1. |
Common Language
02:18
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Late afternoon
Long silence
Your notes on yellow paper
Drifting here on the table
You are in the garden picking chard
The strength is in the leaves
Crimson veining upward into green
How you have given back to me my dream of common language
My solitude of self
How you have given back to me my dream of common language
My solitude of self
I slice the beetroots to the core
Each one a different landscape
Of blood light filaments striation
A southwestern canyon
Undiscovered planet
Laid open in the lens
I should miss you more than any other living being from this earth
I should miss you more than any other living being from this earth
Yes our work is one
We are one in aim and sympathy and we will be together
Late afternoon
Long silence
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2. |
Listen
01:48
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Ground dry as yellow bones
A dust of sand and gold
Rain rare along the cliff
Sandstone softer than the wind
Hold to the thread of way
There's a narrow place for us
In this high place between
the desert and the stillness of the sea
Listen you can hear the lizards listening
A dust of sand gold mica glistening
Hold to the thread of way
There's a narrow place for us
In this high place between
the desert and the stillness of the sea
Listen you can hear the lizards listening
Listen you can hear the lizards listening
Listen you can hear the lizards listening
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3. |
Lichen Sings
02:18
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Lichen sings in air and water
sky and rock and home
and stone
Star rosette and salted ruffle
reindeer lichen, home
and stone
I said I would write a letter
but we live in different weather
Rain sustains me
I will flourish
I will perish
earth will nourish
Lichen sings in air and water
sky and rock and home
and stone
Scarlet pin and candleflower
ghost antler, home
and stone
Lichen sings in air and water
sky and rock and home
and stone
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4. |
So Many Gods
02:50
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Back when I was young and still alive
There were so many gods
You could see them ripple on the water
I could hear them whisper in the trees
I could write a poem as long as rivers flow
but had no need to bother
to add words to the breeze
Back when I was young and still alive
There were so many gods
You could see them dancing in the fire
I could hear them crashing with the sea
I could write a poem as long as rivers flow
but had no need to bother
to add words to the breeze
Back when I was young and still alive
There were so many gods
You could see them sprouting in the forest
I could hear them buzzing with the bees
I could write a poem as long as rivers flow
but had no need to bother
to add words to the breeze
Back when I was young and still alive
There were so many gods
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5. |
The Sea
02:24
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The sea can do smooth
it can lie down like silk breathing through
as I can too
and so no doubt can you
The sea can do craziness
give gifts or withhold all
It can toss havoc shoreward
Fountain of frenzy I can too
and so no doubt can you
The sea can do smooth
it can lie down like silk breathing through
as I can too
and so no doubt can you
You and me
The sea
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6. |
Jupiter and Saturn
02:40
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There are stars
between Jupiter and Saturn
that are right in place
as they move through space
We are born
in relation to the planets
that are right in time
with the whole design
Four hundred million miles of stardust in between
Jupiter
golden planet of expansion
made of citrine stone
the green of springtime
grows and grows and
Jupiter expands
just hold out your hand
what will you find?
Saturn's rings
hold the power of reduction
silver leaves of sage
grace of old age
Saturn takes away
the things that can't stay
What will remain?
There are stars
between Jupiter and Saturn
that are right in place
as they move through space
Here we are
between Jupiter and Saturn
May the clear space
light our way
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7. |
Indigo Blue
02:09
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When dark of night touches
Indigo blue
Night is a canvas that longs for the moon
Indigo blue
Deepest of hue
I taste the color of stars breaking through
When dark of night touches
Indigo blue
Stillness arises and silence comes through
All alone
Clear to the bone
I taste the salt water air rolling home
When dark of night touches indigo blue
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8. |
Meadow
02:51
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We are a meadow where the bees hum
Here by the fire as the cold comes
We don't love a single season
like the flowers do
When we love a sap older than time rises through
We are a river where the birds come
Singing the water-over-stones song
We don't love a single season
like the flowers do
When we love a sap older than time rises through
We are a forest where the earth hums
Singing the pathways of the roots' song
A OM HUNG
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9. |
The Temple
02:03
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There are things you can't reach
But you reach out to them
All day long
Like the wind or a bird flying away
It can keep you as busy as anything else
And happier too
The snake slides away
The fish jumps out of the water and in
The goldfinches sing
From the unreachable top of the tree
I look morning to night, I am never done
Looking and thinking,
Maybe something will come
And now, I will tell you the truth
Everything in the world comes
At least closer
Like the nibbling tinsel-eyed fish
The unlooping snake
Like the goldfinches fluttering by
In the eye of the sky
And Oh! the blue air
Oh! the blue air
Where does the temple begin, where does it end?
Oh! the blue air
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10. |
Thread of Gold
03:29
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Just point me north
toward the starry skies I love in winter
Just point me eastward toward home
I'll wear a mantle of moonlight
as I walk along the path
of a thread made of gold
And I will bathe in the river
and I will flow with the stream
and I will know it has been real as days
and weeks and months and years
and it has all been a dream
Chorus
I'll warm my hands by the fire
and I will dance with the flame
I'll know the clarity of sun reflected in the morning dew
and the mountains' refrain
Chorus
I'll be the wind in the meadow
and scatter seeds here and there
I'll sing the pathway of fallen leaves that suddenly sail up
on a current of air
Chorus
I'll wear a mantle of moonlight
as I walk along the path
of a thread made of gold
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Kathie Brown Nova Scotia
Kathie Brown is a pleasantly obscure songwriter living on the South Shore of Nova Scotia.
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