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
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
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
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
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
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