LYRICS FROM REMBRANDT AFTERNOONS CD
Freedom
Chorus:
Carry Freedom in your heart
Carry Justice as a goal
Carry Love in every fiber of the fabric of your soul
Carry Freedom in your heart
Carry Justice as a goal
Carry Love in every fiber of the fabric of your soul
When your seams are tearing
And your sleeves are threadbare
And your shoes are wearing from the road
When your spirit’s too thin
And your heart’s too heavy
Remember all that you’ve been told
Chorus
When the world seems shredded
And our battles stitched up
And the fighting nothing more than show
When our fuel is fracked
And our lives hi-jacked
Remember all that we’ve been told
Chorus
Still our lives aren’t equal
It’s just another sequel
To a tragic tale that we’ve been sold
When I can’t get married
And I can’t be buried
By the one I’ve pledged forevermore
Chorus
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Now I Know
It wasn’t that long ago
I was so all alone
Sitting on a love seat
Waiting by the phone
For a call that never came
From the one who didn’t show
Wasn’t sure what was happening
But now I know
It wasn’t that long ago
But time does move along
When you think you just can’t sing
You find a better song
And in the singing you find comfort
In the song, a brand new show
Wasn’t sure what was happening
But now I know
It was you behind the curtain
You, I hadn’t met
And when I finally did
You were the one I ‘d not forget
It was you who threw the life line
As I headed out to sea
What good fortune
You found me
It wasn’t that long ago
I was so all alone
Sitting on a love seat
Waiting by the phone
For a call that never came
From the one who didn’t show
Wasn’t sure what was happening
But now I know
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Tender
You’ve come into your own
Like no one could imagine
A choice you made yourself
No celebrity, no fashion
A glass about to break
The shell around your heart
Now you have the choice
The map, the means, the chart
How hard to find an answer
That can free you like a song
How hard to tend a body
In which you do not belong
The calling of your true self
The calling of your heart
Now you have the choice
The map, the means, the chart
Sometimes we are born into the wrong place and time
Sometimes it’s as simple as gender
It isn’t ever simple and wrong can still be right
And the heart should always be tender
I fell into a family that has
Love as its back door
And it’s always swinging wide
For the richest and the poor
There’s room for any shape or size
There’s room for every heart
And you have a choice
A map, a means, a chart
The challenge is acceptance
In each and every hour
No matter what the package
No matter where the power
The toughest transition is
To open up our hearts
But we have the choice
The map, the means, the chart
Sometimes we can step into the right place and time
Sometimes it’s no longer the pretender
Still, It isn’t ever simple and wrong can still be right
And the heart should always be tender
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The Fishermen of Bristol Bay
Oh the Fishermen who live on the Bay
Life long fishermen who fish every day
If the mine comes, it could take their dreams away
The fishermen of Bristol Bay
There are net setters, boat builders, hunters & guides
In community, working side by side
That beautiful birthright they protect with their lives
The fisherman of Bristol Bay
They’ve got rent to pay, they’ve got mouths to feed
But there is gold, there is copper and lately there is greed
Do the mine owners care what the land and people need
Ask the fishermen of Bristol Bay
7,000 people, mostly native to the land
For thousands of years they have worked hand and hand
To protect the bounty that is now much in demand
The fishermen of Bristol Bay
Time and again
Over and over
Blind to the warning signs
In God do we trust
But to tend to this earth
Is a monumental task
Ask the stewards of our land
Ask the stewards of our land
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Rembrandt Afternoons
She gave me Rembrandt Afternoons
I gave her metaphor
She was my sun and I her moon
Cradled to the core
She painted life in long, broad strokes
She colored bright and gay
She opened up a world to me
Then sent me on my way
Chorus:
Though she was older
She gave me youth
And in her boldness
She taught me truth
She was my guiding light
She was so strong
Now I don’t know how I’ll get along
She held no destinations
She traveled without guides
Though she was stunning outwardly
She suffered hard inside
Chorus
So deep, so wide
So hard to see the slide
But oh, the pictures I’ll hold forever, I hold
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How We Dare
How does a plane disappear from the skies
How do we lose so many lives
Not even a moment to say goodbye
How does a plane disappear from the sky
How does a husband disappear from his wife
After they’ve lived together all of their lives
How does the memory go but the body survives
How does a husband disappear from his wife
These mysteries are more than we can bear
But sometimes in the day to day, we forget they’re even there
It’s how we can live our lives
It’s how we dare
How does a lonely heart not disappear
When the one they love’s no longer here
How do they find the strength to stay clear
How does a lonely heart not disappear
These mysteries are more than we can bear
But sometimes in the day to day, we forget they’re even there
It’s how we can live our lives
It’s how we dare
How we can move through these broken times
To so deeply care
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A Moment in Time
I pulled a bottle from the sea
In hopes it was a time capsule
Or maybe some lost treasure
A way to look at life anew
Through someone else’s deja vu
For just a moment in time
I saw a wedding and a vow
A two hand toss into the waves
To a future beyond measure
A time to hold this life as new
To start a love that would be true
For just a moment in time
Or was it thrown by one betrayed
A dark attempt to seek some vengeance
And in that toss to find some pleasure
A sinking splash into the blue
