Lyrics

My first contact with Diane was centered around poetry and music. She emailed me in late March 2005 to ask me if I’d be okay with her setting one of my poems, which she’d just come across online, to music. That poem was Sacred Hymn. I responded by saying I’d like to talk with her first.

And thus began our relationship. For the next three weeks we had many long, deep, easy phone conversations; she was in Ojai, California and I was in White Rock, British Columbia. We reworked Sacred Hymn some, shifting it from its original poetic form into lyrics, and Diane created the music for it. As close as we felt during our talks, we didn’t talk about our evolving relationship, other than acknowledging how good it felt to hear each other’s voice and what wonderful ease and depth there was in our interplay.

Three weeks after our initial contact I went to see her and whatever veils still were between us very quickly dropped. A year later we were married. By that time, she’d sung Sacred Hymn many times at various gatherings and groups — we’d usually close our weekend workshops with her singing it and with the entire assembly chanting the chorus.

There were other poems of mine that Diane saw as potential songs, none of them needing much alteration to be music-ready lyrics. With much mutual pleasure we reworked seven of these and Diane arranged each one musically. It was our first collaboration, soon to be followed by our side-by-side collaboration in our psychospiritual healing and awakening work. Soon we had eight songs done, each birthed out of our uncommonly close relationship.

Then we were funded to do a high quality CD, and so began the recording process, with the recording studio one mile down the road from us! Top musicians serendipitously appeared and participated, including a quartet from the Vancouver Symphony. For each song I would sit facing Diane in the recording booth; we’d gaze at each other, connecting very deeply, then she would sing, and sing, and sing, until it was obvious that she’d captured the essential feeling of the song.

The outcome of this was O Breathe Us Deep, released in 2008. All the lyrics appear immediately below. Some songs are devotional, some are raw; some soar, and some dive deep; but all are put together in the spirit of awakening to who and what we truly are, featuring a genre-transcending spirituality.

My words, Diane’s music, ours to offer.

 

 

THIS THE OPEN GROUND

Listen:

This the open ground

This the pure eagle’s sound

This, this the breathing Earth

This, this the timeless dream

This, this the crystalline stream

This, this the breakthrough supreme

 

Take the grief from your brow

Wash away the revenge from your now

Go, go where the river’s dancing white

Go, go where you left your spirit-sight

Do you not feel the sacred feather in your hair?

Have you forgotten it’s still there?

 

Fly, fly the eagle’s sky

Ride, ride the eagle’s cry

Glory every cloud with your flight

Leave fiery trails in the darkest night

But do not let your mind paddle those ruined lakes

Do not drown in all the bloody heartbreaks

 

This, this is the time to let fly

This, this is the time to say goodbye

This, this is the time to take hold of the sky

Chant, chant your rivers sparkling wild

Chant, chant your rivers down to the sea

Chant for every bird and every tree

Chant, chant the Great Mystery

 

This the open ground

This the pure eagle’s sound

This, this the breathing Earth

This, this the timeless dream

This, this the crystalline stream

This, this the breakthrough supreme

 

Take your hurt where the river’s dancing white

Take your past to where the drums beat all night

Take your naked spirit into the firelight

Let the bare truth raise you tall

Until you can see above every wall

 

This, this your spirit’s door

This, this your farewell to a dead shore

This, this the open ground

This, this the pure eagle’s sound

This, this the breathing earth

This, this the Holy Day

This, this the Invitation that will not go away

This, this the Invitation that will not go away

 

 

 


SACRED HYMN

Listen:

O Father of my soul, O Breath of my breath

Taking me through death after death

O May I be a vessel for Your Light

As I sail through the night

In You I rise and fall

Pulsing with Your Call

Ever dying into You am I

Like clouds into endless sky

O Guide me, guide me on, guide me free

Guide me, guide me on, guide me into Thee

 

O Mother of my soul, O Cradle of my every birth

O Green, green heartbeat of my earth

O May I make room for Your Embrace

As I awaken to You in every place

In You I rise and fall

Pulsing with Your Call

Ever dying into You am I

Like clouds into endless sky

O Guide me, guide me on, guide me free

Guide me, guide me on, guide me into Thee

 

