Festival Words

Soul Shine

2010-05-19T14:49:00.001-04:00

shoe shine my soul
and roll me round down to my knees please,
where Your fresh wind
fresh fire Spirit can blow
flow through my soul
to sweet nickel dime tune time,
where Your song fills me deep in sleep
and before, bedside
so that i don't ride my pride
but surrender myself to Thee.
i yearn, i burn
to witness bantam beauty
on the day, maybe saturday,
sunday, monday, funday, not my day,
Your day, when You'll jump back come back
here, where we stand, and say "I am,"
while You wear the true truth,
the grace, and the only loving face
that is those fee fi fiddle me three.
from toes to knees, i'm balanced to worship Thee.

The Blue Above

2009-07-10T16:45:00.001-04:00

ferris wheel spin me
high into the blue above,
where we can dream
and tell stories of how
we climbed down the ladder
and met up with love.

Enough

2009-07-10T16:36:00.003-04:00

You woke me this morning and invited me to breathe
You took away my clothes, you stole my stuff
You burned my possessions, you were enough

You took my hand and invited me outside
You set flame to my house and gave my car away
You pointed to the sky and said welcome to another day

I was afraid but you comforted me with open arms
You told me love doesn't live in things, plastic and diamond rings
You took my money and gave it away, told me you were enough today

It pained me to watch it all go
But you gazed at me with eyes that said there was more to know
We kept walking, the fire continuing to burn it all
My knees tightened, the clouds began to fall

I asked you why, why you had to burn it all
Don't you care about me at all
Then you stopped, told me to turn around
You told me to tell you what I saw

My house burning, my car and job gone
My clothes off but the curtains not drawn
My money in the trash, my things nothing but smashed
I told you that I saw myself dying as I lost it all

And then you left my side and showed up in the flames
Holding my body up clothed in gold armor
And as the flames continued to attempt a fight
You showed me love in that burning light

You wept all over me and cried out to let go of my life and all this stuff
Your tears covered me in a love that was more than enough
You told me that my fortune today was the next breath I took
You invited me into the pages of your eternal book

And your tears of joy and love put out the flames
As you sang over and over the melody of my name
Smiling and laughing and crying
And I knew you were enough

All was still and the flame was now your love inside me
The flame was your love helping me to see
That you were enough for me

You are enough for me...

900 Miles Above The Moon

2009-07-10T16:31:00.003-04:00

we are swimming in a land far from home.
our souls sit back and watch us roam.
we can’t seem to escape this gloom.
and then we realize,
we belong nine hundred miles above the moon.

Cinema Soul

2009-07-10T16:31:00.001-04:00

what is real anymore.
we are only boy and girl.
empty souls looking to be filled
in a cinematic world.

our dreams are torn at the seam.
we find hope in the big screen.
but where is the hope that will last.
sit down, take a breath,
stop moving so fast.

find your tune, align with the moon,
and let the melodies from above
fulfill you with the color of love.

find your tune,
align your soul with the moon.
we’ll be home soon.
we’ll be home soon…

Dream This Sea

2009-07-10T16:30:00.005-04:00

my dreams are out at sea
and my boat is missing.
the waves battle this shore
and keep me from listening,

to an answer, to this question,
of how i will become the one
with freedom as my wings,
and how i will become the one
to swim out to my dreams.

the only thing keeping me
from my dreams out at sea,
is the fear and the tension
of meeting up with who i could be.

let the waters fight me today,
for i am on my way…

Dreamers Day

2009-07-10T16:30:00.003-04:00

a dream’s on the shore
waiting to be met
and the dreamer’s driving the coast
hoping to get wet.

today’s the dream
that’s more than it seems
today’s being painted
in the water’s extreme.

something tells me the water’s cold
it tells me i’m not that bold
and today i say to the world
for you, i’ll never fold.

it’s time to run to the ocean’s edge
it’s time to get wet and make a pledge
it’s time to stand toe to fears
and jump on in to the pool of tears.

a dream’s been woven for you today
a dream’s come to take you away
a dream for so much more.

listen to the song of the rolling tide
listen to the symphony that you’ve been trying to find
open up your soul
and you’ll find the wave you wanna ride.

