Woke up to the sound of “what the hell is going on?”

In the middle of the night I had a dream it was

Calling all the war mongers heroes

Calling on God to be like Nero

They keep going on about a white man whining

While all the rest of us just keep on trying

To grow old, to grow old

I can’t believe the shit that they pull but

Is love stronger, is love stronger?

I can’t believe how low we can go but

Is love stronger, is love stronger? 

They keep going on about a world

they used to know, they used to love

and all the things they gave to us that screwed us up

It’s a lot like the story of Nero,

debauchery and then taking from the people

But it’s getting harder every morning just wake up

when all the bullies and the assholes won’t shut up

We’re growing cold

They’re growing

We’re growing cold

They’re growing and growing and growing but

I just want to learn how to love 

Is love stronger, is love stronger?

I think that I’ve had enough of—

All the arson 

All the arson

All the arson

Hold on 

the break of dawn

is upon us

We will fight

for what we love

with blood and tenderness 

Hold on

cause something is up

They want

you all screwed up 

What would you say and.....

All of the love and...

Hold on! 

A new dawn

will come

When the wise woman leaned forward

and gave a tender kiss

in the middle of the night

with her heart on fire

all the world was right

While the armies hunted him

all the world was quiet

The way that she held him closely

with her heart on fire

no one is taking him away

God knows they try

Tender is the one who knows

Mercy is the way love grows

Tender is the fight

(when the world isn't right)

(and the world isn't right)

(when the world isn't right)

When the fire goes out but the war's not over

Give a tender kiss

don't let them take your love away

God knows they try

Looking out at an open road

Said goodbye to the home that I know

Severed ties from the days of old

I’m clinging onto her coat

Where we’ll go, thank God she knows

She’s my home and I won’t let go

All the grief is ours

And I know that she knows…

Is it love?  Is it home?

Is it longstanding devotion?

Is it hard? Is it old?

Is it all the things that we know?

Although the wait is hard

the body gives hope

Although the wait is hard

the body’s taking over

I come from the enemy

A women’s work in a new country

Risking all of my everything

But it’s the only way that I know

Is it love? Is it home?

Is it longstanding devotion?

Is it hard? Is it old?

Is it all the things that we know?

Although the weight is hard

the body gives hope

Although the weight is hard

the body’s taking over 

All of my devotion cries

out, trying to keep her alive

It’s a love that I can’t describe,

but it’s the only love that I know

Woke up next to him that day

devotion carried me away

An echo of history made

by a woman that you don’t know

Long, days are gone

By the wayside, by the wayside

I’ll tell you long days are gone…

I know my home is far, far away

I know my home is far, far away

Lost years have gone and passed

In the grips of my stubbornness

I know I’m lost….