O Source of my soul, O Joy beyond desire

Your Welcome is all that I require

As I come alive in Your Spirit-Fire

O May I open to You, up and down

Until my heart finds sacred ground

In You I rise and fall

Pulsing with Your Call

Ever dying into You am I

Like clouds into endless sky

O Guide me, guide me on, guide me free

Guide me, guide me on, guide me into Thee

 

O Lover of my all, O Joy that cannot die

O Wonder beyond every goodbye

You are forever, forever here

This is how You must now appear

In You I rise and fall

Pulsing with Your Call

Ever dying into You am I

Like clouds into endless sky

O Guide me, guide me on, guide me free

Guide me, guide me on, guide me into Thee

 

O May all things awaken me

Until there is only Thee

O May all things awaken me

Until there is only Thee

 

 

 

LOOK FOR ME

Listen:

Look for me

where storms blow open the gates

Look for me

where broken boats cross the straits

Look for me

where the sea shines with shattered sky

Look for me

where you can no longer lie

Look, look for me

where joy and pain disappear into sun and rain

 

Look for me

where broken hearts take wing

Look for me

where hidden longings must sing

Look for me

where your body bends with grief

Look for me

where you feel the birth of each new leaf

Look, look for me

where joy and pain disappear into sun and rain

 

Look for me

where the first of us searched the sky

Look for me

where the last of us is saying goodbye

Look for me

where you’re broken enough to be whole

Look for me

where love’s the ground and not the goal

Look, look for me

where joy and pain disappear into sun and rain

 

Look for me

where darkness sheds its shadow

Look for me

where buried dreams still glow

Look for me

where you forget and you fall

Look for me

where silence says it all

Look, look for me

where joy and pain disappear into sun and rain

 

Look for me

where the land is wild with naked wonder

Look for me

where jagged shores moan with white thunder

Look for me

where the sea is ablaze with dawn

Look for me

where everything’s already gone

Look, look for me

where joy and pain disappear into sun and rain

 

Look for me

where we must dance and die

Look for me

where forehead is an infinity of sky

Look for me

where you awaken in the night

Look for me

where there’s nothing but unbroken light

Look, look for me

where joy and pain disappear into sun and rain

 

 

TAKE ME TO THE BOTTOM OF YOUR PAIN

Listen:

Take me to the bottom of your pain

Take me to the weave of your true name

Take me, take me to what you require

Take me to the heart of the fire

Let’s stretch to make the leap

Let’s go to where love must also weep

 

Take me to the bottom of your pain

Take me to the weave of your true name

Take me, take me over the rise

Take me through all your goodbyes

Let’s shine through our every disguise

Let’s go to where love has open eyes

 

Take me to the bottom of your pain

Take me to the weave of your true name

Take me, take me right to your core

Take me through your hidden door

Let’s throw away our every alibi

Let’s go to where love no longer lies

 

Take me to the bottom of your pain

Take me to the weave of your true name

Take me, take me past your past

Take me where only the sacred will last

Let’s go beyond all that binds

Let’s live where insights lose their mind

Let’s go to where love is no longer blind

 

 

I COME TO YOU

Listen:

I come to you through it all

I am the one who hears your spirit call

I am the one who is sky for your dawning light

Do not turn from me, even in your darkest night

 

I come to you through the high and the low

I am the one you cannot name but always know

I am the one who is earth for your deepest dance

Do not turn from me, even in your darkest trance

 

Love me now, love me full

Love me bright, love me day and night

I cannot be found because I cannot be lost

Love me whatever the cost

 

I come to you through the heart of now

I am the one who bows only to Eternal Thou

I am the one who is ocean for your streams

Do not turn from me, even in your darkest dreams

 

I come to you in every shape

I am the one beyond all escape

I am the one who is fire for what’s dead in you

Do not turn from me, even in your darkest view

 

Love me now, love me full

Love me bright, love me day and night

I cannot be found because I cannot be lost

Love me whatever the cost

 

I come to you when love is sailing free

I am the one you always feel but don’t always see

I am the one who is space for what you cannot face

Do not turn from me, even in your hardest place

 

