TO UP AND GO
R. Martin

All the summer long there was a choice to make
A face amongst the crowd, the sun was beating down
You’ve come to far to up and go
Believe me when I tell you so

Just before the dawn there was a calling out
Everyone stood eyes and ears and gaping mouths
You’ve come to far to up and go
Believe me when I tell you so

 

BEYOND THE HILLSIDE
R.Martin

After all it’s the curious of minds
Who bring bright ideas and Eros to choose
Some are caught in a furious desire
Heaving righteousness in spite of the truth

Just beyond the hillside
Back where the curtain calls to us
There the music reminds me
That the whole world is waiting to find us

Yesterday I saw it coming on
There was little that the peasant could do
Into their hearts fully opened and aligned
For the daggers and arrows that flew

Just beyond the hillside
Back where the curtain calls to us
There the music reminds me
That the whole world is waiting to find us

In with the best and a mind that’s made
Not to take anymore
Her eye’s on the prize
That’s right there in sight

Just beyond the hillside

 

SOME OTHER PLACE, SOME OTHER TIME
R. Martin

I offered mine but your heart was taken
At the start of spring there lacks the sunshine
The only part I’d think of changing
Is some other place, some other time

Come to me
Just like inside a dream
When I wake
I won’t speak your name
Not see your face
Not hear you breathing

Out in the world I threw my hat in
For some other place, some other time

Come to me
Just like inside a dream
When I wake
I won’t speak your name
Not see your face
Not hear you breathing

Out in the world I threw my hat in
For some other place, some other time

 

SOPHISTICATED LADY
D. Ellington, I. Mills and M. Parish

Smoking, drinking
Never thinking about tomorrow
Nonchalant
Diamonds shining, dancing, dining
With a man in a restaurant

Is that what you really want?
You missed the love you lost long ago
And when nobody is nigh you cry

They say into your early life romance came
And in this heart of yours burned a flame
A flame that flickered one day and died away
But then with disillusion deep in your eyes
You found that fools in love soon grow wise
The years have changed you somehow
I see you now

Smoking, drinking
Never thinking about tomorrow
Nonchalant
Diamonds shining, dancing, dining
With a man in a restaurant
Is that all you really want?

Sophisticated lady
You missed the love you lost long ago
And when nobody is nigh you cry


ON A ROOFTOP
R. Martin

In the hands of mystic minds
Paper
Musings
Words that might offer meaning

Last night behind forlorn walls
In the silence I saw it all
Sharpened knives for bleeding hearts

On a roof top
Over street lamps
There’s a garden in an inkwell

I wonder how deep I’m in
Or which way I’ll be directed
North or south
East or West
The sum of perfect design

Words are ruthless
Deeds are land mines
On the rolling hills of the pages

 

IN THE EARLY WINTER TREES
R. Martin

From the bridge down below us
Lives a forest all in green
Where are the colors red and golden
In the early winter trees?

I don’t know why it’s hard to say what
We know is right and what is wrong
Can’t you see the season’s longer
Then it was the year before?

This song’s for you and me
With the time that’s left
Do something

In this other place you speak of
Up above the clouds and sky
What it is that you believe in
What’s the use if you deny

All of those you’ll leave behind and
Some of whom are flesh and bone
Will only know what open space was
From a picture book of long ago

This song’s for you and me
With what time is left
Do something

 

DON’T MEAN A THING AT ALL
R. Martin

When all of the house lights are taken down
And all of the people there
That traveled for hundreds of miles around
To hear their songs fill the air
Their beauty, the quiet and heaviness
The shadows they recall
Don’t mean a thing at all

A song would begin with a feeling
That’s had when the melody came
The words are assembled then written
Its meaning is somewhat relayed
On tip toes and reeling through misty eyes
The writing’s on the wall
Don’t mean a thing at all

Before the night gets underway
Your mind could change
What once was true that very day
Is now not the same

And there’s no way she could know
You couldn’t tell her so
The only way to live it was by
Giving it a go
No doubt there’ll be something for everyone
When turning every stone
She can’t leave well enough alone

 

GOD IS IN THE DETAILS
R. Martin

In the wake of early morning
Is the crushing task before her
So she’s up before she wants to
And he’s deep inside his pillow

There’s no God that’s in her corner
Oh, but God is in the details
All the small things go unnoticed
In the certainty of slowing

Stay if you want
Don’t change your mind again

For the sake of never knowing
She imagines life alone
Like her youth it’s all romantic
In its innocence and madness

Stay if you want.
Don’t change your mind again

In her time she’ll stand open
Out in the world like she’s never been
Alone but a part of everything
There’s nothing wrong
Just be.  The signs are all deserving.

What’s creeping in?
The need to change
So what has always been is not repeated

 

SAFE THIS TIME
R. Martin

Safe this time
The tidal wave took nothing
In the dark she pines
For brighter days
But now she feels nothing

But bitter disappointment
From sunrise to sundown
Heeding their warning
She knew somehow
She’d be safe this time

In a new day dawning
Her eyes were open wide
Shoot the moon for perfection
“Can’t do!” she cried
Safe this time

 

BEHOLDEN
R. Martin

She wanted to go it alone because she needed to
Under brick and mortar and stone the fisticuffs flew
From a sodden heart that’s beholden to no one

Smiling from ear to ear for the people to see
In her mind she’s perfectly clear but the rivers run deep
Like a soldier with orders beholden to no one

“Foiled!” She cried.
“If only I could leave you all behind.
Up until now I’ve refused to fly or to take the fall
for what was mine.”

I’ll be more careful the next time
The wind blows broken wings

Outside the measures were bold
And the stakes were raised
Into the warmth of his arms
At the end of the day
And he holds her
She holds him
They’re grateful for each day

 

OH WELL
R. Martin

All seemed well in new beginnings
She can’t tell if her luck’s ending
The master plan was foiled by change
The work at hand’s a ball and chain
Oh well

Who’ll receive the wise and candid?
What they believe is half its meaning
The somber sting was just the same
As every year when no one came
Oh well

A song to sing, a game to play
An afternoon that slipped away
Oh well

 

A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY
R. Martin

Picture minds working for what’s good
So that all things could have a place their own
If every inch is a concrete box
What’s free is only what you’ll buy into

There’s no turning back
Every garden tilled into another monstrous mess
Birds are silenced by our rude desire

A weakness is all they need to grow
Our fear so we’ll follow

There’s no turning back
One mans vision is not the word
Of all who live here now
Dressed disguised as one who says he knows

Ignorant is the human heart
Consumed by the thought
It doesn’t have enough

 

HONESTLY
R. Martin

Is there something I could tell you
That could break the waves to turn this ship around?
I’m afraid this time I’ll have to
Decide if I’m to leave or stick it out

Honesty is all I can
Guarantee a simple man

Perhaps the silver lining
Is to try because there’s no escaping us

Honestly I know you can
Meet me in the deepest canyon

Besides we’re getting old now
With each year gone by
The sands are running out

 

 


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