A love no longer felt as true
In a moment of time
But it held nothing more than sand
Some would say it held a promise
Or a loss of opportunity
What I see is glass in glass
Worn through all the ages
A moment in time
I found a picture in a frame
Two women walking arm in arm
They seemed to talk a tender care
The way they leaned, a fiery touch
Or am I reading far too much
In this moment of time
They could be lovers or just friends
Maybe sisters on a stroll
A tete a tete, a secret shared
Or a new romantic crush
Or am I looking for too much
In this moment of time
It was an image cast away
Tossed into a trunk with many others
Was it calling out to me
For what I see is heart in heart
Warm through all the ages
A moment in time
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Carry Me Home
Dark the night, the new moon rising
Far away from the light of day
As I set sail for distant shores
The dazzling stars will light my way
But if clouds roll in and mask the north star
And I am adrift upon the seas
My inner compass is what I have
To get me to my better me
My better me
So many times i’ve rolled these waves
A pilgrim on my pilgrim’s quest
To find the heart of all that holds me
And carry light within my breast
But sails will tear and masts will break
And I’ll be lost upon the blue
But if I can hold my rudder strong
I’ll ride the roll, my path is true
My path is true
Carry Me
Hold me steadfast on my journey
Loose the voice that it will carry
Carry Me Home
Secure the ropes and hold the bow
I’m coming in for just a spell
To walk the earth a steady gait
And break the solid from the swell
But soon enough the new moon rises
Far away from the light of day
As I set sail for one more round
Your dazzling heart will light my way
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Riverbank
There’s a warm wind whistling through the pine boughs
There’s a red sun setting ‘neath the clouds
And as the day turns softly into evening
I want to sing my love to you out loud
Chorus:
So if you follow me to the riverbank
We can float on out to the sea
And if you promise to travel the world with me
I will promise you love eternally
There’s the silver of moon upon the slipstream
There’s the shimmer of stars across the sky
As the heavens turn from indigo to velvet
I want to sing my love out as a cry
Chorus
Ooh, ooh ooh we’ll glide upon the water
Ooh, ooh, ooh we’ll skate when winter calls
Ooh, ooh, As long as we’re together
Summer winter spring and fall
There’s the salty spray of summer oceans
And the peppered sleet against the pane
As the seasons dissolve one to other
I want to sing my love for you again
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Foolish or Foolhearted
He made a figure eight knit scarf
To keep me warm in winter
Gray as the color in my hair
I wore it on those icy days
Those cold December nights
Now I can’t find it anywhere
It was made with so much love
The finest woolen yarn
With tender, articulated care
I was delighted to be given
A gift from his crafting hands
Now I can’t find it anywhere
Doesn’t mean it didn’t mean that much to me
Doesn’t mean I’m foolish or foolhearted
I was sitting in Atlanta waiting for my plane
I dashed away and I guess i forgot it
She found the perfect heart shaped stone
A promise of our love
Gray as the color in my hair
I kept it in my pocket
To remind me of her trust
Now I can’t find it anywhere
Doesn’t mean it didn’t mean that much to me
Doesn’t mean I’m foolish or foolhearted
I was leaving New York City, checking out of my hotel
I dashed away and I guess i forgot it
Still I know that it’s unsettling
To lose an object of affection
But it’s not a loss of loving or of care
What matters most of all
Is the thought and all the feeling
And that’s something that I always find here
It was a queen of hearts star cup
To keep my coffee warm
Gray as the color in my hair
Something I could travel with
To remind me to come home
Now I can’t find it anywhere
Doesn’t mean it didn’t mean that much to me
Doesn’t mean I’m foolish or foolhearted
It was sitting on the roof as I was packing up the car
And I drove away and I guess i forgot it
At least I didn’t lose my heart, it’s with you here
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Slipper Mood
Well my dog don’t bark but my dogs sure do
Especially when they’re in uncomfortable shoes
I’m on them all morning night and afternoon
I’m bruised and blistered and I’m lickin’ my wounds
I can’t wait to get home and slip into
A soft, sleepy slipper mood
Well my pup’s asleep but my puppies are whining
I”m standing all day and then I have to remind myself
To sit right down and take a load off my feet
When I put them up, you know it feels so sweet
I can’t wait to get home and slip into
A soft, sleepy slipper mood
Slipper mood, slipper mood
I’m warm inside and comfy too
Safe and sound in my bedroom groove
A soft, sleepy slipper mood
The kittens are purring but this cat’s uptight
My toes are tender, my sole’s not right
I forget how to stop, to put my business to rest
I’m far too busy, my mind’s a mess
I can’t wait to get home and slip into
A soft, sleepy slipper mood
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Worry Stones
On my chest a worry stone
Meant to rub away my woes
Much too often as I fret
I don’t take time or I forget
I get too rushed to even breathe
Then fall away in restless sleep
In my pocket a treasured piece
Tucked away and meant to ease
My fragile soul, my mending heart
It holds together my torn apart
I try to stop and look to see
Then fall away in restless sleep
Stones to heal and stones to soothe
To silence fear, to turn a mood
But how can they accomplish this
When the heart is where we find our bliss
These amulets, these treasured gifts
I’m pulled in or set adrift
I wish they had the power to
Make me bold and solid through
But all that I can hope to be
Is tossing in my restless sleep
Stones to heal and stones to soothe
To silence fear, to turn a mood
But how much can they really say
When the heart is how we find our way
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