The Road to Paradise

Wendy Wall

1

I Woke Up Dreaming 3:13

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Back in April 4:41

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3

Hugging the Coast 4:38

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4

Coming to Light 3:44

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5

The Road to Paradise 5:05

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6

Fool's Gold 2:56

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7

What Do I Do With Love 3:06

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8

A Wing and a Prayer 4:18

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The Wallflower Waltz 5:10

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For All My Worrying 3:51

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11

The Wisdom 5:03

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12

Water Under the Bridge 5:32

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13

Silence of Plenty 3:39

Lyrics

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I Woke up Dreaming

Where are we and where is universe

and where is this rendition of the big condition

we’re all one big nation in this incarnation

rife with fallacies

adrift in galaxies

I woke up dreaming

We’re a show here on the radio

it may be quite unwitting what we are transmitting

sending waves through space

at such a sleepy pace

they take a million years

to fall on no one’s ears

I woke up dreaming

Where are we and where is universe

and where are you and me going when the wind starts blowing

I am here beside my heart is open wide

and I will find your seas

adrift in galaxies

I woke up dreaming

Back in April

Back in April the wind was like gentle hands lifting up strands of my hair

on the boulevards ladies and gentlemen seemingly float through the air

very dreamlike the cherry trees blossoming seem so impossibly there

you and me underneath cherry trees back in April

There we lay our heads down where we were

with our backs to the green and the earth

back in April back in the heart of a long winter’s end

there we lay down our arms as we do

see the seasons they change me and you

and so we were and everything was young and new again

A numbing winter a cold unrelenting wind stripped us of all we might feel

back in April we walked through the tulips I kneeled to make sure they were real

very dreamlike the scope and intensity colors too vivid to bear

you and me we were under the trees back in April

There we lay our heads down where we were

with our backs to the green and the earth

back in April back in the heart of a long winter’s end

there we lay down our arms as we do

see the seasons they change me and you

and so we were and everything was young and new again

Back in April the maples were sheltering welcoming under the fold

hosting our tales and stories of wind and the wail of the bone cold

Deep in August light, bathing in summer sun’s washed winter memories clean

in the warmth here our limbs loosed we’re lulled to believing all is at is seems

the greening of willows the shock of forsythia seem like a faraway dream

oh but how we loved the sycamore trees back in April

There we lay our heads down where we were

with our backs to the green and the earth

back in April back in the heart of a long winter’s end

there we lay down our arms as we do

see the seasons they changed me and you

and so we were and everything was young and new again

Hugging the Coast

I am a seafarer

I am a born sailor

riding a wind that howls at my back

high on the deep seas

out in the misty

sun breaking through like a crown on the caps

Oh that was close

oh I was almost

lost in a dream and abandoned my post

here

hugging the coast

Here I have slate cliffs

here I have marshes

that shelter a wind that howls at my heels

out under the big skies

out in the spray flies a lone gull that calls 'you were born to be here'

