You better die every day Like a rose You better run on that hill Like a horse in the wind and the pouring rain. You gotta give it away, let it go As an offering to the wind. Fall every day, like the rain And roll down the hill like the Waters pouring from the drains And join the river And join the bigger river And let yourself flow to the sea Die every day like a rose Give yourself away like her petals Shine every day like the sun When the fire is burned then it’s done Then it’s done You better Die every day like a butterfly, After you have given yourself to the cocoon And shown all your colours to everyone And then it’s your time, and then you’re done And then you’re done. Why not sing your prayers out loud, once in a while? Why not let your gratitude be heard out loud? Why not pray out loud? In the garden of my first summers In the garden of my first summers The house was big, the windows open wide The kitchen door left open to the summer time. The apple tree was burgeoning with the autumn fruits Too sour to eat now but I’d sometimes try Mama’s coming out with a smile and the Washing’s drying on the summer line and the Trees are secret and I love their roots and I Hide away there with my songs and my dances. Knees are muddy on the English earth and there’s Grass stains on my summer dresses and No one minds for the grin and the blood on my knees always. Hold my hand I need your help to walk here You my father, you my mother and you my sisters all being big old girls in the world Die every day like a rose Giving her petals away Fall, from the sky like the rain Throw yourself on the earth Roll down the hill and join the stream Become the river become the sea Become the clouds become the waters Become a part of everything There is a tender fire inside There is a tender fire inside that Wants to hide and be hidden away. There is a little song inside That wants a secret place to come out and Sing like a bird. Dance every day, like the wind on your face Sing your song, give it away Burn, if you will, till it’s all gone Be warm be bright be hot be strong There is a tender fire inside There is a tender fire inside There is a little song that wants to sing like a bird.

Is there a dream in your heart that wants to live but it doesn’t live yet? What seed do you have in there that wants to grow, but it hasn’t been sown yet? What would it be like to take that seed in the palm of your hand and say 'I see you, I love you, I believe in you, and I’m gonna give you some time'? I see you, I love you And I’m gonna give you just a little bit more of my time. What’s in your heart that doesn’t live yet but wants to live? What song do you have in there that wants to sing, but it hasn’t been sung yet? What would it be like to go inside and hear that song and say 'I hear you, I love you And I’m gonna give you just a little bit more of my time'? I hear you I love you And I’m gonna give you just a little bit more of my time I see you I hear you I love you And I’m gonna give you just a little bit more of my time. Those dreams in your heart May they bloom, may they bloom.

And you walk In all of your quiet fears Ok you still live and the Feathers seem to fly in sunlight outside still The breath of the wind Still lifts them and your blood still flows And those Quiet ribbons of tension that thread around your form Live there for now OK. And you walk In all of your quiet strength Ok the ground there beneath your feet supports you every day You breathe, drink and love You fill your body healthily And somewhere deep down inside your heart you know all the truths You need to know OK.

Bless the Girl as she blossoms Bless the girl as she blooms Bless the girl as she begins to love them Bless the girl as she begins to open herself Don’t shame her, don’t rape her, don’t blame her don’t hate her Don’t leave her alone, don’t make her stay home Don’t shame her, don’t hate her, don’t rape her. Bless the child as she becomes a woman Nature wanted nothing less Bless her beauty, bless her body Bless her sense/scents Bless her eyes Bless her lips Bless the life Between her thighs Bless the boys or girls any one or two or three she is loving Don’t fight, don’t lie Don’t shame her, don’t rape her Don’t blame her Don’t leave her wounded at home On her own Navigating something so strong Eros is a wide, wild, garden of magnificence. A life spring of nourishment and sustenance For everyone, everyone Like the rain and the sun And meeting at the garden gate heart to heart eye to eye If it’s a yes Well then you are blessed.

