I swear the dude was on the run but he wore a local tan

It was mad magnificent,  a pretty little mess

Bongos, congas, coco locos Spanish licks so blessed

The sand was soft and smooth and white as crushed and powdered glass

Ruins rose and spoke to crowds of glorious horrors past

Rise / fall/ crash/ spread a wave could say the same

Worlds pulled back to where they started burnt to shine again

We look for answers in the sky more questions all we get

Where’s the why behind all this in microscopes and tests

Carbon’s all, some science cries, religious as the right

But we knew there was more to this that starry starry night

Oh yes we will,this you and me, this us goes on and on

And every honest breath we take like stars long dead and gone

Will shine and shine cuz light takes, time to make it where it’s bound

Most of the time when it gets there it doesn’t make a sound

I’ve read how ancient Mayans gathered gold like it was stone

And in the process ate themselves near out of house and home

Another chance in a long line of flawed pyramid schemes

And notions that somehow one nation dreams God’s righteous dream

Oh yes we will,this you and me, this us goes on and on

And every honest breath we take like stars long dead and gone

Will shine and shine cuz light takes, time to make it where it’s bound

Most of the time when it gets there it doesn’t make a sound

Part of my heart says fear the future, part says follow through

Candles makes the darkness scatter, light is like the truth

It takes awhile but put to trial all time will tell the tale

So if you stumble, carry on, the wind will find your sails

Oh yes we will, this you and me, this us goes on and on

And every honest breath we take like stars long dead and gone

Will shine and shine cuz light takes, time to make it where it’s bound

Most of the time when it gets there it doesn’t make a sound

Of a road near Arden Manitoba where I’d ride

A BMX for miles just to get up off the farm

And pretend I was a town kid

Even for a little while

With one store and an old fire truck

Dennis Gagnon was the chief

When he left his truck unlocked

I was a cigarette thief

I recall the neighbours saw me and my parents made me pay

One dollar twenty five cents,  and I remember still today

There was shame and resolution, never to get caught again

Every time I rode a cop car to the drunk tank, I’d remember when

Now that I’m livin in the city, those dusty roads do make me smile

On the edge of the memory of a lake

The furthest west the waves would ever make

The furthest west the waves would ever break

Every time I hit a brick wall, by circumstance of vain deceit

Every time I wonder who the heck I am, and I’m trying to find my feet

I go and take a two hour drive, in my car or in my mind

To a place where crocuses grow up, each and  every spring

And I watch those railroad tracks unwind

One inch closer to myself

My hearts a little broke down, I’ll get it runnin wait and see

Just needs a little fresh, sweet spring rain and feelin free

If I ever or I never, find a girl who makes me sing

Happy songs instead of sad ones, Arden’s where my heart will be

With one store and an old fire truck

Those gravel roads do make me smile

On the edge of the memory of a lake

The furthest west the waves would ever make

The furthest west the waves would ever break

Our eyes met and your friends drove by but you didn’t heed the call

Going swimmin at the Quarry lake you said yes you’d come along

Through the years like yesterday not a moment of it wrong

Eighteen takin off our clothes trying to act like we don’t care

Got nervous when you caught my glance but your eyes said, double dare

Must have been about 12 of us but it seemed like me and you

Bought a ticket on a time machine built of bedrock with a view

All we wore  was the moonlight

Summer heat was just right

Dreams all set to take flight

And the world was ours to have

College came and went, like the wagon we drove west

Can’t say for certain but it seems we did our best

Made the most of moments as they whistled by like trains

No one else I’d rather wake up with out at the Quarry Lakes in the rain

All we wore  was the moonlight

Summer heat was just right

Dreams all set to take flight

And the world was ours to have

Still love to watch you through the window, in the yard

To see you playing with our children warms my heart

Come Friday night , we’ll take em over to your parents, and we’ll go

Down a mud rut turkey trail that we first drove long ago

All we wore  was the moonlight

Summer heat was just right

Dreams all set to take flight

And the world was ours to have

I been hated I been rated I’ve been set aside as less