Oh that was close

oh I just almost

answered a call and abandoned my post

here

hugging the coast

I am a dreamer

born to be dreaming

slave to a wind that howls through my soul

here I have slate cliffs

here I have marshes

that shelter a tale that burns to be told

Oh that was close

oh I have almost

cast me dream and abandoned my post

here

hugging the coast

Coming to Light

You had a fire in you didn’t you I could feel it burning up

I had to be the cool water to your flame

it was a high wire wasn’t it the imbalance never tamed

I lived inside a fear that had no name

there’s a light across the floor

I am not who I was before

these things and more are coming to light

I am a flower in the garden I am wings and I am wind

I am flying higher closer to the light

and you are finally rightful size and I am slowly letting go

oh I was holding on with all my might

I am not and I am so

who I was a moment ago

these things I know are coming to light

is it just too bad or just as well

if I’m living in a ravaged shell

are these yours or my burning embers

There is a moment in us isn’t there

any given breath to choose

between the darkness and the coming to the light

please remember don’t forget me

if I’m letting go let me

I was tired from holding on so tight

there’s a light that will arise

and you can see it through my eyes

as these things are I am coming to light

The Road to Paradise

I have a story here to tell

about a place I haven’t seen

a thousand light years from this hell

the air I’m breathing in a dream

I took a good look at my life

and I think it’s killing me

so I’m on the road to paradise

as far as I can see

There is a quiet and a still

it’s nothing like you’ve ever seen

the way the light’s cast on the hill

the light I’m seeing in a dream

No I’m not waiting til I die

that’s not the silence that I seek

I’m on the road to paradise

and paradise has heard me speak

You saw a fire in my eyes

today it burned a hole through me

I’m on the road to paradise

I think that fire’s killing me

I’m on the road to paradise

I smell the air it’s very sweet

and when the birds lift off the rocks

my heart keeps time with every beat

I have a story here to tell

about a place I haven’t seen

a thousand light years from this hell

the air I’m breathing in a dream

Fool’s Gold

It’s finally summertime again the winter went out with a bang

I spent it chasing after id and contemplating yin and yang

and you’ve been chasing after her and she’s been chasing after him

I saw you cut and paste a travelogue of everywhere you’ve been

just be prepared to ride the full range of emotions coming up

cause it’s a fool who trusts a woman that a woman wouldn’t trust

yeah it’s a fool who trusts a woman that a woman wouldn’t trust

Any woman’s got an instinct any woman’s got a sense

an unspoken code of honor hardly broken barely bent

but there’s another kind of woman with another kind of soul

she’s every woman for herself and every other woman knows

so go on forward with your hell bent forward motion if you must

but it’s a fool who trusts a woman that a woman wouldn’t trust

yeah it’s a fool who trusts a woman that a woman wouldn’t trust

I have disregarded reason and not reasoned with my will

every time it yielded harvests of a multitude of ills

in contemplating yin and yang the way the ego takes its toll

I’ve seen how complementary energies enslave a willing soul

so if you feel a chill pass through you move on leave a cloud of dust

leave a fool to trust a woman that a woman wouldn’t trust

yeah it’s a fool who trusts a woman that a woman wouldn’t trust

What Do I Do With Love

So here is a moment of happiness

and I don’t know what to do

and a hundred ways to screw it up

I’m trying not to

Hard times fit like a glove

but what do I do with love

So here is moment blessed with peace

if I don’t push it away

and a hundred ways back to my knees

just not this day

Heartache’s what I’m made of

so what do I do with love

So here is a moment

so here is a moment

So here is a moment in the night

and it lights like a firefly

one blink will blind what illuminates

Before the light dies

Blindness is what I’m made of

so what do I do with love

Hard times fit like a glove

so what do I do with love

A Wing and a Prayer

I am still earthbound

I am not still I still move

through this atmosphere in this biosphere across this ground

I still walk on my limbs I am not washed of my sins

I have not made my peace I have not been released or unbound

But one day I’ll break out of these chains

and I’ll untie all of these strings

that hold me to the ground that keep me down in here

that hold me in

and when the end rattles my bones the last breath sighs in the wind

look way up out and over I’ll be a flying thing

I was born this time into a wild restless mind

and into restless feet that have not found relief on this ground

but they have walked under this sky and they’ll walk here until I die

endlessly circling what those born into wings have found

One day I’ll break out of these chains

and I’ll untie all of these strings

no more in between free to turn and lean into the wind

and when the end rattles my bones, the last breath’ll die whispering

look way up out and over you’ll see a flying thing

And when the wind rattles my bones and the black bird’s circlinglLook way up out and over I’ll be a flying thing

