Michael Hedges

There must be some way out of here,
said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion,
I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine,
plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know
what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited,"
the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us
who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that,
and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now,
the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower,
princes kept the view
While all the women came and went,
barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching,
the wind began to howl

There must be some way out of here,
said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion,
I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine,
plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know
what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited,"
the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us
who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that,
and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now,
the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower,
princes kept the view
While all the women came and went,
barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching,
the wind began to howl

On father's day, these branches sway
Like evergreen batons
And I'm climbing up to the rhythm of their song

My vision clears; I feel him near
As the summer wind begins to blows
Father please conduct this breeze
Send my free swingin' soul, swingin' soul

Searching more into my core
From out on this limb of life
To the aging rings where all things harmonize

Through time I hear muted fears
Too heavy now to hold
Time will teach that voice to sing
Send my free swinging soul, swingin' soul

Heaven is all around, translated to sound
And the more I hear, the deeper I dig down
I keep digging down

Where his ashes lay
Where the needles decay
Seeds take hold, and I will grow
'Til I free my swinging soul

On father's day my children play
They're climbing up to slide
And through the future they will seek and hide
And when they look to me from their memory
Will this melody unfold?
Through these trees, father please
Send my free swinging soul

Heaven is all around, translated to sound
And the more I hear, the deeper I dig down
I keep digging down

Where his ashes lay
And where the needles decay
Seeds take hold, and I will grow
'Til I free my swinging soul

Where his ashes lay
Where the needles decay
Seeds take hold, and I will grow
'Til I free my swinging soul

I carry your heart with me
I carry it in my heart
I am never without it
Anywhere i go you go,my dear
And whatever is done by only me
Is your doing, my darling
I fear no fate
For you are my fate,my sweet
I want no world
For beautiful you are my world,my true
And it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
And whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
Here is the root of the root
and the bud of the bud
And the sky of the sky
of a tree called life;
Which grows higher than the soul can hope
or mind can hide
And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart
I carry it in my heart

I carry your heart with me
I carry it in my heart
I am never without it
Anywhere i go you go,my dear
And whatever is done by only me
Is your doing, my darling
I fear no fate
For you are my fate,my sweet
I want no world
For beautiful you are my world,my true
And it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
And whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
Here is the root of the root
and the bud of the bud
And the sky of the sky
of a tree called life;
Which grows higher than the soul can hope
or mind can hide
And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart
I carry it in my heart

A healing fault is open now, crevassing my way
Something new will flower through the old decay
Angels of the media are radiant and clear
Tuning in, I siphon their fuel of fear

I scale across their veils of prayer, torn and televised
They reinject their vision; I see through their eyes

I think it's gonna blow tonight
My wings wanna glow up bright
I broke free from a deep desire
Stoke my phoenix fire

Cupid laughs as I reclaim my shiny golden spears
For a bell of love, melted down through the years

And they're pierced up on the edge of night
With nothing more to say
A massacre of valentines await the day

Wringing into my new form, ringing out the past
Flying low, I hear the toll of shadows cast

This is the promised land
On this mountain I stand
Read the stone on demand
It's like a burning brand

From his fiery hand
Ten things they command
To every woman, child and man
In this Promised Land

We were the Pharaoh's slaves
'Til god Jehovah forgave
He rose up a pillar of fire
Our freedom his desire

He rose up the Red Sea waves
Our ocean road to pave
To these shores of sand
In this Promised Land

Ready or not
Here I come
Who shall I say is calling
Hold the line
Don't hang up
The shutter's open and
my image is refracting
Through wide wild angles of
Publicity

Ready or not
Tongue in groove
Lose yourself and wait for your
heart to speak
Your only cue
A needle starts to cut
Lasers start tracking
Slow acting acids of
Industry

As the whole world turns us around
I keep hearing life's echo sound
Songs of rhyming meaning
Hiding somehow
Ready or not

Ready or not
Here I come
Naked eyes and naked ears
Sighting in
Sounding out
Fear can always frighten up
a few disciples
But no thing can convert
True identity

My mother nature and my father time
See their son run across that line
It's his fortieth final try

Charging forward now in heat
Then the awkward retreat
To his lonely stockade
To his imaginary maid
She's sweeping down the plain
She's under his reign

Like a rough wind howling through Oklahoma
It's a cold wind down in Oklahoma

He's been hurt once - and he's hurt one twice
And all the pain is still labeled "inside"
He's sorting it out inside

But now his voice no longer speaks
When the truth begins to leak
To the heavily love-laden mercenary maiden
But deep within their spark
His hidden orders bark

Like a rough wind howling through Oklahoma
It's a cold wind down in Oklahoma

My mother nature and my father time
See their son run across that line
It's his fortieth final try
It's his final try

Like a rough wind howling through Oklahoma
It's a cold wind down in Oklahoma

Shell Shock Venus, aborted at sea
Her youthful uniform torn open and free
Floating where the whirlpools swirl
Men came diving for her pearl

They'd scour her surfaces
She'd dredge up their deep
In a chaotic universe, shallow and sweet
And as the merman hurled
Woman went careening from the girl

And no line of questioning
Could penetrate her nerve
But something was tapping her reserve

Ashes of innocence, splinters of dreams
Her anger in residence, ripping the seams
And petrifying fast
She anchored to that mast

Through waves of ecstasy
They'd compromise
But something was vacant in her eyes

Reptiles in water, a goddess in heat
We dreamt of a daughter, Venus and me
Floating where the whirlpools swirl
Men came diving for her pearl

On the last naked day of winter
On the eve of a fateful thaw
I was imprisoned in frozen pieces
Of heart-broken laws

Then down fell an angel renegade
Her halo read "Morning Star"
Wounded by the doom of a comet tail
She was sealed with a scar

Then a sweet lightning struck
And the earth opened us
Like spring buds

Why she ever fled heaven
And why I would hibernate
Answers why we would meet here
To equal our altered states

Then a sweet lightning struck
And the earth opened us
Like spring buds

With a sacred heart-shared rhythm
We blossom through the spring
Star of the Morning shines now
On her own two wings

Then a sweet lightning struck
And the earth opened us
Like spring buds

Then a sweet lightning struck
And the earth opened us
Like spring buds