Can you please show me your love

your love, your love your love cause

I forget

Can you please show me the love

the love the love the love

that’s hard to forget

Hold tight, to the wind

Let it be gone, before it begins

Another long night…

Can you please know that I love

I love I love you through the rain

Can you please know that I love

I love I love you every day

You say your love is ours

I heard the widow say

I know my heart is yours

I gave it yesterday

You say your love is ours

I heard the eagle say

I know my heart is yours

I gave it yesterday

You say your love is always

I know my heart is always

Take the day

Take the day

Take the chilly autumn day out of the year

Watch the wind

and you’ll know just where I go

When I leave you, oh my love

But now I feel you here with me I do

and my dreams are just as near to me as you

and you hold me hold me close

Like you never will let go

and I pray you never will…

Take the night

Take the night

Take the cold and lonely night far from the sun

Watch the dark

and you’ll know just how I feel 

When I leave you, oh my love

But now I feel you here with me I do

and my dreams are just as near to me as you

and you hold me hold me close

like you never will let go

and I pray you never do

May the road

May the road rise

To lead you home, lead you home

May the wind

May the wind within

Be your friend, be your friend

What a life you made

Conquered suffering

Angels hovering

On the break of pain

May the sun

May the sun shine upon

To keep you warm, keep you warm

Keep you warm, keep you warm

What a sound you make

Bid heaven to wake

Blessed suffering

The angels know your name

Look around

at the way

the colors fly

They become 

like one

with the wielding sky

They’re interwoven

They’re interwoven

I feel like Aurora

waking up

to the love that’s all around

the love that’s all around you

And the more

that I war 

with the elements

We become

like one

with the broken

We’re interwoven

We’re interwoven

I feel like Aurora

waking up

to the love that’s all around

the love that’s all around you

I hear what the water says

rising up

to the love that’s all around

the love that’s all around you

Now here we are alone

A love surrounds you

You take me as I am

So I can find you

Taking a walk and I saw that the world was on fire

Gave into hoping the Lord would hold us up higher

Early in the morning, when the wind blows so cold

My heart doesn’t know, but I know that they’re gone

Highways above

With their names upon it

Into the sun, the guiding light

One day they’ll fly

When love is on it

How can we know when it’s our time

They say the war, it has been won

But it’s the wrong war

Another victory song is sung

But who is it for, who is it for?

Taking a walk and I saw that the city’s on fire

Gave into hoping the Lord would hold them up higher

Early in the morning, when the wind blows so cold

My heart  doesn’t know, but I know that they’re gone

Early in the morning, when I wake up alone

My heart doesn’t know, but I know that you’re gone

Though we walk alone

A higher love is paving the road

Sometimes the road

Is worn, it breaks

Your love is stronger

Gonna lay down love

In the middle of the fight

Sundown and decades behind us

And the seas rising

I found a crack in the darkness

A love that is higher

Gonna lay down love

Gonna make it mine

In the middle of a war

Yeah but just in time

In the silence, the violence

There’s a sunrise that will blind you

There’s a motion, an ocean

meant for your eyes

to remind you

All eyes are on you, my Lord

Gonna lay down love

Gonna make it mine

In the middle of a war

Yeah but just in time

We got more than they know

Living inside

It’s a higher love

It’s for you and I

SPEAKING TEXT BY SAMI AWAD:

“And at the same time, saying you need to engage in the realities of justice and oppression that exist in the world itself. This is the test, actually. The test that understanding inner love when somebody reflects their hatred towards me, am I able to hold love within me or do I immediately jump into reaction? We have to go through the narrow gate. We have to walk through the valley of death so that we can reach the light. And we have to carry others with us as well. To talk about peace, to talk about love, to talk about compassion, and then seeing people suffering, and not do anything about it—justice is not based on revenge and retaliation, but collective sense of liberation.”

Look away, old one

There’s an angel army coming

By the morning sun,

All the light will blind your plans

It breaks and then it falls

to the ground

We shake when we hear the sound

Of our silence

Look away, young one

There’s a woman running from

A political game

Trying to take her body away

It breaks and then it falls

to the ground

We quake when we hear the sound

It’s hard to live life at this pace

It’s harder when you look away from

Your silence

Higher than the clouds,

in the autumn.

I can hear the sounds of you humming..

And it goes, {  }

Fields wide open

The sun has spoken

Higher than the clouds,

misty morning.

I can hear the sounds of you humming..

Come lay down on mountains.

Rest your head to bird songs.

Listen to the sounds so soft–

Higher than the clouds,

misty morning.

I can the sounds of you humming..

And it goes {  }

When the chords of Orion 

Are gently loosened

When there’s no constellation

Look for me on south Houston

Our love is something like

the Lower East Side

Our love is something like

the Lower East Side

When the streets illuminate

With colors from another age

Look for me amongst the base

Our love is something like

The Lower East Side

Our love is something like

The Lower East Side

Oh oh oh, Oh oh oh

Look for me amongst the ghosts

Our love…….

I love that someone said,

a “great homesickness”

that we could never shed.

I love the gentleness

under waves that roll..

When the day breaks, 

and the tide is down

I will count. on. You.

Can a moonrise,

can a shifting tide,

ever keep us from view?

I love that someone said,

a “great homesickness”

that we could never shed.

I love the gentleness

under waves that roll..

A horizon 

near the ocean floor,

there’s a shell that sings a tune.

Can a rip-tide,

can a fallen sky–

Ever keep us from You?

We found our home

It won’t be long

We found our home

It won’t be long

Cause we found….

