In the land of 10,000 mothers every
song is a lullaby
Nobody marches to war no one stands
in the airport and cries
Nobody dies on the highway with too
many words left unsaid
In the land of 10,000 mothers we
all sleep safe in our beds
In the land of 10,000 mothers milk
and honey flow without end
Nobody goes away wanting. You are
welcome wherever you've been.
You are welcome to lay your head
down
And get a kiss for every wound
In the land of 10,000 mothers you
will get better soon.
You are welcome no matter what
chases you
Whatever road you chose through the
wood
In the land of 10,000 mothers
somebody loves you
And knows you are good.
Maybe every journeys been taken I
have not been to see myself
They say everything has been spoken
It was spoken by somebody else
You are the gate, the gatekeeper
too
Not every road is straight, not
every dream comes true
But we walk on, walk on through.
They say everything has been done
Tell them my way is not complete
It's not how long is the journey of
life but how wide and deep.
Bad luck might wait just around the
corner
I can hear them now, don't say we
didn't warn her.
Walk on, walk on through.
You are warned every road is long.
You are warned every road is hard
There's a boatload of good advice.
It's better just to disregard.
The fruit is out on the limb you've
got to go get it
Fear of the fall will kill you if
you let it.
Walk on, walk on through.
There is comfort you do not grow
out of, shoes you cannot replace
Birthdays you always look back on,
goodbyes you cannot erase
There are memories you never go
back to
And those where you always return
There are fires you have to keep
tending
And those that just know how to
burn
There's a walk you wish never ended
And a friendship you wish never
changed
hopes you wish they'd hold onto,
adjustments you just can't arrange
There's a summer perfect and golden
When the young and the foolish
don't know
There are torches you have to carry
And those that will follow wherever
you go.
But a life doesn't go where you
lead it,
Adventures don't do what they're
told
And I don't know the reason why I
push myself out in the cold
So find me an answer to the bump in
the night
Why some love won't let you alone
Some fires go out when you leave
them,
Some keep burning all on their own
There are memories you never go
back to
And those where you always return
There are fires you have to keep
tending
And those that just know how to
burn.
I am thinking of getting injected,
gravity's heavier than I expected
And it's pulling things out of
place, my skin's getting longer than my face
And it's pooling in the creases,
although my vigilance never ceases
With the emollients and the
greases. I am a puzzle losing it's pieces
And the cracks are slowly growing
between my tectonic plates
Continental drift, for man or woman
never waits.
And there's no point in
self-deceiving,
Like Australia, part of me is
leaving.
I always wanted more facial
definition and a somewhat stronger chin
Now I'd be happy with just a
remission of this loss of collagen
You can put your fears to rest. I
won't be getting any in the chest
it wouldn't solve any problems at
all
And it'd just give me two more
things to fall
So I am thinking of getting
injected.
I'm getting older sooner than I
expected.
Six limousines pulled into my
driveway
Three were grey and three were
black
Six chauffeurs got out of six front
doors
And opened six doors in the back.
And from each limousine came a part
of a heart
Like the kind you would see on a
card from Hallmark
Each piece was carried by a family
of ants
And on the lawn it looked like each
part of that heart danced
together to become one.
I did not know what that heart
might mean
Why it arrived in six pieces in six
limousines
Limousines carry power, ants
usually do not
Maybe in the ant world these ants
were big shots.
The ants camped out with the heart
in the fine summer weather
And I watched as they slowly sewed
it together
For a while there it looked like
Frankenstein
But a heart without some stitching is
hard to find.
The limousines left, but the ants
stayed
And each morning they circled the
heart and they prayed
And they sang it ant hymns, and ant
lullabies
And the scars on that heart healed
by and by.
One morning I looked out and the
ants had gone
And the heart looked quite alone
out there on the lawn
So I went out to see, I found a
note there for me
It said "with you we all
abide, your heart has arrived."
Hannibal crossed the Alps, did you
learn that in history
Hannibal crossed the Alps; the
elephants were a mystery
To the Roman army on the other side
Elephants from Switzerland - boy
were they surprised.
Hannibal crossed the Alps. He said
there's nothing to it
Hannibal crossed the Alps. Come
boys we can do it
Just a little further and Rome
could be taken
Hindsight says Hannibal was
mistaken.
Hannibal crossed the Alps. He
started in Spain
Hannibal crossed the Alps. Imagine
the baggage train
Food and shelter for a hundred
thousand troops
Imagine that on your next morning
commute.