Some were right and some were wrong and some I must confess

Have hurt me worse than others though I must be moving on

Won’t mention names I’ll deal with pain forgiveness comes in song

As much as any other way that’s how it works for me

My pains deserved and grace has cured where sorry couldn’t see

See fit to mend the failures I have often ill-assumed

Good bye let’s get this over with my heart is on the move

So if you want your daddy don’t come knockin on my door

You’ve got a phone go call him up his jaw might hit the floor

If once you told him his love for you was ill-conceived & cruel

And every time he judged you you feel like a little fool

You think you must spare him the pain you hold as truth in heart

The dark that spreads as you feel him judge everything you start

When he says watch out for dreamers he might mean watch out for him

His hide and seek when he feels weak has hurt you deep within

So if you want your daddy don’t come knockin on my door

You’ve got a phone go call him up his jaw might hit the floor

If once you told him his love for you was ill-conceived & cruel

And every time he judged you you feel like a little fool

Seems every time you took me or other men to meet your folks

They got along just fine with lots of food and games and jokes

But underneath was fear and love all curled up in a ball

And one wrong move brings crashing down your wish to once stand tall

So if you want your daddy don’t come knockin on my door

You’ve got a phone go call him up his jaw might hit the floor

If once you told him his love for you was ill-conceived & cruel

And every time he judged you you feel like a little fool

You just might want to stop and think before you even start

Handing out advice like you’re a clown in a parade

Cuz over and over and over again gets a little like charades

Which believe me friend I’m good at, I am practiced tried and true

In the ways of lying to myself I’m at least as good as you

At knowing what I’m wanting in the shallows of relief

Its when we can’t touch bottom we find out what we believe

I hope you find a mirror clear enough to see you through

Cuz forty’s fast approaching so before you lose your shoes

To tally up the next ten years, life’s short and so it goes

May you find truth and peace and love before you run out of toes

If wisdom comes with time and pain let’s look beyond our years

To people who have gone before and faced similar fears

And faced them well in ways admired with lives we’d want for us

I sing this song expecting anger beauty grace and love

None of which I’m good at I am practiced tried and true

In the ways of lying to myself I’m at least as good as you

At knowing what I’m wanting, in the shallows of relief

Its when we can’t touch bottom we find out what we believe

Letters written bitter full of slings and arrows deep

Will be burned in fires that we conspire and stoke with piles and heaps

Of paper gold and diamonds and laws designed to show

That we are weak but there is strength in who and what we know

And if you’re out there listening as I see tonight you are

Let love be more than hearts beating fast in the back seat of a car

Like it was for us

A vessel bruised and battered nearly broken by the breeze

And the waves that wash and clatter, on a night that shivers starless

The way your eyes they open when the morning says arise/ and

Walk your faith has given, eyes to this one man who watches

Stone blind and unbelieving  til the day he saw you sing

Come alone here come alive here come and pray

Bring your guitar and piano come and play

And the songs we sing will echo far away

Remember when you said you might be, and I said if you are well I’ll be too

Heaven laughed and cried and smiled as they saw us on our way

You looked at me and said feel free to lie if you ever love me less well

One thing is for certain I have never, ever loved like this before

Come alone here come alive here come and pray

Bring your guitar and piano come and play

And the songs we sing will echo far away

So take me to your chambers, I will undesire all else there is

Beyond the walls and fences round the hill on which we live

Cause higher don’t mean closer, there’s mountains I would never climb

For fear that avalanches come and drown the hills below

No my place is in the lowlands, I’m a farmer with a plowshare

I will work the land and marvel at the way this garden grows

Come alone here come alive here come and pray

Bring your guitar and piano come and play

And the songs we sing will echo far away

Tonight I’ll sanctuary, on the shores of your dark shoulder

A vessel bruised and battered nearly broken by the breeze