Cause we found…

In the morning, when the clouds are forming

The sun is turning, from another day

I become, your little darling

Wrapped in longing, from another place

Love will stop the cliffs from falling

Love will put the ocean to bed

Love will stop the hours from haunting

Offering a dawn instead

Oh your silence is the sound I’m storing

For the loneliest of days ahead

The coastland hears when the northwind start to freak out

“Hailing waters ahead!”

Love will stop the cliffs from falling

Love will put the ocean to bed

Love will stop the hours from haunting

Offering a dawn instead

As the fog distills around sleeping hills

A silver light shows

Disappearing trees yielding to your breeze

Your love is a fog

The disciplined rain rhythming your name

Your love is a song

Undecided on evenfall while the

Son decides of which days to call

The way you flow from my room at home

To the first morning snow

On a silent night where the sleepless write

Your love is poem

I can’t describe what you lit inside

Your love is so warm

Undecided on evenfall while the

Son decides of which days to call and the

Patchwork skies stitch colors surprised by the

Undecided waiting for signs

Evenfall, out where the wild wind blows

Out where the wild wind roams

Out where the wild wind

I can’t stay, not after moonlight breaks

Out where the wild wind roams

Out where the wild wind

Out where the wild wind roams

Out where the wild wind

The morning greets you by the hand

The wind is howling like she’s mad

And all the trees are whispering, 

the simple joys of living,

The water on the lake is frozen dead.

A walk, a stroll, amongst the snow

The evergreens, they ought to know

That you can hear most everything

The secrets that the land can sing,

The underbelly of the north

It’s time

It's time

It’s time and oh it’s time

For them to know…

Out by your lake

A white sky elates

A whole land waits

For the messages you decode

For the forests and the fjords

It’s time

It’s time

It’s time and oh it’s time

For them to know…

The underbelly of the north

The underbelly of the north

I have to say the way the leaves sway

Hits me like a quiet melody

All the same the seasons turn

What does the wind say to you Lord?

Maybe you’re in everything….

Maybe you’re in everything….

Maybe you’re in everything….

Give it a night and let the wind blow, let the wind blow

Give it a night and let the wind blow, let the wind blow

Oh, I got learn to look up

Oh, I got to learn to look up

Give it a night and let the wind blow, let the wind blow

Give it a night and let the wind blow, let the wind blow

Give it a night and let the wind blow, let the wind blow

Give it a night and let the wind blow

I walked beside;

changing skies

highlands opening.

Where horizons end,

Dreams begin,

All the breakage beams.

Moonriver, Moonriver

Moonriver, stay with me

So long to go–

The days move slow,

and who is listening?

Windows and rain–

Then spring became, 

a hard transitioning.

Moonriver, Moonriver

Moonriver, stay with me

Moonriver, Moonriver

Moonriver, stay with me

Stay…….stay with me

Stay…….stay with me

Stay…….stay with me

Stay…….stay with me

Stay…….

Once we were hiking in The Lot,

clouds surrounding us.

Traces of spaces left untouched,

winds winding up. 

Sunrise, You came to us

Sundown, We carry on

Where are Your storehouses of snow?

Stored for trouble.

Lead me into your mystery Lord,

Skerries and fjords.

Sunrise, You came to us

Sundown, We carry on

The plane you came on landed late

Toulouse and views of sheep

The sleeping hills begin to wake

Your presence fills landscapes

Your presence fills …….

He came upon a note you wrote

It took my breath away

The morning sang a lonely note

It sang throughout the day

It played throughout the…

You gave us more than we had, your love was always strong

It’s time to hold your hand, your light was always on

Don’t say my love grew tired, don’t tell me I gave up

I’ll see you in my dreams, in my second sleep

Nights illuminate

Words I didn’t say

(A translation of Charles Baudelaire’s poem “Hymne” by Eli Siegel 1968)

To the very dear, the beautiful one

Fills my heart with clearness

The angel, immortal, idol

Hail immortality

She is where my life is

like air tinged with salt

And in my still desiring soul

Pours the taste of eternity

How love incorruptible

She’ll tell you with truth

The grain that lies unseen

How love incorruptible

She’ll tell you with truth

Beginning of everlasting

Pours…..