Hannibal crossed the Alps. Can you
say Carthaginian?
Hannibal crossed the Alps, but now
we'd call him Libyan
Or Phoenician or Tunisian, or to
confuse you more
The Romans called it the Punic
wars.
Hannibal crossed the Alps. It was
brilliant and bold
Hannibal crossed the Alps. His men
were very cold
These were not the northern Goths,
not the Vandals
These were Africans marching
through snow in sandals.
Hannibal crossed the Alps a long
long time ago
Hannibal crossed the Alps. That's
all you need to know.
My grandfather used to play 76
trombones and Miss Otis Regrets
On a flat bed truck all the way
down Main Street
With the color guard and the Vets
My grandmother saved the picture
they ran in the paper
George and his ivories in the lead
76 trombones lead the big parade,
George and his 88 keys
Miss Otis regrets that George will
be unable to lunch today
He's down the hall in his room with
some childhood tune
That will not get out of his way
And there's a bird on the
windowsill or is that his old back yard
And the sparrow that once sat on
his palm
76 trombones lead the big parade
In George's head they all sing
different songs
He Wore A Tulip, A Big Yellow Tulip
and she wore a big red rose
George wears what the nurse dresses
him in
Now he can't understand his clothes
My grandmother comes to help him
eat his lunch everyday
And sit with him through the long
afternoon
76 trombones lead the big parade
And love does not forget it's tunes
Amazing Grace, where is your sweet
sound
Let it come and abide with me
In the gathering dark we'll sing a
song in f-sharp
ˆéCause George taught himself on
just the black keys
We'll play it by ear, to call
heaven near
Where not one note has to sound
alone
76 trombones lead the big parade
And George all the way home.
Welcome to the ladies room. it's a
special kind of place
You might think we come in to
relieve the body
And check the status of the face
But there's a little convention
women never discuss
We know there are germs in here and
they're coming for us
So we don't sit down, we tighten
our thighs and sort of hover
Or we use the little butt-gasket
paper cover and a foot to flush.
An elbow to open and close the
stall door
There's more germs on the handle
than there are on the floor
And it's more complicated than you
might think
Washing your hands without touching
the sink.
(Inspired by "The Second
Coming", W.B. Yeats)
When the Rapture comes for the
faithful I'm sure I'll be left behind
The Heaven of the literal minded
it's not the heaven I am going to find
Whatever we were following to
Bethlehem the trail is growing cold
Where are the neutral angels? How will the center hold?
Whatever you do if you do it too
much
That's when you're doing it right
It's a long way up and a long way
down and the leash is a little tight
Too much too little too out too in
Too rich too poor too fat too thin
You break down, take a pill and
then do it again
How will the center hold?
No man is an island but build a
castle and keep what you got
Ten thousand square feet of
dominion on a quarter acre lot
Full of time-saving devices so you
can attend to the needs of your soul
Get your ducks in a row, get a
portfolio How will the center hold?
The future belongs to the fastest who
only need four hours of sleep
Turn your music up loud, fight
through the crowd, six billion deep.
Think outside the box but do what
you're told
Get a fitness plan and a five year
goal
You've got fifteen minutes and then
you're too old
How will the center hold?
I've too much time to want more
time but I still do
Afraid of one shining moment I
might lose
I've been known to run round just
to see myself move
I've too much time to want more
time but I still do.
I drive too far to think there's no
place like home
Any small town takes care of it's
own
And the middle of my nowhere could
be a back road for you
I drive too far to want to go home
but I still do
Too much time to want more time but
I still do.
I'm too old to think love is just
gentle and sweet
Any romance will make your heart
skip a beat
And I used to want to be rescued,
some days I still do
What you can't keep is still a hard
thing to lose
Too much time to want more time but
I still do
I've seen too much good to think the
bad won't go away
It's a hard life but there are very
soft days
And I used to want to be rescued
and some days I still do
And no place like home; some days
it's still true
What you can't keep, it's still a
hard thing to lose
Too much time to want more time but
I still do.
Jumwillies sing Jumwillies dance
Jumwillies woo you with Jumwilly
romance
They love to travel to foreign
lands
They always have funds they rarely
make plans
They tell excellent stories with
outlandish schemes
One thing they don't tell you is
what Jumwilly means
Jumwillies know Japanese They are
fluent in Greek
English, French, Latin, all the languages they speak.
