Music
© Big Bug Music
|
World of Wonders
Here’s a breath to help ease your breathing Here’s a song to set your songs free Here is a voice that will just keep on singing A vision for who we could be There is bread for all who hunger A refuge when trouble draws near The hate melting to kindness And justice eclipsing the fear.... In a world full of wonders, why couldn’t these things be true? In a world full of wonders, why wouldn’t one of them be you? Every child is raised up in glory Every soul knows the sublime We weave a bright new story Where we all wake up in time The mending of the waters The land restored to green All the people, plants, and creatures Taking part in Earth’s great dream.... In a world full of wonders, why couldn’t these things be true? In a world full of wonders, why wouldn’t one of them be you? As certain as the sunrise As faithful as the tides As ingenious as your body Where the flame of life resides As brilliant as the poppy As solid as the stone Unnumbered miracles unfolding On Earth, our beloved home.... In this world full of wonders, all of these things are true In this world full of wonders, I know one of them is you. This Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops This vehicle makes frequent stops to look around and breathe To pause and rest in headlong times is radical indeed Everything around me incites me to more speed To do and buy and eat more than I actually need…. This vehicle is human; it goes at its own pace What lousy etymology to coin “the human race!” I’ll linger in the slow lane, let the drivers pass me by ‘Cause living fast ain’t living well You just die before you die…. This vehicle’s my body; it’s perfect by design The urge to keep improving it I hereby now resign I’ll take a healthy pleasure in all my sense five And that most confounding miracle: I’m actually alive! This vehicle makes frequent stops; come sit here on my swing We’ll have a glass of lemonade and chat about some things Then maybe we’ll fall silent, just sit and watch the rain And time will stretch like a lazy cat Before it starts up again This vehicle makes frequent stops to look around and breathe… The House on Sherburne Street He fell against the pillows He dropped right in my hands I gentled him with words whose source I still don’t understand He softened in his dying A bitter man grown sweet That rainy August midnight In the house on Sherburne Street. This giant of my childhood Sharp words and scathing tones His pounding jaw and flashing eye Made a harsh place of our home A wounded man so angry Was it something about me? I’d creep around on tiptoe In the house on Sherburne Street. That summer in the garage talking about lawnmowers Then right into life after death…. Upstairs in the bedroom changing his dressings Laughing till we lost our breath…. Long, easy evenings just watching him smoke Sweet nicknames and tenderness under the jokes My frail yellow hero: my dad. Mom fled to the kitchen to call the funeral man I stroked his brow and slid the Timex from his cooling hand I felt a burden lifting Felt an ancient fear retreat That rainy August midnight In the house on Sherburne Street. It’s been twenty years since I asked him to haunt me It seems that he found a way: The redbird appears in the strangest of places That old clock started ticking on Christmas Day Upstairs in the hallway I sometimes smell smoke I cherish the nicknames, retell the jokes of my Late-blooming hero: my dad. Every day that passes draws me closer to that door Remembering that it will end Makes me love my living more Gonna ripen toward my dying With my heart and mind at ease I’m still held in the mystery That we found on Sherburne Street I’m still held in the mystery that we found on Sherburne Street. Note: One day in the garage I asked Dad what he thought would happen to him when he died. He said, “Well, I don’t know, but I guess I’m going to find out soon!” And laughed. I asked him – if it wasn’t too much trouble – to find a way to stay in touch from there…that I was going to miss him. He agreed. Ever since his death, I’ve had a lot of odd encounters with cardinals. We were bird watchers, so that would be a way he might choose. Who knows? I like the story…. Many years after his death, was staying over at the house with Mom on Christmas Eve. I was lying in what used to be Dad’s bed when I heard the old key-wound Seth-Thomas mantel clock on the dresser start ticking. I called Mom in to ask her if she’d wound it lately. Nope. And just outside Dad’s bedroom door, I used to catch a whiff of cigarette smoke from time to time. When I told Mom about it, she said she could smell it now and then, too. Kindness This one true intention, This shining rule of gold Is a cup of sweet sweet water poured out For the thirsty soul. Each and every person you meet along the way Is fighting a great battle each and every day (Plato - Greek philosopher, founded the first institute of higher learning, 2,400 years) “If those who owed us nothing gave us nothing How poor we’d be” (Antonio Porchia, Italian poet 1885 - 1968) The very source of Life itself is generosity Rivers August morning; St. Croix River; I am 12 years old No one else is stirring yet, I’m utterly alone I toss my thoughts into the stream, the current’s pull is strong The river speaks to me of time….and carries me along…. This water I am watching now is soon to join the sea All beginnings have an end and the same is true for me I see that all things now