1. |
Stars I Thought I Knew
03:53
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Would I wish it away if I could?
I don’t know that I would
Everything is brighter now, I cannot close my eyes
I cannot sleep
I cannot keep this light inside
And I can’t shut it out
Every cell a solar storm
That sends my lurching heart a giant leap
Out among the stars I thought I knew
Til up turned down and red went blue
And I lost sense of my direction
That I always thought was true
But I am dazzled by the stars I thought I knew
Would I do it again if I might?
Test the edge of the night
Everything held open by
This shard of sky that I cannot untouch
And every vision turned within.
Pierce the heart of the sun
Swallowing the fire that comes
and wondering too late, is it too much?
Can I hold these stars I thought I knew
As they flare up and burn me through
Or will they fly apart forever
Like I fall apart in you?
Will I even try to fight it if they do?
Will I join the stars I thought I knew
And learn their secrets all anew,
Tracing every path and pattern
From this terrifying view?
For I am lost among the stars I thought I knew
And I may never find my way back home again
I may never find my way back home again
I may never find my way back home again
I may never find my way back home again
What if I never find my way back home again?
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2. |
Bright Things
04:26
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Shy little thing, all of fifteen
Ink on her fingers and bells in her head
And they ring
All the day
Waves in the crowd, faces in clouds
All speak so loud and she half understands
Why she hears
What they say
And she closes her eyes trying to get it all down
As she lies in the bed of the river of sound
And she cries and she cries when there's no one around
For a song that she still hasn't found
Hasn’t found
Sweet little bird, just say the word
Sorrows unheard become shadows set free
To the night
When they fly
Wakes in a dream, all these bright things
Shaking the weight of the world from her wings
As she sings
To the sky
And she opens her eyes trying to take it all in
At the sight of a country where no one has been
And she pulls a new voice from the heart of the wind
For a song that has yet to begin
To begin
One little note, first that she wrote
Breaks in her throat but she tries it again
One, two, three
Hundred times
Warm are the hands where the little bird lands
And warm the breath fans the fine feathers alive
Till she stirs
Till she climbs
And the air stings her eyes, and the sun never shone
Any light on the world half as bright as the tone
As it sounds in the sharp hollow reed of her bones
And she makes a new song all her own
All her own
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3. |
Night Things
01:56
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Silk and lacquer
Ash and steel
Air and darkness
Chains and cages
Made from nothing real
Flesh and heartsblood
Heat and light
Breath and wonder
Ease and comfort
Rumors in the night
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4. |
Promise
03:06
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Soft and small and almost silent, somewhere in your heart
Kept away so carefully it seemed a missing part
Softness in this hard world never makes an easy start
Here is where we must begin–great deeds are done afraid
Faith in love is faith rewarded, hope for hope repaid
When your armor grows too heavy, let it fall away
Listen to the wound well-guarded, let it have its say
Beauty born in darkness is a lantern to the day
Dawn will kiss the worry that has lain upon your brow
Love that has been always yours is waking for you now
Bearing only truth and trust, and asking nothing more
Come to wash the feet of every hurt that came before
Quieting the question of what everything was for
Speaking but the tidings of the word at last fulfilled
All this love that once was promised, waiting for you still.
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5. |
My Singing Bird
03:35
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I have seen the lark soar high at morn
To sing up in the blue
I have heard the blackbird pipe its song
The thrush and the linnet, too
But none of them can sing so sweet,
My singing, bird, as you
My singing bird, as you
If I could lure my singing bird
From its own cozy nest
If I could catch my singing bird
I’d warm it on my breast
And on my heart my singing bird
Would sing itself to rest
Would sing itself to rest
I have seen the lark soar high at morn
To sing up in the blue
I have heard the blackbird pipe its song
The thrush and the linnet, too
But none of them can sing so sweet,
My singing, bird, as you
My singing bird, as you
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6. |
See How I Grow (vintage)
04:45
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I am a cherry tree who blushes soft as words unspoken
that live and die one day in spring.
I hold a symphony of sparrowsong and vows unbroken
I set the sunlight’s golden ring
upon a young girl’s hand, as some young man
says, “This will have to stand until we’re older.”
See how I grow.
I am a willow tree who loves the wind upon the river
he taught me how to dance and weep.
We bend the boughs of time to make an afternoon forever
and then he sings them off to sleep
as time unfolds for one last dream of gold
a memory to hold when summer’s over.
See how I grow.
I am a maple tree, with arms outstretched to touch the falling sky
and gather close the dying leaves.
I am afire with my solitude, resplendent in this crown
of all that I believed.
But we were young, the wind struck dumb
now no one comes to hear him singing.
See how I grow.
I am an evergreen, with roots that reach beyond the frosted ground
to where my heart began.
I listen every day for music, though the silence tries to tell me
I have no reason to be glad
But footprints come and go
in drifts of snow
somewhere, I know, the woods are ringing
See how I grow.
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7. |
Charcoal Butterflies
01:22
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Summer Russell recommends:
I could listen to Lauren sing forever. Her writing is vivid and sensitive, sweetly and painfully human--never apologizing for sharp corners and rough edges. The beauty of her spirit shines through.
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