I come to you when love is burning bright

I am the one aflame in every sacred site

I am the one rising from the ruins

Burning, burning through to you

Until joy is the ground and love is all around

Until our flesh speaks Truth’s tongue

Until our song is fully sung

 

Love me now, love me full

Love me bright, love me day and night

I cannot be found because I cannot be lost

Love me whatever the cost

 

 

AND AGAIN

Listen:

Again I break, my need dissolving my pride

Again I spill, my hurt streaming, streaming wide

Again I die, letting all the goodbyes tear open my sky

Again I whisper and again I roar

Swimming through the dreamy door

And again I join what’s above with what’s below

And again I recognize the One behind the show

 

Again I fall, chained to my lies

Again I rise, filled with blazing night and newborn cries

Again I pump up my will, gunning for the holy thrill

Again I wake, not needing any words for my prayer

No longer seeking something better to wear

And again I join what’s above with what’s below

And again I recognize the One appearing as the show

 

Again I reach through the darkness shining wild

Again I rock in the cradle of Eternity’s child

Again I die, releasing all that I took to be mine

Again I howl, prowling through forests of palm and pine

One hand on a spear, the other on my fear

And again I join what’s above with what’s below

And again I recognize the One behind the show

 

Again I gaze from one eye, my broken body aglow

Again I drop my sword, watching my blood cut rivers in the snow

Again I beat a sweating drum, urging you to leave your mind

Again I disappear without leaving anything behind

And again I join what’s above with what’s below

And again I recognize the One appearing as the show

 

Again I smile, touching what’s always touched me

Again I dance in the fire, burning free

Again I cleanse myself in sacred lagoons

Again I rebuild the temple, rising from my ruins

And again I join what’s above with what’s below

And again I recognize the One behind the show

 

Again I break and taste the final goodbye

Again I ride a wave of everlasting sky

Again I fall and forget the Sacred Call

And again I remember and again I include it all

And again here we are, in the flesh yet unborn

Lovers with both the calm and the storm

And again I join what’s above with what’s below

And again I recognize the One beyond the show

 

 


O BREATHE US DEEP

Listen:

The waves arrive one by one

Sparkling with remembered sun

Ancient songs seizing our tongue

The temple rising out of the blue

Broken pillars now solid and true

O Breathe us deep, breathe us strong

Breathe us full, O breathe us home

 

The waves arise with shining grace

Stained with dawn’s burning face

We won’t leave this broken place

Until we release our golden chains

Bursting through the slumber and pain

O Breathe us deep, breathe us strong

Breathe us full, O breathe us home

 

It is time to turn from the old

It’s time to come in from the cold

Frozen pain will bind our soul

Until we’re freed from our tomorrows

No longer chained to old sorrows

O Breathe us deep, breathe us strong

Breathe us full, O breathe us home

 

And once again here we are

Gathered together from afar

Each a spark from a dying star

Our awakening heart is the clearing

For the Holy Deep we are nearing

O Breathe us deep, breathe us strong

Breathe us full, O breathe us home

 

 

LAST SIGH OF A VAGABOND WAVE

Listen:

My face is unveiled sky and timeless dream

Dewbrightened dawn and shadow-dappled stream

Gnarled coastline and jagged-blossomed storm

Ever bursting through the roof of what’s unborn

Gone, gone am I

Birthing me am I

Struggling deepsea drop am I

 

My body’s spun from gravity and boundless light

Dreaming of gypsy joys and knotted night

Soaring over cobblestone oceans of cloud

Ever sailing through the walls of what’s allowed

Gone, gone am I

Birthing me am I

Green fire of wild places am I

 

My life sings and bleeds in colors bare and bright

Riding waves of shattered moon through the night

Nothing is moving yet everything’s in motion

Only broken waves will ever know the ocean

Gone, gone am I

Birthing me am I

Last sigh of a vagabond wave am I

 

And this too am I

Where mystery is all that’s known

Where love is what is being grown

Where silence tells the ultimate story

Where life blazes in all its pain and glory

Gone, gone am I

Birthing me am I

Last sigh of a vagabond wave am I

Where there’s so much I’m dying to see

Dying, dying, dying to see