We left the graveside and he didn’t turn back But his hands would not let go They clutch the burden of a paddle and pack He left a hundred miles ago He said please hold me, but not too near Some brittle piece of me might crack Sit a while and sing alone, my dear It hurts to want to hold you back When you lie awake tonight Sit awhile and sing alone, my dear Waiting, watching for that endless light That leads us onward in the face of fear We climbed a ladder for his father’s view We saw his shadow on the land White dreams and treasures were his prison too Although they gave him back his hands I fought his battles with nothing to earn These broken arms won’t hold my weight I whispered comfort but his horror burned So much more cruel than the pain When you lie awake tonight Sit awhile and sing alone my dear Waiting, watching for that endless light That makes us courage in the face of fear Back on that island, the wolf stares him down I saw a warning in his eyes “You have no paths here and lost men drown-- What are you doing here?” he cries... “It’s not enough to preach of serving love Food on your overflowing shelf It’s not enough to give what’s left away Somehow you have to give yourself…” Deep in redlines and war-hungry tombs Feel your still white suburbs roll Where is the courage to hear freedom songs? Where is the grace to save your soul? When you lie awake tonight I’ll sit awhile and sing alone my dear Waiting, watching for that searing light That makes me truthful in the face of fear He chose forgetting, and I chose the road It was the best love I could give I left him drinking those Battle Lake blues To find a way my soul could live When you lie awake tonight Sit awhile and sing alone my dear Waiting watching for that endless light That leads to freedom in the face of fear

I was raised on tales of castles Rampart walls, of magic kingdoms Taught to love these ivied pillars and latticed windows hgih This was grace, this was beauty built by money, power, duty By the rich with priests and armies and the poor who paid to die In the sacred soaring arches I've met God in queens and beggars In the irony of windows graced by goldenrod and blue To the honor of a maker who became a poor brown body One young human killed by scaffolds like the ones that built this wall In this place of desolation, is there hope or consolation? In this shrine to Lady Wisdom hoarded like a cup of gold In the music floating softly I hear crying out for mercy I am haunted by a blackbird outside singing in the cold She sings, Ah... Oh, my love's in chains, my love's in prison She is dying at the border, drowning in a poisoned river Crucified in court appeals In the gospel that resounds here she is censored from the story Jesus in his mother's kitchen watching soldiers take their fields Oh say their names, hear their voices Count the dollars, name the choices From the bombs dropped from the pulpit To the hate behind closed doors In your silent churches' shadow trucks are shutting off our water Once again the banks are saying, "You can't live here anymore" Oh for love, oh for mercy Let these stones cry out for justice Let these tales of castles crumble Let us wake up from their spell As the big bells ring in time for my love that's bleeding, dying At the foot of polished crosses on the church lawn down the hill

Comes the greening fresh as grief Tinder twigs will spring to leaf In your woods as May grows wetter My heart longs to know you better Show me where the bloodroot grow How to find and not to touch Moss to bind and leaves to know One more spring, you left too much Mysteries of seed and blood Where he planted, how you stood Roofs of pine against the weather Porcupine and eagle feathers Show me where the bloodroot grow How to find and not to touch Moss to bind and leaves to know One more spring, you left too much Cross the Flambeau porch lights burn Farm names I have yet to learn Buckthorn creeps in tangles near Fences dropped by passing deer Show me where the bloodroot grow How to find and not to touch Moss to bind and leaves to know One more spring, you left too much The geese returned a week ago I dreamed your garden told me so Come, leave your bitter love a while And walk among the living, child

Tall boy adrift in your old rowboat, drop your feet on the gunwale and sigh For your sisters and summer and the blue-eyed girl Another year’s August goodbyes Your keel glides low in the evening tide on its long journey in from the sea Somewhere far on another shore the waves bring the same music to me I go downshore when I’m missing you, little brother an ocean away And feel the bell buoy in my heart making time swinging day by day A message in a bottle at the end of your line is trailing its own wake of foam Grown friends with jobs and their too-far dreams Oh, why won’t they all come home? I go downshore when I’m missing you, little brother an ocean away And feel the bell buoy in my heart making time swinging day by day So wave to the moon we’ll all see tonight Row back up the darkening bay Dreaming of school and the salmon run And next summer an ocean away I go downshore when I’m missing you, little brother an ocean away And feel the bell buoy in my heart making time swinging day by day

