1. |
Bridges Don't Burn
02:57
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You’re never in-between
You’re only one or the other side
It’s like you’re two minds split in the middle
And they just won’t compromise
I wish I had the nerve
To leave them both behind
Cause when I try for resolution
Every argument gets uncivilized
But my will gets weak when I look to the skies
And every raindrop tear is a thunderous cry
In clouded eyes
And memories flood like mud in veins
‘Til the needle spins on this compass chain
And I’m lost again
Seems I’ve been here before
I guess I’ll never learn
I’ve spent a lifetime building up bridges
That you find so easy to burn
So brick by brick, I’ll lay it down
And stone by stone I’ll build it back up
From the ground
I’ll never shed a raindrop tear in vain
I’ll never get lost in skies again
As inch by inch, every lesson learned
Becomes a brick in a bridge
You can cross but you never can burn
It won't burn
Bridges don't burn
Bridges don't burn
Don't burn
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2. |
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Judge cringes on his judgment day
Cries, “Lies! I’m being cheated!
No, no! Don’t take my prize away
I will not be defeated!”
He sings a sad song
“I’ve been done wrong!”
But he’s long gone
‘Cos no one here believes it
Dick demonizes Doctor Jane
Clueless clown, angry seething
Praise the heroine who peels away
Black veil of privileged thieving
It’s gone, gone
Been there too long
Gone, gone
We’ll not be mistreated
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3. |
Steam and Grind
03:04
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Funny the wiser voices know
To choose as their favorite
A spot besieged by noise
Tucked behind dividing walls
Safe from the coming-in crowd
Whose outgoing charms are
Warm as milk but over-sweet
Hear the whispered virtues of—many things
Of coffee black and strong
Or forty-year-old wine
And others still as yet unheard
Buried beneath the din of ink-skinned servers’
Steam and grind
Once I heard a story:
A Zen master spoke near open windows
He chose not to pause as planes passed by
For one in the crowd, his muffled words
Triggered the insight for which all had come:
Words, at last, are not the thing;
We’ve come here to be, and not speak.
Today I am an audience of one
Grateful for the steam and grind
A jet-loud noise that buries words
Just long enough that you can hear
One sweet thought arise like steam:
“Let’s just be here for a while.”
Suddenly this noisy spot
Now oddly wise
Becomes my favorite, too.
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4. |
A Mason Jar
04:20
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In a would-be hipster’s mason jar
I keep big tears I’ve shed in your small name
And I will not tell you why they fell
Or how their brine had stung my eyes
Weary in their admiration
Of your pride in stride and posture
Your tight, unsmiling lips
And patience with each offer
As you gently refuse this
Sweet gift from this sour giver
And leave it wrapped and ribboned
For me to consider
Here it comes again
I’m shedding big and bigger tears
And amazed to see how unfazed you are
As every lesson learned
Cracks the dam of pent emotion
Til I’ve shed enough to fill in a mason jar
In mason jar
In mason jar
With this un-hip beggar’s jar in hand
My back all tired, but straight as yours
And my tight lips, too, unsmiling
As I muster now my own quiet patience
And wait for these eyes
Generous with tears
To drop their alms of salted coins
In here
Here it comes to end
As I toss it all to shatter
And your gaze betrays how amazed you are
As every bitter tear
Turns to pond, to lake, to river
Til there’s far too much to fit in a mason jar
In a mason jar
In a mason jar
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5. |
Timeless Souls Hesitate
04:03
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When timeless souls get stuck
in time they hesitate
I know—I’m every step surrounded by some
Who keep such secrets tucked away
When timeless souls get stuck
in time they hesitate and second-guess themselves
Sometimes I sit and think of ways
to get un-stuck
I’ve got ideas, but bite my lip because
A stuck soul sometimes wants to stay
When timeless souls get stuck
in time they hesitate and second-guess themselves
I lay asleep meanwhile in dreams
of bonfires burning fueled by stars
I dream of dancing, warmed by flames
And skies of glowing constellations
As sweet exhaustion gifts you sleep
I’ll rise in waiting—tell me when you wake
Meet me beside the bonfire trees
To toss time’s ash like scattered seeds
All souls are timeless and
All souls get stuck in time
Get unstuck
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6. |
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Every beast is unique
Every creeper has mystique
I've checked them all
Smoking cigars
And driving punch-drunk cars
While sniffing ethanol
Upper lip—hip
Unaware of the implications
Ground is charred
With no regard
For the laws of nations
Truth revealed
In letters sealed
If you have the patience
We all recall
The silent fall
The ancient conflagration
Riding high on cycles virtuous
And hikes you take to church no less
It makes you tall
On a scale of one to ten
Get to the end and back again
Behind the wall
Upper lip—hip
Unaware of the implications
Ground is charred
With no regard
For the laws of nations
Truth revealed
In letters sealed
If you have the patience
We all recall
The silent fall
The ancient conflagration
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7. |
Tendrils
05:07
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“Tendrils,” he said.
I put out long tendrils
to see if someone latches on
And if they do
“You feed it,” he said
and gestured as if
pumping fuel into flames
I do, I do
I smile at this thought: some sinister ploy
Ah, but then again, maybe it’s true
Forgive him, I think.
See, once when I asked,
“Are you the Giving Tree?”
his stunned silence
deafened us two
I do, I do
I do put out tendrils
I do so to climb
Get on, get out your own tendrils
Or you’ll only get sucked into liars’
Get on, get on with your life
Or just suck it up, lay down, and die
Get on, get on with your life
No, tendrils aren’t tentacles
Viciously preying
In occupied octopi grounds
No, tendrils reach carefully
Craftily craving to climb
Toward sun-bitten clouds
What tentacle’s trapping you now?
Get on, get out your own tendrils
Get on with it, on with your life
Get on, get on with your life
Get on with it, get on with it
Get on
Get on with your life
Get on
Get on
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8. |
Automatic Prophet
03:23
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Poor pop-o-matic prophet prone
Flesh and bone automatic
Lifeless but not dogmatic
Rumors abound, beyond mounds we'll be free
I cannot see horizon
But bought lies with my eyes, son
Cunning demon come to heal, out the door
Under the floor, did reveal
The Russian author’s spiel
Go to work in the buff with my briefcase
To the rat race monolith
Buying lying fact or myth
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9. |
In a Parallel Place
04:55
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In a parallel place where I’m brave and I’m sure
I’ll stroll blazingly by dropping flowers at your door
And that glint in my eyes, well it’s just what it seems
But no one seems to mind cause it’s all just a dream
Here though I’m different—all feckless and flawed
As if stoned on a stage with no fans who applaud
And I can’t bring you flowers, so I’ll crack jokes instead
To amuse while disguising a dream left unsaid
Well the coffee here’s bitter but it somehow seems sweet
And I trip past your door on my stumbling feet
So I’m grateful for you, and your brilliance and grace
Pay no mind to the parallel lines
Of tears on my face
There’s a parallel place where I’m brave and I’m sure
And I don’t need to hide behind laughter no more
And that’s where I’ll stop stumbling and find my own feet
It’s somewhere on the horizon
Where parallel lines seem to meet
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Kevin Healey New Hampshire
singer-songwriter and professor of media studies based in the New Hampshire seacoast region.
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