And the waves that wash and clatter, on a night that shivers starless

Let’s all sit and sift through ashes till our daddy comes to town

If the fire has long been flameless is there ember we can stir

I can feel it getting colder as the winter finds its spurs

Way oh way in the not so distant past

There are things I’ve seen and heard and read that feel like they could last

So stop your digging ditches dig some passion dig some song

If it’s one that’s in your heart you can bet some will sing along

Hey you hey you we’re all alike in pain

We are all alike in joy, we are all alike in shame

So open up your closets and parade your weary bones

So your weary friends and neighbours can be sure they’re not alone

There was a time when walking was the way from here to there

But nowadays it’s a plane a train a car just pay the fare

Oh please do not be fooled and think  the cash you carry’s clean

We move too fast these days to quite remember where we’ve been

There’s terror on the TV there is trampling at the banks

Are we the final vintage of those famous grapes of wrath

I’m not speaking of religion just so no one gets confused

I’m speaking of the way we keep coming back for abuse

Hey you hey you we’re all alike in pain

We are all alike in joy, we are all alike in shame

So open up your closets and parade your weary bones

So your weary friends and neighbours can be sure they’re not alone

As we gather up the rivers and we put them in our tank

As we tear our way through mountains just to store them up in banks

As we wash our cares away now with a bottle and a pill

Too dazed to understand there’s more than gold in them there hills

You tell me to diversify you say you must stay calm

As the markets flex and burst and bleed and progress marches on

So I can rent a tree someday to shade my empty head

And drink my bottled water cause the streams are dry and dead

No thank you I’ll keep singing and I’ll try to love my friends

They’ll challenge me and help me clarify what I have read

And if I die before I wake to realize my dreams

They’ll mourn and sing and marvel and remember where we’ve been

They’ll mourn and sing and marvel and remember where we’ve been

I begged and I pled please come down from that ledge

there’s a view from the ground floor as well

But you humbly declined said you’d made up your mind

and the breeze was the best that you’d felt

And besides who was I you said to say what was safe

or better or worse or betrayal

It was right around then that I thought to myself

this is gonna take more than I have in me to give

From what I have seen your facade is just that

here’s to hoping the hopeful half wins

But between now and then and as per your request

I’ll avoid all your clouds and your rain

And with that the sunshine of course must be turned from

cuz weather’s a package deal try as you might

To find ways around it or out from under its powerful

powerful burning sunlight

When you go down to the downside you know

and appreciate well beyond well

It’s the darkest of shade, on the saddest estate

and you’re dull like the back of a blade

And so if I see you and yes I will see you

don’t expect me to smile

don’t expect me to wave

don’t expect me to look in your eyes

cuz the hollow and empty that’s half of you

tears me apart

I begged and I pled please come down from that ledge

there’s a view from the ground floor as well

But you humbly declined said you’d made up your mind

and the breeze was the best that you’d felt

And besides who was I you said to say what was safe

or better or worse or betrayal

It was right around then that I thought to myself

this is gonna take more than I have in me to give

But if your house were on fire
And you thought of all the things you had acquired
Say your half way out the window down the tree
Would you think at all of coming back for me

Some say life’s a journey, I’d say life’s more like a trip
Some stumble and some fallin’ but that’s less than half of it
All you gets a backpack and a solid pair of shoes
The kind of shoes you wear well that’s up to you to choose

But if your house were on fire
And you thought of all the things you had acquired
Say your half way out the window down the tree
Would you think at all of coming back for me

Lennon said imagine, JZ says life is pain
Dawkin’s squawkin’ ’bout religion, Dylan sings a train in vain
The Secret’s a best seller and Oprah knows the trick
Most people think they’re happy when they think they get to pick

But if your house were on fire
And you thought of all the things you had acquired
Say your half way out the window down the tree
Would you think at all of coming back for me