I loved someone who had my promise Then half the time he didn’t show up and When I complained he said I’m sorry I’m still not sure that you are the one You’re not the one, no you’re not the one So I’m not sure I can stick around but Finding the one, yeah finding the one is no excuse for letting me down So lots of folks think there’s this one girl And all the rest can just go to hell who solves all your problems, saves the whole world And doesn’t need any love for herself but she’s not the one, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t need that love and care and I’m not the one, I’m sure I’m not the one; the work of love is something you’ve gotta share So I wake up in this empty bed I’m still running back, I’m still coming home I pray for wisdom in this aching head I raise up my hands in the lightning storm and I am the one yeah I’m the only one Who can sing my own healing song… I have these trees, I have these hands I wake up each morning with love to share and I’ll put down roots, I’ll share my plans Only with an equal who choose to care And you’re not the one, you’re not the only one Who can heal my heart or set me free but We are the ones, yeah we might be the ones who can choose to love and to agree

There was a time I was ahead One step out of sight I had clever words and in your eyes I saw fire and respect Then you came back from a book Said I was not enough Not a chess queen, just a pawn A little short-term fun… Did I miss a conversation? Was it something that I said? Did your guys give you some pointers? Was it in a blog you read? Tender things are on my mind but you’ve Got me scrambling for my life and I Didn’t think I’d have to fight this fight with you… Cuz you said you wanted a leader A woman you could follow through But each time I started leading You told me I misunderstood… Tender things are on my mind but you’ve Got me scrambling for my life and I’m Not gonna fight this fight with you… Cuz I don’t wanna be your Goddess Don’t need another Guiding Star I’m not your Rock with all the Answers We look ahead but not that far And tender things are on my mind but you’ve Got me scrambling for my life and I Think we’ve got enough shit to fight to be Fighting each other too… But if you want to fight by my side Come on! Come on, come on You do your own work, I’ll do mine We can keep each other strong You talk of starting revolution “Equal rights and equal power!” Like it’s way beyond my level Well, we can start right here and now… Tender things are on my mind but I Won’t go scrambling for my life and I’m Not gonna fight this fight with you… No, not with you.

You’ll be with me until April comes around We can’t plant this love in winter’s frozen ground Only keep warm miles above the wait for green In a dusty jar of envelopes and seeds… There’s no certainty to how the seasons turn What will gather roots and flourish, what will burn But we gather clouds and patterns as they fly Count the changes, guess the next move by and by And when you come, you tell a story And when you go, I’ll write a song to live to live and wait for green Breathe with me to make a little warmer space A nest for hope we hum together face to face Blood to body, shoulder, tender bone to bone We’re each storing summer’s sweetness on our own And when you come, you tell a story And when we go, I’ll write a song To live To live and wait for green Side by side but not the same our winter hearts Leave the work of learning to survive the dark In this quiet space of resting out of time Share this mystery, a little glass of wine

I had intentions to be good Tried so hard feeling what I should But one day the great grey sea got in One long sway, saw green and I fell in Oh, she took me in her arms We were floating, drifting through the stars Waves moving out and on and in... Ah... My lacy soul was flying loose I was a circle and the moon Sea fingers pulling my own tide I opened, closed, I came in time Oh love... As soon as I hit solid ground Closed windows shuttered me around And my spirit said, "Speak!" so clear and strong But all that I knew was it was wrong... Oh, the swell of sea And surge of foam It wasn't pleasure I should know I was afraid I fell and prayed Oh Lord And I waited for a long, long time I know, I know I know, I know-- I have waited for a long, long time

Little family in a snowglobe Mom, dad, kids, how sweet the sound Bound up smooth in one horizon Keep it safe and spinning round... In a crystal blinking minute They could hear it in his voice In the way he's sitting, breathing Calling her like there's no choice And feel the world turn inside out Like a cyclone in a jar Step outside and feel his thunder See his message in the stars There were warnings in the windows Pass the word along the line Keep your distance, keep your heads down Seek storm shelter in your mind And feel the world turn inside out... This will be an all-night session Time to cry and let him shout Pull the blinds down, lock the deadbolts Feel your heart blink in and out And don't let anybody in if they contradict the story Don't let anybody in if they won't play by the rules If you let anybody in, they'll blow it up, they'll blow the roof off! Ah... Don't let anybody in If you anybody in You'd better let somebody in You're gonna let somebody Then the world's not inside out Not a storm behind closed doors Step outside, that's not his thunder Not his message in the stars... No the world's not inside out One day you'll walk through these doors Step outside, you'll steal his thunder Can you navigate by stars?