She is where my life is

Like air tinged with salt

And in my still desiring soul

Pours, the taste of eternity

Pours…….

Pours…….

Calm, Your love is understated. Woah, I love the sea, He made it.

Home, you waited until hope was, gone. Down of my knees I prayed.

And then we waited, waited…..

Lord, you came in through the rain. Lord, don’t let the sadness win.

Don’t let this sadness reign, cause—

I’m gone. Your love is enough. I’ll figure it out.

Don’t let the rain come into my house.

You came in through the rain, you came in through—-

Gone, Your love is enough. I’ll figure it out.

Don’t let the rain come into my house.

I’m gone…..gone…..

The valley is low, I hear your feet on the road

Between the peaks and the plains, I hear you calling my name.

The harvest town, another 10 miles down,

and in the quiet descent, we are alone again…

By your side, a long road.

By your side, a long road.

The valley is low, I hear your feet on the road,

Between the peaks and the plains, I hear you calling my name.

The harvest town, another ten miles down,

and in the quiet descent, we are alone again…

By your side, a long road.

By your side, a long road.

And I’m by your side, for the long road.

Yeah I’m by your side, for the long road.

It’s a long road. Oh the long road…

May the island field, and her lore

lead north, lead north.

May the gentle wisdom of our father

bring warmth, bring warmth.

If in the night, there’s a song that calls you

the hope of a dawn, that belongs to you…

O Crystal, oh oh oh, oh oh oh

when you gonna let go?

O Crystal, oh oh oh, oh oh oh

when you gonna let go?

May the hands that reach across the cosmos

reach low, reach low.

May the feet that tread lightly on mountains

tread slow, tread slow.

If in the night, there’s a song that calls to you

A river of peace that belongs to you

O Crystal, oh oh oh, oh oh oh

when you gonna let go?

O Crystal, oh oh oh, oh oh oh,

when you gonna let go?

when you gonna when you gonna…

Come along, and be my anchor.

Come along, and be my anchor.

Daybreak hold, a new love, a new love.

And it wraps it’s arms, around us, around us.

And it knows, no bounds, like the winds of seasons.

And it speaks soft sounds, like a father’s reason,

like a morning right,

like evening’s twighlight.

Oh I found love, love, love.

Down by the sea, oh the birds are singing evening songs

so adoringly, and the mountains stand so tall, (say it again).

Down by the sea, of the birds are singing songs adoring and

I don’t believe, that the Lord would let thouse sparrows hunger.

Come along, and be my anchor.

Come along, and be my anchor.

Who can say, when you’re holding your love back?

Monday morning, my head is in a haze

The clouds are rolling westward, the birds are singing praise

I’m holding on to something, believing you are near

While you fill my eyes, with visions, so clear

February is wearing me down

I’m crossing the road, to get inside your house

In the whitewash of the winter

In the rain, in the snow

Ode to change and white storms

The birds are singing psalms and summons

The hills head their call

Ode to spring, ode to hope

Turn your head back to the water

Where you can smell all the boats

Ode to waves and open roads

Autumn always steals the lovers from the grips of the shore

Ode to dreams in wooded forests

Ode to waves and open roads

Ode to change and white storms

They found home…

He found home…

She found home…

I woke up to, silence in the night

The sounds of dreamers dreaming

The sounds of stars in skies exploding

When the nightfall, drapes his lonely hands

upon your dreams and wonders, when will nightfall end?

Implore Him on, oh implore Him on

Lord lift us up, above the midnight hour

over slow rolling days, drifting by

Cause we can’t dream when the night is rough

Come lift us up

When the shadows cast their dim lit gaze

upon your quiet wonderings, leave you in a haze

Implore Him on, implore Him on

Like a morning song, You carry me

For the whole day long, You carry me

______________________________________

Like a southern sky, You carry me

For my whole damn life, You’ve carried me

Like a memory, You carry me

Wondering down, Mont Saint-Michel

Autumn woes, leave me alone

Baby hold onto to me

Our love with always be

Baby hold onto me

Our love will always be

Autumn woes, leave me alone

Boredom on a Saturday morn

Baby hold onto me

Our love will always be

Baby hold onto me

Our love always be

Apart from where you are…..

Apart from where you are…..