I’ll be waiting for you brother On the platform All night if I need to I’ll be waiting for you brother On the platform All night if I need to The morning bird Sings through the darkness of the night So many hours it’s had its grip upon us The morning bird Brings a song Wakes the dawn With colour A little curl a little twirl a little furl Of heaven’s song From the morning Bird O and the morning bird The morning bird Didn’t have such a good night herself but still The morning bird is here to sing you Your day. The morning bird Sings through the darkness of the night So many hours it’s had its grip upon us The morning bird Brings a song Wakes the dawn With colour A little curl a little twirl a little furl Of heaven’s song From the morning Bird

Soft man In the holy in the holy land In the holy o what did you do? What are these images That pass behind your eyes Every time you try to go to sleep? In the holy in the holy Welcome to this land. They put a uniform on your body and a weapon in your hand. These are your neighbours. You’re an adult now and this is how you are going to relate to them. Soft man Clear eyes, you take my hand will I let you inside my sacred? O and ay We prayed for peace, we prayed for peace today My hand upon your shoulder in silence we prayed and I saw The neighbours being friends Woman to woman and men to men I saw the children play together in the street with the sun in their eyes and the waters flowing And I saw the olive groves burgeoning and I saw The homes comfortable and I saw trust and friendship neighbour to neighbour eye to eye arm in arm I saw man to man and woman to woman my friend I prayed for peace with my hand upon your shoulder Prayed for peace with my hand upon your shoulder Soft man Would you put the war into my body if I let you in? Soft man would you bring the trauma into my being if I let you in? Soft man. She said “it’s 10am It’s time to pray. If you’d like to join us, we pray for peace in the Middle East here every Friday.” And we all went outside And each in our own way Took a few minutes To pray for peace in a gentle way I saw the schools with the children learning together. Is that possible? Hebrew and Arabic I don’t suppose it would work. But I have walked the streets of Belfast Where there was the first Protestant child to go to a Catholic school And then the second and then the third, and I have heard talks from the leaders Who said “Ok, What do you want, what do you need? Let’s figure it out, let’s find peace” and this morning I saw the Leaders listening and trusting “Here you are you’re my neighbour I live with you I love you Let’s find Peace.” Soft man, what’s going to happen now? I’ve seen it happen in Northern Ireland before my own eyes So I believe it can happen right there I’ve seen it happen in Northern Ireland before my own eyes So I believe it can happen right there I grew up with bombs too From the IRA but you know you Don’t hear about those any more.

Rain is falling Just finished work It’s 11:30 and the night is drawing in Guess it’s thanksgiving holiday soon and I’ve gotta rest. You’re far away But your beauty still reaches me Who are you? I’m still Learning my way into the forest Is this gonna be love? Is it gonna be life? Is it gonna be days? Is it going to be whole, Is it gonna be brave? My heart it is Tender cautious and true. Enter me and I will enter you. And I don’t want to hurt you I don’t want to lead you astray See I don’t know what I want today. But when I hear you play My body says Enter me It’s so vulnerable To let my flesh speak this way but when I Hear you play it’s what my Body says Enter me You got me paying attention. Enter me You got me taking you seriously. Maybe. You do something to me, When you’re playing so beautifully. My body says Enter me. When I first heard this in the car as I was teaching It sent this rush of energy through my heart my body and my loin And this song came bursting through the windows of the car on Cedar Avenue Driving up the hill and Looking at the sunset Teaching the children Singing this singing this song inside my form Enter me You got me paying attention. Enter me You got me taking you seriously. Maybe. You do something to me, When you’re playing so beautifully. My body says Enter me.

Welcome kid In your soft small hand I will place the whole world You know It’s so beautiful The trees they grow and The birds live in them and They sing to the dawn As she rises every morning and the Fruits form on the trees and they will Burst into your mouth so sweetly and the Rivers will flow and they will Bring you peace in your bones As they glisten in the sun But you know there’s a time limit on the world and the The rivers are going to stop running the sun is going to set things on fire What was green will brown and dry, and what was ice will become mud. So much of life is already dead The delicate things our grandmothers lived with are gone The birds will keep singing their song Until such a time comes that they’re gone. Welcome kid Is your heart big enough to hold the whole world To hold the whole world as it is? Welcome kid Is your heart big enough to hold the whole world To hold the whole world as it is? Hey girl You like his eyes And his chest seems to call you in He’s got these ways that put him In the middle of your gaze and everything else becomes a blur and fades away But when you get close you’re gonna see….. Everything Everything the good the bad the flowing the ugly And the broken cos the One thing you can be sure of is that he’s broken and you’re broken too Otherwise how would you fit in this world of broken people and broken things And yet still every morning every blade of grass drinks a bead of dew And your skin will melt into his like the most beautiful thing in the world. Welcome kid you know You’re a British citizen and soon, an American too And your countries between them are responsible for, I don’t know, maybe something like half of the violence Half of the violence Empires old and new We say that we’re great and we say that we’re strong We’ve got these great big institutions With these great big grand columns We’ve got a Queen and some princes we’ve got these Hollywood stars and half of the world comes to visit at their doors But you know The people are in prison and the prisoners are slaves The police are shooting at the black people and the people are shooting at the children in schools More than half of the money’s getting sucked right up to the top 1 or 2 And those people are feeling broken too Dear lord If you’re there at all Tell me How do you stay whole In a broken world If you’re a broken girl at all? How do you stay whole In a broken world If you’re a broken woman At home.

