Rites of Passage lyrics

(Dedicated to the memory of a great poet, Frank Stanford)

Three hits to the heart son and it's poetry in motion
One could send you down the river three's a strange way to be delivered
Would you trade your words for freedom that's a barter for a blind man
Three hits to the heart son and it's poetry in motion

Are you leveed like a treasure only words can help me find you

Galileo's head was on the block
The crime was looking up the truth
And as the bombshells of my daily fears explode
I try to trace them to my youth

And then you had to bring up reincarnation
Over a couple of beers the other night
And now I'm serving time for mistakes made by another
In another lifetime

How long till my soul gets it right

There's a letter on the desktop that I dug out of a drawer
The last truce we ever came to from our adolescent war
And I start to feel the fever of the warm air through the screen
You come regular like seasons shadowing my dreams

The Mississippi's mighty, but it starts in Minnesota
At a place where you can walk across with five steps down

You said the world was magic I was wide-eyed and laughing
We were dancing up to the bright side
Forget about your ego forget about your pride
And we will never have to compromise

And you were only joking
You were only joking brother

We talked about mothers kissing the wounds of our fathers
I could have been your sister I would have been your brother

I left my anger in a river running highway five
New Hampshire, Vermont border by
College farms, hubcaps, falling rocks
Voices in the woods and the mountaintops

I used to search for reservations and native lands
Before I realized everywhere I stand
There have been tribal feet running wild as fire
Some past life sister of my desire

Jonas and Ezekial hear me now

Guess I wasn't the best one.. to ask
me myself with my face pressed
up against love's glass
to see the shiny toy I've been hoping for
the one I never could afford
the wide world spins and spits turmoil
and the nations toil for peace
but the paws of fear upon your chest
only love can soothe that beast
and my words are paper tigers
no match for the predator of pain inside her

A love struck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
He's laying everybody low
He's got a love song that he made
He finds a convenient streetlight and he steps out of the shade
And says something like
"You and me, babe, how about it?"

Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo!
You nearly gave me a heart attack"
Yeah well, he's underneath the window now she's singing,
"Hey, la, my boyfriend's back

Some will strut and some will fret
See this an hour on the stage
Others will not but they'll sweat
In their hopelessness in their rage
We're all the same the men of anger and the women of the page

They published your diary and that's how I got to know you
Key to the room of your own and a mind without end
And here's a young girl on a kind of a telephone line through time

I am an only child born of the wild
Riddled to spend my time defending the land
You are the only one born in the sun
Riddled to spend your time defending my plan

Dead dog on the highway
Median cats are growling at me
I turn my lights on brighter
I'm counting through the night ride

And it's one more life for the taker (Chickenman Chickenman)

Up on the airplane
Nearer my God to thee
I start making a deal
Inspired by gravity

If I did wrong I won't do it again
Cause I can be sweet and good and nice
And if I had enemies their friends
I'll hold on to my life with the grip of a vice

And I'm up on the airplane
Nearer my God to thee
I start making a deal
Inspired by gravity

That little spot on the ground is my hometown

As I drive from your pearly gates
I realize that I just can't stay
All those mountains they kept you locked inside
And hid the truth from my slighted eyes

I came to you with a half-open heart
Dreams upon my back illusions of a brand new start
Nashville
Can' I carry the load
Is it my fault I can't reap what I sow
Nashville
Did you give me half a chance

Sticks and stones battle zones
A single light bulb on a single thread for the black
Sirens wail history fails
Rose-colored glass begins to age and crack
While the politicians shadowbox the power ring
And an endless split decision never solve anything
From a neighbor's distant land
I heard the strain of the common man

Let it be me (this is not a fighting song)

Author: Indigo Girls
Album title: Indigo Girls
Center Stage
------ -----
Laughing in a crown of jewels,
numbness from a sceptors wound.
Toss and Turn, I spin and learn,
catch yourself before you burn.
A joker's dance before the king,
jangling beads, a silver ring.
Close your eyes and bare the sound,
jumping up - falling down.
Chorus:
Falling, Falling, Falling, Falling down.

Pain from pearls, hey little girl
How much have you grown?
Pain from pearls, hey little girl
Flowers for the ones you've known

Are you on fire from the years
What would you give for your kid fears?

Secret staircase, running high
You had a hiding place
Secret staircase, running low
They all know now you're inside

Are you on fire from the years

My place is of the sun and this place is of the dark
I do not feel the romance, I do not catch the spark
My place is of the sun and this place is of the dark
I do not feel the romance, I do not catch the spark

I don't know when I noticed life was life at my expense
The words of my heart lined up like prisoners on a fence
The dreams came in like needy children, tugging at my sleeve

From baby to best, there's no second test
Little storms destroy you
Here is the fame they promised to give you
Taking the place of my hand now

Did you try to be true?
What separates me from you now?
What separates me from you?

Did you borrow the soul, the soul that you sell now
What does your conscience tell you?
Where are the demons of your desire
Why does my love destroy you?

Everybody loves you and they want to know your story
You go riding out a mystery concealed in all your glory
But when it comes to flesh and bones you remind me of Shalot
Only made of shadows even though you're not

I remember how I spent all my energy and time
With affected conversation trying to pry inside your mind
You are as brilliant as truth and empty as a shell

From the bowery to the brimstone I tried to find your heart
The drugs of initiation, the bottom of a barrel that drops
I understand your causes sympathize with motivation
All the details of this war are just self-infatuation

1 2 3
Nothing's for free
4 5 6
Pick up the sticks
And go home

Your manic blood runs thick my friend are you looking for a clean escape

You and me of the 10,000 wars
Dividing life into factions of pleasures and chores
A bed to be made and a bed to lie in
A hand in the darker side
And our sights set on Zion
The heart of a skeptic and the mind of a child
Put my life in a box
And let my imagination run wild
Pour the cement from my feet
The heart and the mind on a parallel course
Never the two shall meet

There must be some kinda way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
I want to tell you now
You know there's just too much confusion
And I can't no I can't get no relief
All these businessmen they all drink our wine
And the plowman well he dig my earth
And you know that none fo them along the line
Can show me what any of this is worth