Dave Campbell (Death of a Drummer)

    Sky the color of the ashes         
    River the color of the sky
    Didn’t come here expecting answers
    So there’s no sense asking why
    Didn’t come here expecting answers
    So all I’ll do is say goodbye
    But who will keep the rhythm for us?
    Who will keep the time?

    Some will rock, and some will roll
    Need do both to save your soul
    And as for what beauty is
    That I still don’t know

    We crossed that bridge when we 
        came to it
    And we got to the other side
    A girl with a flower in her hair was 
        pouring clear blue fire
    She did it so beautifully I finally broke     
        down and cried
    She asked if I was okay, and I said yeah
    It was just that a friend of mine had died
    We threw roses in the river
    And watched him go out with the tide
    Now who will keep the rhythm for us
    Who will keep the time?

    Some will rock, and some will roll
    Need do both to save your soul
    And as for what beauty  is
    That I still don’t know

    Make haste slowly
    Is something the wise used to say
    Don’t know if it’s something that’s still said
    But it’s still true today
    For the quick and for the grateful dead
    And for all the sojourners along the way
    “People scare me and I seem to scare them
    I guess that means we’re even
    I’ve only ever felt comfortable in the company of artists, writers, and musicians
    So where is Satchmo when you need him?
    Music is the only thing that’s ever been mine
    I rebelled against everything, and I stayed with my own kind”
    Now who will keep the rhythm for us?
    Who will keep the time?

    Some will rock, and some will roll
    Need do both to save your soul
    And as for what beauty  is
    That I still don’t know

Brian's Eyes

If you could see the world through Brian's eyes
Each morning there would be a new sunrise
It rises for the foolish
It shines for the wise
Those who find a place for God
In all that they recognize
Every step a dance
No being so delighted in movement
Can't you imagine being a boy?
This is the genius of joy


What's the good of sleeping
When there's so much to do?
Wide awake at first light
Every day to start anew
A world to begin again
In merry eyes of blue

He understands the 
    worth                     
Of talismans and charm
To influence events
And forestall harm
And maybe only the bottom
    of the ninth
As reason for alarm
Every moment another chance
To see something that's never
    been seen
An actor in the new creation
Quicksilver and amphetamine
Can't you imagine being a boy?
This is the genius of joy


What's the good of sleeping
When there's so much to do?
Wide awake at first light
Every day to start anew
A world to create again
In merry eyes of blue

All you have to do is watch
    long enough
One day you're sure to see the wind
Keep your eyes wide open
It's bound to come around again
And it might invite you where it's going
You can tell it where you've been
Feed a bobcat some goldfish
Tame it with a glance
Know every moment
As another last chance
Can't you imagine being a boy?
This is the genius of joy


What's the good of sleeping
When there's so much to do?
Wide awake at first light
Every day to start anew
A world to create again
In merry eyes of blue

So come tripping down the stairs
Combing back your golden hair
Remarking how the nighttime flies
Yes, it's morning already again
Will you be married?
Will you be rich?
Whatever will be, will be
Yet you begin until you end
Go always toward where happiness lies
Seek in the familiar reason for surprise
Know that no heavenly body
   in celestial skies
Matches the glory of first light
   in Brian's eyes
Can't you imagine being a boy?
This is the genius of joy


What's the good of sleeping
When there's so much to do?
Wide awake at first light
Every day to start anew
A world to create again
In merry eyes of blue

Ted Williams (The Solitude of Perfection)

The runners you left on base
Are still waiting, the infielders shifted
Boudreau forever cogitating
The fans, fated to watch, impotent
    and rapidly shuttling
Between love and hatred
Not for artists the vainglory of flags
Your vision is keener, fixed on the
    rotation of a sphere spinning
    in space and time
Too brief or grand for measure
Let others call them what they see,
    ball four or strike three
It does not make them so
And none of them understands why
Sometimes one must spit at expectations
So that it may remain as free, enchained though it be by its own quest
Which demands of it greater stillness
The freed mind cannot
But restlessly wander from such quotidian tasks
As the pursuit of fly balls
The spurious necessity of which is proclaimed most loudly
By those whose inability to do as you
Creates a need therefore seldom worth the required attention
Diligence has its place and no doubt substantial rewards therein
History can be redeemed only in a present that is weightless, an eternal instant
Shattered to perfection with one act, that swing
Of perception, and only then
And then is gone again to begin again all over
Tomorrow there will be another game, and tomorrow
The runners you left on base are stll waiting
Resentful of their need and your pride, understanding neither
While you seek to make yourself free of them
In selfish performance, providing what they most want
Chasing them around again home, that best-wanted and least-known place
You wish to outdo nature, others only to serve it

Faith

A rainbow over the graveyard

Or is that hope?

Deathsong

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You surrounded my poor father

And you hounded him down

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You captured my baby brother

And you laid him in the ground

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You haunted my own mother

Left her home a desolate place

O death, O death

I will remember thee

    

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You tempted the little chidren

When you found no one around

O death, O death

I will remember thee 

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

I stared right in your eyes

Spoke to you by your true name

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You took our common garden

And you laid it all to waste

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You laid hands on my beautiful sister

Made her make a crying sound

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You ambushed my lovers

When we were glorybound

O death, O death

I will remember thee


Death, O death
I will remember thee
Death, O death
I will remember thee
You overtook my dear friends
Waylaid them right out there on the road
O death, O death
I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

We raised many mansions

You burned everything you found 

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

Let me be

Death, O death

Please let me be

We ask only for a little while

You have eternity

O death, O death

Please let me be