Woke up with this morning with the sun in my eyes After a night of trouble and storm Rains they’ve been falling, the tears we’ve cried Struggle feels so deep in the heart Woke up this morning with the sun in my eyes Still kinda heavy from the tears I’ve cried Woke up this morning with you in my arms Woke up this morning with the light in your eyes Could we, could we be allies? After growing up watching the love of opponents? Woke up this morning with the sun in my eyes All the birds were singing there outside And the cat came to join in the warmth and the cuddles And even seemed kind of glad I was home. Sometimes the road gets so hard Rains all night through the storm Held together by just a thread And sometimes even that thread itself gets broken Will men and women always been at war Underneath the pretty rubric of love? Tell me, did anyone ever really work it out? To be in love and peace Me behind you and you behind me Holding the parts that are beautiful and whole And the parts that are difficult and wounded, Can we heal with our love? Can we heal with our love? Handle with care.

Took yourself away And all your funky bass And I miss you My Musical Darling O the birds are not song birds tonight. And my song is only half a song without you Since you’ve taken your music aside. You got mad and said don’t ever Never contact me again. Ok, but where do your rhythms find their place? Where do they find their place? Hello from a hill in California These days she’s either flooded or she burns The reservoirs are emptying and I don’t think I can stay here My life, my path in life it turns But I miss you My musical darling. O the birds are not song birds tonight My song is only half a song without you Since you’ve taken your music aside. Breaking the rules Was always my way Reaching for you Is what I wasn’t strong enough not to do I miss you My musical darling O the birds are not song birds tonight. And all these songs are only half songs without you Guess I’ll just hope there’s other musicians in the world. Maybe there’s other musicians in the world.

Thank you for your heart Thank you for your heart Thank you for your heart Thank you for the way you’re brave enough to feel All the things you feel When you’re a human frickin being it’s kind of intense inside this form Thank you for your grief And thank you for holding me with your whole body as my heart was breaking into two. Thank you for holding me like a mother when I was struggling hard THank you for the ways you showed me all of your heart Thank you for your touch Thank you for your dance Thank you for sitting with me while I smoked cigarettes ‘cos I didn’t wanna feel it all O, thank you. How is your heart, how is your heart, how is your heart? Is it jumping for joy? Is it stuck in the mud? Is it deadened by the screens, by the pressure and all the work? Has it been shrouded in caffeine Has it been pushed down too many times Has it been wounded by somebody else’s suffering and their violence? Is it ready to be checked into a hospital Is it ready to lie down and rest? Is your heart rising again? In its nature and its grace In its rightful time and place right here, right now. Each heart is like a flower in a vine of a plant No heart should be alone no heart is separate from the other hearts We are flowers on a vine We are lives in a line We are humans wanting to try We need to belong and to touch And be connected with all life We want to live in the love In the arms of the earth In the holding of all of nature and your Touch and your skin and your eyes and your voice and your heart and your life I welcome your heart, I welcome your heart Thank you for your heart. Thank you for your heart. Cause we all need a gentle time And we all need a gentle touch And we all need a soft, soft ground And we all need it easy And we all need the safe safe quiet Of a good night. And we all, And we all Are creatures And we all, And we all Are tender. And we all need a gentle time And we all need a gentle touch And we all need a gentle heart Reaching out towards us.