The Wallflower Waltz

These may be hard times these days

but there’s a way to break the fall

let’s get out and get ourselves some congregation

the night is young and I’m in full bloom here on this wall

I hear music and it’s playing my salvation

hey

Won’t you take up my hand

lift me off of my seat

spin me onto that floor

sweep me off of my feet

we may be breaking these shoes

but I’ll be taking that chance

cause it’s breaking my heart not to dance

We make our own good times these days

rewrite our destinies

and that piano’s playing a revelation

we’re still young and there’s no sense living half a life half alive

come on pick yourself a bloom in this bandhouse celebration

hey

Won’t you take up my hand

lift me off of my seat

spin me onto that floor

sweep me off of my feet

keep me waltzing in time

through the fleeting of chance

cause it’s breaking my heart not to dance

Won’t you take up my hand

lift me off of my seat

spin me onto that floor

sweep me off of my feet

a bloom withers on a vine

left alone left to chance

and it’s breaking my heart not to dance

For All My Worrying

Greetings to another day

following a night which follows another day

following

that night

and another day

Oh now I have changed my way

moving me onward with no going backward but

forward

I move

through another day

And the sun is rising

and the sky is wider

and the light is blinding

and the wind is lifting

the trees are bowing bending swaying

and it all goes on for all my worrying

Oh I had lost my way

following one path that followed another one

following

that way

and another way

And the moon is full now

and the night is blinding

and the redwoods musing

the pines up reaching

toward the constellations shooting arrows

and it all goes on for all my worrying

And the hawk is lifting

and his shadow sweeping

in an arc across a world that’s sleeping

and the night is bowing to a day underway

that it all goes on for all my worrying

The Wisdom

Oh hey okay

I’m crawling home to god

waving a white flag or three

to whatever it is

whoever you be

I’m crawling home

random chance or

grand design

it’s down to you not

up to me

There’s the way things are

there is circumstance

there’s the way it could be

there is chance

we can be at peace

when we learn to roll

when we learn to bow and learn to trust the wisdom of the way it goes

Oh hey okay I’m calling home to god

so many numbers to dial

for the longest of whiles

I’ve been dialing these miles

I’m calling home

this falling forward

gravity

it’s bound to you

not up to me

everyone of us

how we came to be

that we occurred at all is an astronomical oddity

there’s a peace to find

in what we may not know

when we learn to bow and learn to trust the wisdom of the way it goes

there is pure intent

possibility

there’s the way it went

beyond all probability

we are gifts of chance

opportunity

what a shame to waste

fighting gravity

there’s a peace to find

in what we may not know

we can be at peace

when we learn to roll

when we learn to bow and learn to trust the wisdom of the way it goes

Water Under the Bridge

Everything seems so peaceful the light on the still and the deep of the water

is everyone out there at peace and can we do right by our sons and our daughters

so it’s begun the slow set of the sun then it’s done and we rest from our labors

the moon lights a turn in the bend over the rise of the fences of neighbors

Water runs under the bridge

through the years of the days we live

til we lay ourselves down to sleep

til we pray for our souls to keep

the weeks pass the seasons turn

through years of hard lessons learned

every day of the years we live

water runs under the bridge

Everything seems so peaceful and still we’re awash in the waves of our angers

here in a still that won’t quiet the beast or make us our peace or make neighbors of strangers

so it’s begun the slow set of the sun then it’s done may we rest from our demons

the wind sheds the seeds from the trees and carries them over the hillsides to freedom

Water runs under the bridge

through the fears through the days we live

til we lay ourselves down to sleep

til we pray for our souls to keep

the weeks pass the seasons turn

through the years of our lessons learned

every trespass we can’t forgive

water runs under the bridge

Still we hold little hatreds

til they’ve stripped from us all we held sacred

til our teachers are rivers and rapids that wash over stones

that bow to the curve of the earth and carry us home

Everything seems so peaceful tonight in the still at the banks of the water

when did we trade in such peace and what are we teaching our sons and our daughters

so it is done the slow set of the sun now the moonlight has mirrored the waters

and stars all cast out in a vast sky over the rise of the fences and borders

Water runs under the bridge

through the years of the days we live

til we lay ourselves down to sleep

til we pray for our souls to keep

weeks pass the seasons turn

through years of hard lessons learned

every day of the years we live

water runs under the bridge

every trespass we can’t forgive

water runs under the bridge

Silence of Plenty

Once I was broken

so I had fallen

but my soul it has spoken

it called me to rise

Rise to the occasion

rise to the occasion

here where I was seeking

my soul it is speaking

Once I was lonely

I thought I was empty

but it was silence of plenty

called my soul to rise

Rise to the occasion

rise to the occasion

here where I was sleeping

my soul it is speaking

Rising from the river

falling through the silence

I rise though I was sinking

here where I was seeking

Once we were fragments

so we have gathered

a silence of plenty

calls us to rise

Rise to the occasion

rise to the occasion

we are what we were seeking

my soul it is speaking