Dry Up The River

2009-07-10T16:30:00.001-04:00

It’s time to dry up the river
That separates the black from the white
It’s time to arm ourselves with the weapon of love
In this battle we’ve been called to fight

Love is not a drug that runs out
Love is the potion that we’re all about
It’s time to dry up the river
Between the sick and the healthy
It’s time to open arms of peace
Instead of building a wall between the poor and the wealthy

Cuz one day the world is going to fade
And what will last but the love you made

The hate and the fists
The separation you won’t miss
Continents and countries
States and seas
We don’t live in a land
Meant to be separated by these
It’s time we threw love in the middle
And began to believe

That someday this land will be free
And neighbors we will be
From east coast to west coast
From the south pole to the northern most

We will walk together
And we will live together
And all the races and all the faces
Will sing together in harmony…

It’s time to dry up the river
That separates me from you

The day is gonna come
When all the colors will run
Into love in shades of you and me
Brothers and sisters, we are one
And we are free

It’s time to kiss the sand
Open your eyes, lend a hand
Spread your arms wide
Open your eyes to the skies
And remember that if we wanna fly
Love is the only direction when we die

It’s time to dry up the river
That separates black from white
Love is the only fuel
For a soul in flight

Let’s dry up this river tonight
Let’s dry up this river tonight
Let’s dry up this river that is separating
The wrong from the right

It’s time to dry up this river
That is keeping me from you
It’s time to dry up this river
Love has too much to do

Love has too much for you…

Ferris Wheels

2009-07-10T16:29:00.003-04:00

There are ferris wheels in these clouds,
And I am spinning.
I am spinning in an ocean of sky,
And I am living.

I hear the voice of the carnival man.
He says, ‘Today is your time,
Are you just dreaming,
Or is it time to fly?’

The choices change as I spin,
And I’m revealed for my sickness and sin,
As I breathe in the winds of love
That break me and make me,
In songs of truth from above.

I am spinning now,
I am singing now,
In reflections of who I was.
I am spinning now,
I am living now,
In the transformation of love.

There is something real among us,
Frustrating this world because it’s true.
We need to let go of the concrete and plastic,
And cling to what makes us new.

There is something real among these walls,
Complicating the poetry of how we fall.
Every day our mixed-up perversion
Magnifies our desperate cry for conversion.

Unleash your soul, world,
And find that hidden pearl.
Among this sinful vacation island,
Our souls spin for another world.

There is something beautifully real at our door,
Calling and crying and inviting us to more.
This world will never fill the void.
This world can’t lift us off the floor.

Quit trying to hold on so tight,
To the life that has flooded your sight.

Open your eyes,
There is still so much more.
Our souls spin for another world.

Fly Above The Weather

2009-07-10T16:29:00.001-04:00

I am caught in turbulence
Below something beautiful.
Tonight let’s fight together,
And fly above the weather.

Fuel Of A Father

2009-07-10T16:28:00.004-04:00

A boy has a dream
Doesn’t know if he has the strength to try
A father opens arms of love
And teaches the boy to fly

Thank you for believing in me
Thank you for standing by my side
Thank you for loving your son
Thank you for being my fuel to fly

A boy is a train on lonely tracks
Looking for color on a canvas of white and black
The world is a fog and it’s standing in his way
Tells him to save the dream for another day
A father steps in, believes in his son
And the train finds speed, the dream has begun

And the boy drives on
By the fuel of a father
And the boy comes alive
By the fuel of a father
And the boy sings and soars
By the fuel of a father
The boy is taken to the stars
By the fuel of a father

The way you believe in me
Winds me up and takes me to the moon
You are the light
And my soul is the room

A boy is now a man
Thanks to a father who has helped him to stand
The ocean looks more beautiful from the sky
When a father believes in the dreams
Found in his son’s eyes

And the train finds its rhythm in the music of the tracks
It takes the belief of a father to keep it from turning back
The man pushes forward, his soul an engine
While he looks back to his father
To find the fuel to propel him

