…our innocence.

“We Are Broken” -Paramore, (Cover by: Phil Schawel)

TWLOHA
Lock the doors
‘Cause I’d like to capture this voice
That came to me tonight
So everyone will have a choice

Invisible Children
And under red lights
I’ll show myself it wasn’t forged
We’re at war, we live like this

Love 146
And I’ll take the truth at any cost…

Give us life again,
‘Cause we just wanna be whole…

Let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be…

When I find myself in times of trouble,
Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me,
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see.
There will be an answer, let it be.

And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light that shines on me,
Shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music,
Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be,
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

-John Lennon & Paul McCartney

“And the time came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

-Anais Nin

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

-William Butler Yeats

Narrow daylight entered my room
Shining hours were brief
Winter is over
Summer is near
Are we stronger than we believe?

I walked through halls of reputation
Among the infamous too
As the camera clings to the common thread
Beyond all vanity
Into a gaze to shoot you through

Is the kindness we count upon
Hidden in everyone?

I stepped out in a sunlit groove
Although deep down I wished it would rain
Washing away all the sadness and tears
That will never fall so heavily again

Is the kindness we count upon
Hidden in everyone?

I stood there in the salt spray air
Felt the wind sweeping over my face
Ran up through the rocks to the old wooden cross
It’s a place where I can find some peace

Narrow daylight entered my room
Shining hours were brief
Winter is over
Summer is near
Are we stronger than we believe?

-Diana Krall & Elvis Costello

She’s playing at Sonoma Jazz, Memorial Weekend! Itching to go, but tickets range everywhere from $69 to $309 (yikes!). Unlike other pianists, she doesn’t just “tickle the ivories,” she caresses them, and boy, do we love her for it.

Now, I’ve always been one to give people the benefit of the doubt, regardless of the burn factor. Over the years, this surely has proven a sore issue, an Achilles’ heel if you will. And still, I ask, I hope, I count on seeing that kindness hidden in everyone, just waiting to be believed in and drawn out. This sounds terribly naive, I know, but quite frankly, I don’t give a poo poo about it. What kind of a society would we become if we constantly expect the worst of people and varied situations? Would we really want to live in that sort of world? I know I certainly would not. Truly, we are stronger than we believe. We have this amazing capacity to be the “bigger man,” and to “kill with kindness.” On that note I do end, kill on, dear friends, kill on.

The ways of this world are grabbing a hold
Won’t let me go, won’t let me fly by
It’s taken its toll down on my soul
‘Cause I know what I need in my life
Don’t let me lose my sight of You
Don’t let me lose my sight

I don’t want to fall away from You
Gravity is pulling me on down
I don’t want to fall away from You
Gravity is pulling me to the ground

This world keeps making me cry
But I’m going to try, going to try to fly, going to fly high
Don’t want to give into the sin, want to stay in You ‘til the end
I don’t want to lose my sight of You
I don’t want to lose my sight

I want to fly
Up onto the sky
Turn my back on this old world
Leave it all behind
This world is not my home
I must go home
Only leaves me with emptiness
And tears in my eyes

-Shawn McDonald

Loving Father, please don’t let me fall away from You. You are all I need. All I desire. This world keeps making me cry, but I’m going to try, going to try to fly, going to fly high. Lord, give us this day our daily bread. To You be the glory, honor, and power forever and ever. Amen.

As elusive to me as forgiveness…

By cover of darkness,
she runs to me.
Robed in silence,
reeked with defiance.
We race the hours,
for dawn devours.

Do not fly,
my fairy muse.
The thoughts of wonder,
do not diffuse.
Come once more,
to light this fuse.

And I shall rid me of,
this sleepless muse.

-joyinfrailty