Kringsatt av fiender, gå inn i din tid Under en blodig storm, vi deg til strid Kanskje du spør i angst, udekket, åpen Hva skal jeg kjempe med? Hva er mitt våpen? You see us so young and yet surrounded by enemies Coming of age in this age of atrocities Your eyes full of questions resisting floodlights Our heads bowed, bare but were ready to fight Under the bloody sky trembling between Barbed wire and water, the wall and the machine We look to the hills as they come marching in Arms linked, steadying our power within Praying, how can we fight back? Praying, how can we win? And the only way that love can stop the wars Is if we fight for each other And the only power that we’ve got to win We’ve got to build it together Here are our weapons to fight hate and silence Our true deep hope of ending this violence Believe no human being belongs in a prison Believe that they may cage us, but we’re more than these systems That earth has abundance sufficient for everyone That poverty’s decided by board rooms with hired guns Repression by the state, oppression fueled by hate Black prophets in the streets, they want her head on a plate! And it’s up to us to stop this--remind those who forgot this: That they’re ignoring our demands, supplying the greed Slave labor still grows the food that we eat Big oil trumping water that we need to survive Modern-day plantations want to eat our kids alive For all our futures sake, seek hope and tend it Die if you have to, but strengthen and mend it Put your hands together and shout to the steeples “Sunshine and bread and breath belong to the people!” See how their marking rounds target to kill Shut down these death machines by force of will War is contempt for life, peace is defiance Join in resistance now, death will not triumph And the only way that love can stop the wars Is if we fight for each other And the only power that we’ve got to win We’ve got to build it together He saw it in the air when they shot him over Germany It’s faint but the hope and the boldness of it burn in me I too have a vision of the guns falling powerless Tanks standing empty, law and order meaningless Cities sleeping quiet, the sirens all gone Children play in gardens to resurrection songs Men who understand that with babies in our hands We can’t pull the empire’s trigger, we can’t kill on command And instead we tell them stories We share our people’s glories That it’s the same old struggle that we’ve always fought Following the paths that our grandmothers taught Those who feed the fires that make our days bright Strong birds singing in the sweetness of night Disrupt the empire, resist this insanity We’re struggling for love and we’re fighting for humanity For wisdom, the light in our ancestors’ eyes For future generations for water and for butterflies And the only way that love can stop the wars Is if we fight for each other And the only power that we’ve got to win We’ve got to build it together This is our promise now, from heart to heart We will be gentle with our mother Earth We will take good care of wisdom and kindness As though we held a child sleeping between us

What wondrous love is this, oh my soul, oh my soul? What wondrous love is this, oh my soul. What wondrous love is this, that crowds of witnesses Should face the riot squads for our souls, for our souls? Should face the riot squads for our souls? When we were sinking deep, oh my soul, oh my soul When we were sinking deep, oh my soul When we were sinking deep ‘neath greed and cruelty These prophets filled the streets for our souls, for our souls These prophets filled the streets for our souls [Bulgarian folk solo: Sarah Larsson] And when we’re finally free we’ll sing on, we’ll sing on And when we’re finally free we’ll sing on And when we’re finally free from hate and tyranny In solidarity we’ll sing on, we’ll sing on In solidarity we’ll sing on

Working harder as this world is dying Waking up to news again Always feeling like our hands are empty Changing channels for the pain Cut to the bottom, baby, to the heart Through the lies and caution tape I trust your head but on this shaky ground I find you looking for escape And if we can't fight this fight together How can we win it apart Somehow we've got to love each other With these different homes and hearts God knows how much work it takes to heal It's a struggle to share anything that's real I can't imagine what would save our souls But a crowd of deeper loves And they tell us we're not good enough To earn our hearts' desire And they tell you you're not man enough Unless you set the world on fire Ah... Take a dozen struggles in our arms and Be the best alone But we cry, we cry for some great love That would make our hearts a home And if we can't fight this fight together, How can we win it apart We can't fight this fight together But we can't win it apart Somehow we still love each other With these different homes and hearts

Well, I guess you knew it could all fall apart Like it did before, you were pretty smart At making do, collecting odds and ends Saving string and buttons and rubber bands And you showed your love in pots and pans In layer bars, in spic and span Thirty years in that widowed room With his walking stick by your favorite broom On a roller coaster through the dark you rode the curves of your secret heart Down the tracks of the closet past heading for the sun or for the next big crash And you never were an open book you had clever hands, you were a damn good cook But every time I got close to the door you shut up tight, said, “ let’s not talk about this…anymore…” Cuz I’m on a roller coaster through the dark and I ride the curves of my secret heart Down the tracks of the closet past heading for the sun or for the next big crash… And I just don’t know for sure how long it’s all gonna last But in a dream I walked through your door to your secret side, you weren’t there anymore So much space for joy and grief you had cleared it all out, you had found relief And the empty shelves were a place of rest a holy space for your fiercest best I rode the rails of an endless light Through the long clear halls of your finished life On a roller coaster through the dark yeah I still ride the curves of your secret heart Doubling tracks of the closet past heading for the sun and for the next big crash— Oh yeah we know it’s fine we know it’s not gonna last And I think we even get to ride it kinda fast