And the man begins to hear the harmony in the song
By the fuel of a father
The man ignites with love
By the fuel of a father
The man tastes the flavor of a dream
By the fuel of a father
The man opens his eyes, the tears in stream
He looks to his father and realizes what love means

A boy has a dream
Doesn’t know if he has the strength to try
A father opens arms of love
And teaches the boy to fly

All by the love of his father
All by the belief of his father
All by the fuel of his father

All by the fuel of his father…

Hope To Fly

2009-07-10T16:28:00.003-04:00

can’t you see in these sunset skies
that there’s something brighter
than we can see with our own eyes.

trace the stars and reveal your hope,
we don’t have to fade in the end.
there’s a straight line deep in your soul
that’s looking for a way to bend.

do all things temporary fill you.
does all this plastic thrill you.

could it be true
that there’s rhyme to what we do.
don’t you want to see
all that was meant to be.

we don’t have to die so dry,
for there’s a reason that we dream to fly.
listen to the song in the colors of the sky,
for there’s a reason that we hope to fly…

Lose To Win

2009-07-10T16:28:00.001-04:00

what’s the deal today
what happened to what i know
why can’t i see the truth
why can’t i breathe with you

tomorrow’s a fog that doesn’t exist
i’m crawling low to catch a glimpse
of my life today and all i know
there’s something calling me to more than this

yesterday bleeds in my mind
i’m cold and twisted and left behind
with stains of sin and selfishness
i’ve been locked in place by a devil’s kiss

can i fight back this black of night
and find inside me the healing light
i can’t win till i lose
all that i am and continue to abuse

today’s the road to a new land
today i’ll believe in a new plan

Monkey Bar The Stars

2009-07-10T16:27:00.002-04:00

i want to monkey-bar the stars back to you
and hold you in my arms.
i want to touch my hand to the sunset,
and bring you back the stars.

and if the skies won’t lead me
to the one i miss tonight,
may the Painter of the skies
lead me by His light.

into the fog i will ride,
hoping that i someday might find,
the beauty who has my heart
far away on the other side.
hoping that i someday might find,
the beauty who has my heart
far away on the other side.

so many people i will pass
on my way back through
this town that is lonely now
without you.

and not one will turn my head,
and no beauty will be the one.
till i have found you at my side
i will not be done.

i want to monkey-bar the stars back to you
and hold you in my arms.
i want to touch my hand to the sunset,
and bring you back the stars.

i will travel the ocean vast,
till i have found you at last.
and i will give you the stars,
that have brought me so far.

for tonight i am not complete,
as i sit alone and write to the woman i miss,
and i cannot hear the ocean waves
till i have painted her with a kiss.

i am chasing and i am racing.
i am chasing and i am free.
i am chasing and i am racing,
for the woman of my dreams…

Ocean Eyes

2009-07-10T16:27:00.001-04:00

The ocean rolls and rides
Magic reflected in the tide
The stars ignite the midnight sky
But I don’t ever come alive
Till I get to taste the love in your ocean eyes

I’ve dreamed of grace arriving in the night
Stealing a broken soul and giving it flight
And all the colors in the sky
From red to blue to neon bright
Remained in shades black and white
Till I got to taste your ocean eyes

Poetry can make you see
Sunsets can make you believe
But darling, it’s God’s sweet love in your eyes
That shakes me and sets me free

The river Seine flowing through Paris, France
The Holy Spirit harmonizing through us as we dance
Atop the tower at midnight in the city of love
That’s where I find myself
When I lose myself in your symphonic eyes
When I let go and find the love I was born to find

The stars ignite the midnight sky
The sun in the morning begins to rise
But I don’t ever come alive
Till God ignites me through the love in your eyes

Life was once dead in me
Sometimes it takes an angel to help you see
That the stars do sing and shine in the moonlit sky
Like they do in the love in your eyes

It’s all in shades of black and white
Till I taste the love in your melodic eyes
Till I lose myself in your ocean eyes