They are well educated, They are
very well read
But they love to use words they
just make up in their head
They whisper in your coffee, they
dance into your dreams
One thing they don't tell you is
what Jumwilly means.
Jumwillies navigate with savoire
faire and stealth.
They smoke Cuban cigars
They're not worried about their
health.
They are world-class walkers. They
roam across the land
The owl and the pussycat, they
might understand
When they say the hold Mr. Lear in
very high esteem
That's all you need to know about
what Jumpily means.
Hickory Dickory Dock; Diddly I
Diddly I day
Hi ho the Derry oh; Sha na na, wim
o way
Diddy Wah Diddy; Da Doo Run Run
Doo Wap Doo Wap; Hey Diddle Diddle
Nonsense can be fun.
Every sound you hear is exactly
what it seems
That's all you need to know about
what Jumwilly means.
I lock the door. I turn off the
porch light
I unplug the phone for the night
It's best when there's no one in
sight
When you dance the Introvert Waltz
I dance fast and then I dance slow
round the kitchen table
Past the cupboard to the stove
It's strictly a one-woman-show
When I dance the Introvert Waltz
Call me shy. Call my proud
Tell me how life is best when it's
lived out loud
I get lonely in a crowd That's why
I dance
The Introvert Waltz
For some I hear the party is bliss
all night revels are hard to resist
They're mystified if you might like
it like this
If you dance the Introvert Waltz.
In my mother's house there are
flowers, fountains and gold
In my mother's house there is every
fairytale ever told
In my mother's house there is
beauty in the sudden summer storm
In my mother's house there is love
in all it's wonder taking form.
In my mother's house are fields of
plenty;
in the fall it's like they're all
on fire
In my mother's house there are soft
beds to rest on when you're tired
In my mother's house the winters
are quiet
in the silence hear the falling
snow
In my mother's house there's a time
to arrive and a time to go.
In my mother's house are ancient
trees and baby birds in the nest
In my mother's house there's a time
to gather and a time to rest
In my mother's house are hunters
and hurricanes
And everything can die
In my mother's house there is
heartbreak waiting
And no one really knows why.
In my mother's house there is
beauty breaking in the storm
In my mother's house there is love
in all it's wonder taking form.
KIDNAPPED FERDINAND THE BULL
The Little Engine That Could
kidnapped Ferdinand the Bull and locked him in
her boxcar. She said "I think
I can I think I can for hours. Why should you enjoy the
flowers while I work so hard?"
Ferdinand called out from inside
the boxcar, "Flowers grow all along your
train track. All you have to do is
slow down, and look around and sometimes be
willing to turn back."
The Runaway Bunny who had been disguised as a flower alongside the
track
saw this kidnap and said, "I
must get help. I'm sure that angry little train isn't
something Ferdinand is going to
want to stay on." So the Runaway Bunny
Ran off to find Harold and his
purple crayon.
Harold and His Purple Crayon drew a
break in the track and a purple
construction crew He said to the
Little Engine," You can't go through.
We'll fix the problem and then you
can proceed." And to himself Harold thought,
"A little time in one place is
just what this Little Engine needs."
Then Harold said, "For this
attack we need forces upon whom we can depend."
So Harold drew All The Kings Horses
and All The King's Men.
Then Harold said with a purple
shout, "Ferdinand, we're busting you out!"
When they broke down the door they
found Ferdinand meditating on the floor.
Harold said, "You can go home,
home to your cork tree." Ferdinand said, "Om, Om
is all that will be." So they
tossed him out of the boxcar
Onto Harold's hastily drawn bumble
bee.
The Little Engine That Could, as they were preparing to leave
her, said,
"I didn't choose to be an
overachiever. I'm a period piece from the American Way
and I'm trying to change - so won't
you stay?"
Ferdinand didn't hear her, because
having been stung he had started to run
and Harold was surrounded by All
The Kings Horses and All The Kings Men
And they were begging him to please
draw Humpty Dumpty whole again.
The Runaway Bunny said, "You
can come home with me and sit in my mother's lap.
If you're tired We'll turn out the
light and say, Goodnight Moon
And fall asleep by the fire."
The Little Engine That Could said,
"Oh, that sounds nice. I think I can.
I think I can. I think I will. I
think I...am."
Harold has a purple crayon. He drew
the water, dry land;
He drew the bed that he lays on
He drew a moon in the sky, and a
tree, it was kind
He puts apples in the branches.
Harold draws his grand design.