alive will someday pass away I’ve never had such thoughts before…. Like the river gave today…. Chorus: Who would I be without these rivers? And all of the things that rivers know? Flood, freeze, change, flow, let go....... December midnight on the Seine; I am 25 I’m living far away from home for the first time in my life I linger on the bridges in the rare Paris snow In these winter river wandering, there are things I’ve come to know What called me here was a mystery I felt down in my bones I walked and pondered, wrote and wept – never more alone The dream I thought I’d find here never came to be But in Paris my first song was born The river’s gift to me...Chorus I’m 46, the upper Mississippi is out my door I bring my weary spirit here just as I have before I walk the river paths for miles – exhaustion falls away I listen for the lesson the river has today A hurricane, a falling bridge, flooding just downstream There’s trouble on the river, just like there’s always been Her waters make their seaward journey even so Like the river, I learn by going where I have to go*...Chorus * from a line by Theodore Roethke's poem, “The Waking” |
Margie's Song
Step into the world with wonder in your pocket Sacred intention, your heart on your sleeve Let your soul be your source of navigation As you travel through creation Let love be your home. Let love be your home, hallelujah Let love be your home. Let your soul be your source of navigation As your travel through creation Let love be your home Breathing Trees The sun goes down; the trees exhale On their sweet breath our dreams all sail At break of day they open wide To let the gift of light inside Chorus: I am breathing tree Tree is breathing me I am breathing tree Tree is breathing me My lungs hold branches upside down: Bronchia and leafy crown I from egg and thou from seed Each gives what the other needs...Chorus Our songs twine on the dancing wind I breathe out what you breathe in Rising sap and beating heart: One of life’s great works of art...Chorus More Than A House by Jean Leicester and Barbara McAfee It's more than a house we are building. More than a place to call your own. It's a joyful gift, a holy promise That our love will build this home. It's more than a house we are raising Lifting hope with every beam Our labors join in true communion It's more than a house: it's our common dream. Let It Be By John Lennon & Paul McCartney When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be Let it be. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree There will be an answer, let it be For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see There will be an answer, let it be Let it be. There will be an answer, let it be. And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me Shines until tomorrow, let it be I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. Jewels Every time I go into the darkness, I return with fistfuls of jewels Midnight velvet wraps all around me Stars glitter brilliant above Dreaming darkness, dreaming light Child of My Heart I was only a girl when you were born Guess we both had some growing to do Some things I loved – turns out you loved them, too Twin spirits too wild to tame I loved it when they said we looked the same Child of my heart. Never have babies of my own Wasn’t something I had to do Just made up my life as I went along Now you say how much that mattered to you Your life is your finest work of art Child of my heart Hearts bound together with bonds much stronger than blood Whenever we are together, we do each other so much good…. I know you’re dancing with the shadows And they wear you right down to the bone These are fearsome roads on which you travel There are places you just have to walk alone And I pray you’ll find that guiding star Child of my heart May you be less afraid and wake up sooner And take joy in the living of your days May you heal the old pain that filtered through Despite all I tried to do I did it for me and I did it for you Child of my heart I Wish That I Could Show You Lyrics based on a quote by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky I wish that I could show you I wish that I could show you Whenever you are lonely or walking in the dark I wish that I could show you I with that I could show you The Astonishing Light of your Being. When I Die When I die I know there’ll be singing By my friends all gathered around As their sweet voices fade behind me I will join with the One Great Sound And I’ll stand on a sunset hillside Just like I did in that dream Join the multitudes there w ho are singing The song inside everything When I die I hope I’m not frightened But it’s not for me to know What awaits me there at the threshold What’s required in letting go Every time I leave home Or someone I love Or a place sweet and holy Each night as I slide into slumber I am learning how to die When I die I will fall into a hammock Woven of every song I’ve ever sung I have sent them all forward to catch me On the day that my life is done. I have learned the best gifts of my living From my friends who are nearing their death So I offer them tribute and honor Through the blessing of each breath May I slip into that great mystery As I did in the cool lake a dawn May I float those eternal waters Let the current of love bring me home When I die I know there’ll be singing By my friends all gathered around As their sweet voices fade behind me I will join with the One Great Sound |