I want to lose myself in your ocean eyes…

Rain Me Love

2009-07-10T16:26:00.002-04:00

Oh come on, come on
Lift up, get up
Pick up your feet of steel and run
There’s more yet for us to see
There’s so much more for us to be

Open wide the gates, break them down today
Taste the freedom and love in the air
Take a brothers hand, take a sister’s heart
Let’s steal away and find ourselves tonight

Oh Son, oh Chosen One, paint us dreams
Paint us with life and set us free
These walls are coming down
I feel it, I need it, I need this love
Be my fuel, let’s fly this thing above
This world is not my home
I can’t steal what’s not my own
Oh Son, oh Chosen One, paint us dreams
Paint us with life and set us free
Black and white is not my shade
In a life where I don’t have to fade
Come and break this man
Bruise him and beat with the stars and sand
Bruise him and break him and send him to a new land

Oh, Painter of the skies,
Come and teach a boy to fly
Come and help this man to rise
I don’t wanna die
I know I don’t have to die
Oh, come Painter, paint me wings
Paint me and help me rise
Paint me in colors that will never die
Shower me with water that’ll never dry

I am ready, I am ready
I am ready to undress from this mess
I am ready to peel off the fake skin
And I am ready to break on in…

I am ready to break on in to something more
Give me sword, give me strength
I am ready and waiting on the front lines
In this war with sin

Help me to break in
Stone me and hold me, let love win
I am not going to run on my own
I am not going to run from what I know

This is the day, this is the way
Eyes to the skies, hands spread to pray
Today your stars are brighter than the city lights
And I know, and I know, that these glasses won’t give me sight
And this plastic and TV magic won’t give me flight…
I know that these plastic and diamonds won’t always shine bright.

I am ready, I am ready, I am ready to fly
I am ready, I am ready, I am ready to never die
I am ready, I am ready, I am ready to rise…

And I can feel the walls coming down
Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah
And I can feel love raining down
Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah

Let the love rain down
Let the thunder light this town
Let the love rain down
Let your love rain down

And we sing Hallelujah
And we sing Hallelujah
And we sing Hallelujah…

Run Away With The Circus

2009-07-10T16:26:00.001-04:00

Whatever it is, the color is changing
And I’m beginning to believe in this
So hold on tight to all that’s fading
It’s time we run away with the circus

We dance and fly with the believers
Under the big top at night
And we wonder why the world outside the tent
Is a lonely canvas of fading light

Hey brother, you can’t win the fight
When the hand that’s holding the gun
Is also holding the sunlight
Cuz when the sun begins to fade
You’re going to realize that the gun’s not the way
To the circus you dreamed of all day

Now step back and breathe this in
There are more answers when you don’t win

Seven

2009-07-10T16:25:00.000-04:00

Love be my guide
Strength be on my side
Patience can be a tough ride
When all I want is you tonight

Love is seven states tonight
Love is seven states to my right
She is the melody in the music
She is the harmony, don’t confuse it

She is beautiful in the sunset sky
I can feel her in the ocean tide
And I would trade a life of stars and sky
For a moment with the music in her eyes

Father, please hold her tight
Continue to paint this love just right
Give two souls color and flight
Be the painter of our love’s light

Father, may these seven states disappear
May you dry up these tears
Father, may these seven states fade away
And may boy and girl taste melodies of love one day

Love is seven states away today
Father, break me and make me the man to love her one day
May the seven states fade away
And may the music of love begin to play

