Lyric Excerpt--Out Of Eden

I'm on a composition bender these days, and the words are coming from some pretty deep places (don't they always...). Here's your latest psychic snoop:

Out Of Eden

Living out these consequences
Of the things that I did wrong
Out of Eden, hope still holds me
Another garden keeps me strong

I believe in wild salvation
I believe in ancient dreams
Destiny's on my horizon
And I still know what grace means

Woo, let's take a breath after that one. Yes, I'm all for songs in the "cheesy party classic" category. But occasionally, my soul says "let's go swimming in the deep end." Maybe you can relate to these words, maybe you can't--although that would basically mean you're perfect or at least have a very short memory.

Last night Karen and I went to a discussion about the upcoming Des Moines Civic Center stage production of "The Color Purple", which is much more based on the novel than the movie was. We discussed evolution of the spirit, triumph over horrific abuse, Celie's personal renaissance, "stepping into creation" as she says in the story, into a land full of wild salvation and grace.

I'm going to see the show next week. But more importantly, I'm going to live in what it and the little song up above both represent, vast expanses of wild salvation and grace. It's not too late for a personal renaissance, for me or for you.

Lyric Excerpt--Treasure

One man's trash is another man's treasure
One man's poison is another man's meat
One man's pain is another man's pleasure
One man's trial is another man's treat

You made a big mistake when you held my love at bay
You made a big mistake when you damned my love to hell
You made a big mistake when you threw my love away
So I will give the treasure of my love to someone else

Yeesh, them's fightin' words! But fighting a good fight..the fight for being treated right! One of our family mottos is "avoid where you're tolerated, go where you're celebrated, avoid where you're tolerating, go where you're celebrating." Life is too short, friends. Let's fill it with the lovely colors of healthy relationships, not the grays of the unhealthy. I'll hopefully be singing this new song in its entirety tomorrow (3-28-09) at an appropriate place, which was actually my mental inspiration for the lyric, The West End Salvage and Coffee Place downtown, during a performance by an up and coming young talent named Dan Berry. (It's from 2 to 4, come on down!)

And when I do, it will be a great reminder that I'm worth being treated well, by others and by my own self.

Lyric Excerpt--Blessing In Disguise

Just recorded a demo version of this, a power lash-out ballad I wrote which includes the following:

Blessing In Disguise

Chorus:
I loved you, but you did not love me
What was then, was then, and what will be, will be
So thank you for saving me from your pack of lies
For your absence has become a blessing in disguise

Amazing to look back at the loss of someone/something you cried for, craved for, never believing for a moment you could ever live without it/them, only to discover much later that gone equals good. Whoo--let's take a breath and say that again...gone equals good! Whatever the dysfunctional toxic person, relationship, compulsion, behavior, etc.., if being present equals bad, then gone equals good. No fill-in-the-blank is better than a bad fill-in-the-blank (lover, employer, system, belief, food, bike route, bowling ball, you name it).

Seriously, life is short, too short for settling in any way, shape or form. Let's keep our standards at the tippy tippy top when it comes to love, truth, beauty, freedom, peace, clothes, closets, ice trays, potholders, everything and everyone! Our Who's, What's, When's, Where's, Why's and How's all merit our very best response at any given moment. And the more I get in sync with this, the happier and healthier human I am becoming, and it feels great! More hard, sad losses continually reveal themselves as "happy blessings in disguise".

When it comes to less-than-the-best, gone equals not just good, gone equals GREAT!