1. |
Ever Eyes
04:26
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did she ever have eyes to see what there is to see? this window broken in time, her guard droppin’ like a guillotine. slicin’ through her armored mind bleeding out her lovin' so free. did she ever have eyes? ‘cause when I look where they might be, I cannot see.
when did they take their leave? at the hands of a father that swung his words in need? his own father did the same? all the fathers down below? should they be the ones to blame? still she refused up all of the tools, strewn before her feet to heal those timeless wounds. now she sees what she believes, a world that’s gone to pain and only knows its grief.
did it begin before she could speak? when she reached into the world, was she held in speechless grief? it's hard now to see the source with her tongue a’probing out, always jabbing back and forth. i’ve never seen them break a smile-- they’re baked up like some clay that’s been fired for a while. the weight creeping ‘round like mud, she’s needin’ for a Jesus to bring the healin’ love.
i want to live out a different psalm, where i find the riverside and hear that i belong. where pastures sporing and green, calm a tortured soul and offer sweet relief. where I flourish right beside all she guards herself against because her strength's wrapped up in pride. let my ending find a new rhyme, not the pain of the ages gatin' up her eyes.
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2. |
Inside
02:29
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you know she left you on your own, not because of your worthless soul. she didn’t toss you to the curb, no, no.
she could tell deep down in quiet, that you’d disintegrate her life. that the acorn that was you, would arrive.
she quaked as she relinquished you. her hands a'shattering with what they knew—that your family? they could not see you through.
she surrendered up her claim, so you would learn your precious name outside the grasp of their want for you and her fear too.
she knew you wouldn’t find your are written in your family's scars. your birthright belonged to you, inside your heart.
so don’t hang that head beneath, where it was meant to be. don’t you soak up all the lies you've cried.
you know ol' Moses had that fate, and every hero since his day; it’s part of what the mothers know but can not say.
you know she left you on your own, because you're strong enough to know that what we have to leave behind will live inside.
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3. |
Spilled Milky Way
03:26
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4. |
HumanKind
03:21
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stories we tell cast their spell. cast their spell 'bout who were born to be. part of you? part of me? where do we take our creed from? from the father or from the One?
from whose blood are you drawn? which tribe do you belong? deep down, where’s your needle go when you walk the family road?
the story that is our skin? some chattered bird doesn’t make us kin? yet the story within our heart is that we don’t live so far apart. will you lay down your tribaled mind? see yourself as humankind?
now it’s possible to find your you, does it matter what it you tell you? 'cause the story you’ve lived ’til now? which way are you gonna write it out? the story that we call ours? the truth about stories? that’s all we are.
ah, kinship, comes front and fore in these times of open doors. searchin' for those bipedal roads, that brought us here so long ago. the thrill, that ringing chime, hearing your name in someone’s line, does it matter that you rhyme when you’re simply this humankind?
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5. |
Mirror, Mirror
03:42
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was she thinking? did she know? when she set that 10 year old boy on his own? she wrote the mirror so he could see, his heart’s desire since he breathed. was she thinking? did she know? that mirror’s one that we all own? for each story that we do dream, we also carry each of its seeds.
like holding the mirror, in both of our hands. so strong and gentle, in the same time span. you’re in my reflection, right where I stand.
some wise caution as we approach, that silver mirror, of our own. there’s madness waiting on it’s unlit side, unless you read the owner’s guide. some wise caution is what’s in store, when we gaze inside our more. so breathe deeply as it comes to view because what you see is inside you.
don’t use your Mirror to load your veins like a White to numb your pain. instead you follow its golden thread to lead you out and back again. what you see there’s already born inside your flesh, safe and warm. just return your seeking gaze to refining your inward ways.
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6. |
Velveteen
03:24
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be near me when I can’t see all I’m failing to see. keep my head inside me, and please don’t let me go.
this tide of lies that’s closing in will drag my mind from the life I’ve lived toward it’s sweetened narrative, oh…and it’s hard to let it go.
help me see what’s true, not the things that I hope to. bear me close and please don’t ever let me go.
i can’t do this without you. broken hearted, this ancient wound. a silken toy who needs her truth to know what she does feel, to live her life as Real.
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7. |
Ahimsa
02:32
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turn other cheek. offer the other eye. kneel before this heat that’s got your mind all afire.
that’s your pride, not your soul that’s choked its hands up 'round your tongue. it’s willin’ hard not to know a smearing up with this dung.
learn to stand in this trash. you’ll find the peace you seek. let you’re skin be stoked with ash—for the Love, it never leaves.
it’s the sayin’ how to go. it’s another thing to do it though. in your thirst to save some face, you thrust your dukes up in their place.
let your song fill your heart as you sit in spite’s spitting face. spite can’t name who you are ‘cause your name is traced in Grace.