May the music of love begin to play…

She's In The Moon, She's In The Stars

2009-07-10T16:24:00.001-04:00

If you look to the sky tonight, you will find a fresh, dark, summer sky. Soon to be July sky. The air is perfect. Not even a breeze. It’s as if God has taken a second to stop breathing down on LA, His big moon eye staring from on high, lighting the night, igniting my soul. I bend neck and throw a gaze to the night ceiling, hoping to find the canvas of stars that returns each night. I find one, maybe two, or three. It’s one of those nights when, if you introduced your eyes to the stars and lost yourself for a moment, you too would become a poet for a night. Hollywood is a city that switches on at night like a flame of neon lights. But I know that somewhere up in that black roof is a swirling, twirling infinity of stars singing songs of love and love. Palm trees wave their hands at me from the distance. Their hands have twenty, maybe twenty-one fingers. I know this only because one night not too long ago, I stole away in the night like a boy in search of first love, only to tread into a neighbors garden and cut off a single palm leaf for the woman I love. I wrote her a poem on it for her birthday. I’m not one for stealing, but that night there was no question. I was being guided and sparked by the fuel and rhythm of love and I wasn’t going to stop till I got that palm leaf for the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

Little lights blink and whisper from the homes in the hills like ink on lonely paper. Homes the size of small grocery stores scatter and paint the hills of movie stars and poets, dreamers and CEO’s. Big checks blinking from the distance.

And as I sit and stare, lost in the beauty of the night, I still find that I am not completely me. The lights, the calm 10:30 air, the palm trees clapping their hands in acoustic symphony miles away…it’s all beautiful in a magical way, but I am still without something tonight. I am still without someone tonight. My eyes see God’s artwork painted from east to west across a city of dreams and imagination, but my heart still aches and craves and longs for someone. I am not complete tonight. The two empty chairs to my right and left poetically remind me of the one I miss. It’s something impossible to describe. It’s just felt. It’s just known deep inside me. It’s an aching that only one can heal. There is a surreal, breathtaking harmony in the air tonight of God’s majestic creation in the bright lights and the hills sleeping behind the city twilight, and the cry deep within me that tells me I’m not completely myself tonight without her at my side. Even the great poets who’s words and ashes fertilize the aisles in bookstores don’t know what I feel tonight. It’s that great a longing. It’s so vast, so huge, so beautiful, yet so filled with heartache.

I yearn and burn tonight for the most beautiful woman alive. She rests in dream as I write, somewhere two thousand miles east of where I sit. She looks 900 miles beyond beautiful as she sleeps. I’m not there to know, but I just know. That’s just the way she is to me. Never not captivating, never not the most stunning paint on God’s canvas of beauty. She is His beauty to me. She is the music of my dreams. And I can see her eyes in the lights in the hills tonight. I can hear her whisper in the still air. And I know deep inside that I will wait 900 million years if I have to till I can see her again. For I am not completely me without her. A wave is not a wave without the sea, and I am not I when it’s not her and me. And so I wait, day and night, sun and moon light, month and year, through dream and tear. And I know deep inside my soul that I will wait. I will wait for her…

Shoot Me To The Stars

2009-07-10T16:23:00.004-04:00

Aim your bowstring
Shoot me to the stars
Write the lyrics, teach me to sing
Shoot me to the moon
And show me everything

I’m searching for the rhythm in this thing
I’m looking for a reason to sing
I’m looking for you in the shade
I think there’s melody to why we were made

There’s melody in the making
There’s meaning to these days
Hold strong when it’s all shaking
There’s a reason we were made

Aim your bowstring
And shoot me to the stars
Bend me and shape me
And take me beyond far
I’m not ready to settle for this land
I believe there’s more than the music in the sand
Aim your bowstring
And shoot me to beyond mars
Bend me and shape me
Take me to the stars

Aim your bowstring
Shoot me to the sky
Sing me a song
And teach me to fly

Aim your bowstring
On your arrow I want to ride…

Stars In The Sidewalk

2009-07-10T16:23:00.003-04:00

I want a case of the Hollywood plastic.
I want a face that shimmers fantastic.
I want my name painted in italics,
On the cover of magazines and jackets.

I am the insecure looking for a cure,
In a town congested with poetic emptiness.
Where are the people who want to be real,
Instead of searching for the temporary feel.

I am the trend who’s trying to bend
My cheekbones to the fitness of Hollywood.
I am the kid on the corner looking to the sky,
Wondering if the billboards are truth or lies.

I am the kid at the ocean wondering why,
The sunset is more fulfilling than a town full of lights.
When will this plastic melt,
To reveal the hand we’ve been dealt.