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8. |
Grateful
06:23
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i’m standing inside this fire the one that is stoked with this primal desire. i’m seeking grateful...
i’m tired of being solo, of seeing what is through this wounded ego. i’m seeking grateful...
which heaven are you bound to know? the one at the end? or the one here below? this being grateful...
can you let your eyes rest and see? the moments of life living eternally? and feel it grateful...
the burning doesn’t end though. the ashes and smoke stay hovered like so. composing grateful...
when your heart is balled, tongue and tied ‘cause of what you now see beyond your pride. you’re making grateful...
how many ways to count the petals of flowers or the seeds of the ground? i’ll count it grateful...
for each grain of sand in your hand, can you fathom a word that will say where you stand? just name it grateful...
let your smoke take its rise like a prayer, the incense-stained praise that hangs in the air. composing grateful...
let it stain up your breath and skin, cover you with belonging as kin. you’re very grateful...
i’m running out of words to say all of what I’ve seen here today. i’ll say it grateful...
got any words you know that can mean when a heart is snug in its soul? i’ll sing it grateful...
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9. |
Sanctuary
05:50
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on the run from your Javert who seeks to punish and control, whip and chain your sinnin’ soul? chile’, enter here. he’s got no say, nor no one do, on how to recompense the pain- that’s not our Jesus’ lovin’ way. nah, he Loves on you.
there are things you can’t undo, in this world of people tied to one another’s lives. so, step on through. learn to be your sanctuary— that chapel in your heart where you’re feeling less apart, both bound and free.
you’ve refused nearly every time to take your place here at the seat he’s carved out just for thee ‘neath these pealing chimes. go on stumble through each untruth back into the lovin’ place that bears his holy name and frames your view.
sanctuary sunbeams stain down the stories of the Light that tell the balance back to Right. feel their rain. let them wash your burdened soul, healin’ stories of the time when the Lovin’ fits the crime and makes you whole.
i’m a singin’ with heart revealed in the softness of the Light that wraps me up with In, inside, and leaves me healed. rose window’s coming in to view. Mother Mary cracks its door each time you wash up on her shore. chile’ , step on through.
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10. |
Be Loved
06:22
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beLoved.
hold your hand o’er your heart a breath’s width apart and feel its heat. in that space you can chart a map to where you are without your need. rest right there. be embraced, where you sip liquid Grace, your remedy. yes, you’ll see a trace of your own disgrace but see completely....
you are so...
when that wound was knifed and it split down your mind and bleeds in pleas? it trade Love divine for approval of mankind you need to please. staunch it up every hour while it weeps out its sour smelling screed. no one soul has the power to force you down to a cower on your knees... ‘cause you are so...
no you won’t be erased that’s a lie to your face, some chickenfeed. yet you let it retrace all the times you were cased by its belief. here’s the simple request that will feel like a quest to be conceived. light your hand on your chest. don’t believe your unrest. simply breathe....
you are so...
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11. |
Ugly Bird
04:53
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unpin the sign ‘round your face that’s screaming kick me right now. unbeloved so you breathe into every heart beat. can’t you see? this the be that be gnashing their beaks in defense of their seeing how you weaken their being.
ugly bird, fly out of that ancient role. lovely bird, play out what’s in you so. be who you were born to be. yield to be free. yield to be free.
lay down the sword that you greet everyone that you meet slicing good out from bad, who are you to play king? can’t you see? this the be that be gnashing their beaks in defense of their seeing how you judge up their being.
here’s the dream that you be what was given to you. yes it’s true they’re not you but that’s not to shame you. can’t you see? this the be that be gnashing your teeth in defense of who you think you ought to be.
it’s a hard way to go but you’ve got to live your soul, not the ways of a tribe. keep your own head held high. that’s for them, yours for you. to thine own self be true.
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12. |
Sing Your Song
05:52
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do you hear what I hear? do you see what I see? a song, a song burning ‘cross the night, kite tails long a dragon spine blazin’ its shimmering script across your soul, a word made flesh to heal you whole.
sing your song. sing your song. sing it out your whole life long. sing your song. sing your song. sing it loud. sing it strong.
will you ride while it flies, working to sew you to its sky? like falcor does to bastian’s need it dives with grace each time you bleed. it will carry you across your divide, weaving you whole, back into sky.
it’s when you feel less than right as you quarrel with the light. it will chase you down, a hound dog of the sky. it swoops and cuts right into your sight and licks your face and nuzzles your soul. brings you back your very hope.
don’t worry if it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear.
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13. |
I Adore You
04:04
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there are words I never learned to say now climbing their way to my tongue. even though I heard them as a child, they came wrapped in their own undone. i could never trust their meaning, when they slid from my mother’s eyes. instead i believed she must have been speaking out her unspoke lies.
i adore you. i adore you. let me write these words onto my heart. whisper their light inside my dark. help me live their whole when I’m a part. remind me where you gave them arms.
it must have been for her the same, never knowing those words from her mom. and all the mothers from before...how long has that bond been gone? oh, how were we to live? not knowing belonging in our souls? always seeking where to find? grasping each part to make us whole.
so I’m learning how to speak & say the tumble down feeling that they bring. i can almost place them on my soul without that reflexive child flinching. for the greatest love is Real and it’s my legacy to follow through. so it’s time to stand apart and let them ink me with their holy tattoo.
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Mudsong Bemidji, Minnesota
Mudsong crafts stories that give voice to our breaking human hearts. Thomas King said, “The truth about stories is that’s all we are." The truth about Mudsong is songstories are all we are. Original stories. Soulful songs. Crafted from the sloppy mess of life? That's what we do. Our evenings open on the hearthfire of the bass guitar, shimmy through the saxophone, and linger over heart and soul. ... more
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