I want a life that doesn’t end
With cheekbones and billboards and big screen lords.
I want a life that doesn’t end
With us staring at the stars in the sidewalk…

Tears

2009-07-10T16:23:00.001-04:00

Put my tears in your bottle
Blend them into liquid faith
Pour them out and give them strength
I don’t want a life that’s safe

I need an armor
That won’t break by the blade
I need a hope
That won’t shatter and fade

I want to lose myself in the music of tears
I want to lose myself in the symphony of fear

I’m ready for these tears
To bleed into the page of faith
I’m ready to open my mouth and yell to the stars
I’m ready to let the passion sing, and I’m ready to be made

Put my tears in your bottle
Blend them into liquid faith
Swing me like an acrobat
And help me to see your face

I’m ready to let go
I’m ready to ride the wave of the free
Take these salt tears
And pour them into forever sea

Reflect your love in the pool of my tears
And help me to find me

I want to taste the salt of your sea
Come help me find me

I want to find me…

The Backwards Is Beautiful

2009-07-10T16:22:00.003-04:00

The backwards is beautiful
We all lose ourselves to find ourselves
The backwards is beautiful
We’ve distorted something extraordinary

Only when we flip this mess
Do we find the beauty in love and less

Find the one at the bottom and hand them the stars of love…

The Time That Is Given To You

2009-07-10T16:22:00.001-04:00

this morning, bright and early,
i wake up to a canvas of decisions
and as the brush strokes help me to see
i realize the decision is what to do
with the time that is given to me

no one here, no one there
i can’t rely on the emptiness in the air
for today is all i know,
and i want the skies, not what’s below

i don’t need this land,
i don’t need this sea,
all i need is the potion from above
to help me figure out what to do
with the time that is given to me

what will we all do
when we realize one day
that the leaves on the trees
eventually fall away

let go of all the plastic
break free from this caged disease
and start thinking about what to do
with the time that is given to you

what will you do
when you finally realize what’s true…

what will you do
with the time that is given to you.

The Torn Between

2009-07-10T16:21:00.002-04:00

what road do you take
when there are no road signs

what path do you choose
when all the maps are blurred
and all the arrows are just straight lines

what do you do when
all the lights fade from green
and you’re stuck in the torn between

This Harmony

2009-07-10T16:21:00.001-04:00

something’s not right tonight.
i’ve turned my back
and lost the fight.

in my view
was all that is true,
and i let the darkness
defeat my soul’s sunset blue.

if i had only looked to the skies
and had the strength to stand,
this harmony would still be,
you and me on the shores of the sea.

tonight let your love
cleanse me like the ocean tide.
let the waves take me away.
on your current i will ride…

22

2009-07-10T16:20:00.000-04:00

there’s a beauty twenty-two hundred miles away.
there’s a beauty who’s twenty-two today.
there’s a boy staring at the sunset green,
raising a toast to the woman of his dreams.

twenty-two states too far.
twenty-two sparks in my heart.
she’s twenty-two dreams in twenty-two days.
she’s the symphony in the rain.

there’s a twenty-two part harmony
between two hearts.
there’s a nation of land and sea
helping two souls trust what could be.

today i wish i was with you,
the beauty who is twenty-two.
today i wish i could see,
the woman who makes me wanna be me.

there’s a beauty from the heavens above,
she colors the skies with faith and love.
she sings in her Father’s will,
and gives the boy twenty-two chills.

she has the beauty of twenty-two angels,
she can connect the stars with her stunning eyes.
the distance between california and ohio is enough
to make this boy cry.

i wanna hold your hand at the ocean’s shore,
we can watch the sunset from a twenty-second floor.
i wish i could keep you warm,
i wish you could just stay…
here with me,
the boy by the sea.

i wish you could stay,
with me today.

and to my knees i fall,
to the heavens i pray,
and i thank the sunset Painter
for His beautiful daughter today.

for you are the beauty of my day.
you give me color in a new way.
you are the sunset of my soul today.

for you are the sunset of my soul today…