1. |
Eventual Spring
04:32
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for Helen
I.Eventual Spring
The hot blooded moon has been there since noon
waiting for someone or something.
When I stand in my window, I feel like a shadow,
waiting for eventual spring.
I met a stranger somewhere, with a voice so clear
though his meaning was harder to find;
one look in his shop worn eyes made it easy to surmise
he’d seen it all one too many times.
Hungry like a preacher’s son; I feel like I’ve just begun;
play the Jack, and hold back the eight.
I had so much to prove, and it wasn’t my best move,
though I saw that just a little too late.
The air that I breath, the footsteps I leave;
Lay claim to the ground where I stand
to the marks that I make, a cry and a splash in the lake
water on the desert sand.
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2. |
This Life of Ours
05:26
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II.This Life of Ours
The world is painted on the sky
in strokes of moonlight and dawn.
It shimmers and shifts as we walk by
like a memory that's almost gone.
As we look into its moonlit folds
and finally see where we are,
we can see tales already told
or we can see this life of ours.
The walls between the worlds grow thin,
revealing rooms of stone.
Ancient spirits dwell within;
the weak, the strong, the unknown.
I see a door with a rusted hinge
standing dark and ajar;
the door swings open, do we dare look in?
in this life of ours...
Well, I've been weak and I've been tough
I've been a little ground down by the years.
I've learned that we none of us live long enough
to confront all of our fears.
Some people fear loneliness, some fear heights,
some fear the light of the stars.
Be it wrong or be it right,
I have had this life of ours.
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3. |
A Simple Act of Faith
02:56
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III.A Simple Act of Faith
The shade brings memories of the sun,
the sun brings memories of thirst;
Thirst brings memories of the water;
water brings me memories of Earth.
The Earth brings memories of the Moon,
the Moon brings memories of space;
Space brings memories of the stars,
and stars bring memories of a simple act of faith...
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4. |
A Traveling Case
02:56
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IV.A Traveling Case
Place my dreams in a traveling case
so they can find their way home.
Place my heart in a secret place
so my desires will be my own
Place my feet on a path of stone,
my hands on a tiller that I have known.
The water in the stream floats by,
history's written in a sigh.
Undisturbed by what we believe,
destiny’s written in the fallen leaves.
In the still of the night, when wrong seems right,
our fortunes are told by birds in flight.
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5. |
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V.Canary in an Ancient Mine
Across the plains of memory,
the full moon sets and day begins;
things we count and things we see,
the swaying grass, the hollow wind...
The swaying grass that keeps the time
like a chime that seeks release.
Canary in an ancient mine,
taster at the emperor’s feast.
Some people you know by their song,
and some you know by the things they sell.
Walk across the sacred lawn,
these fields of the wishing well.
These fields of the wishing well that sing,
as the questing stream, as the unsure wind.
Choose the things that you will bring,
and remember, in the end.
Who knows what the prophets see,
who knows what the wise men think?
We head with greatest certainty
to the well from which we dare not drink.
To the well we dare not find
which reflects the most but shows the least.
Canary in an ancient mine,
taster at the emperor's feast.
We were too clever by a half,
too stupid by a whole.
Drinking from an old carafe,
singing songs we used to know.
Dancing with a witch’s brood,
in some ancient moonlit clearing-
Sing a song of solitude
to anyone who's within hearing.
The horse breaks cover at the pass,
sunlight shining through the trees.
Last day’s journey going fast,
heading for the moonlit sea;
Heading for the moonlit shoal,
the waiting boat, the distant chime;
The night belongs to other souls;
may they profit from the time.
Pack the basket, pour the tea.,
be sure to bring enough to drink
We shuffle towards eternity
on a horse that stops too long to think.
Though it’s hard to tame the beast,
still I stand and guard the time;
Taster at the emperor’s feast;
canary in an ancient mine.
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6. |
Evening's Spell
04:41
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VI.Evening’s Spell
Do you remember when?
Well, that was then;
and then was when that was, my friend.
In the mist and the mystery,
in the sunlit dust of history,
is a door we won't walk through again.
You take a rose and you plant it,
you take something for granted,
it can be gone like a song you forgot.
I hear a muffled chime
that tells me that I'm learning how to tell time
more clearly than any clock.
Regrets are like highway men,
they take what they think they can
and leave the rest in a ditch.
They will sell you your dreams
and old worn out schemes
'till you hardly know which is which.
In the evening’s spell
even God cannot tell
the falling of every leaf.
The silent, staring sky
hardly blinks an eye
while things go on below that you would hardly believe.
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7. |
Remembrance I
04:09
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8. |
Remembrance II
03:10
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9. |
Remembrance III
03:18
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10. |
Strange Lands and Places
01:18
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11. |
Blind Man's Bluff
00:54
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12. |
Big Deal!
01:07
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13. |
Dreaming
02:24
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14. |
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15. |
I Hear You Call
03:21
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for Lucille and Rahul
From across two countries, across the room,
from “might happen someday” to “happening soon”,
from easy beginnings to where we are now,
I hear you call, and I answer somehow.
From the shadowed valley to the top of the hill,
from “maybe we should” to “yes, we will”,
through it all, I think that you knew:
I hear you call, and I call back to you.
From letters that are written to letters that are read;
from words that are thought to words that are said.
From things that have ended to things just begun,
I hear you call, and you know that I come.
From the sometimes cruel world to the sometimes cruel heart;
from the sometimes cruel endings to a brand new start.
Across the worlds, both old and new,
I hear you call, and I call back to you.
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16. |
Moonrise
04:19
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for Helen
Moon rise, moon fall;
silence fills the banquet hall.
The branches rustle, the spirits call.
Moon rise, moon fall...
Sun set, sun rise;
the teacher pulls the curtain aside.
Some things are revealed and some must hide.
Sun set, sun rise...
Different worlds live side by side;
which are false, and which are true?
Ice is king in the winter time;
come the spring, it's melted through.
Moon rise, low tide;
nature pulls the veil aside.
And now, in the dark, there's no place left to hide.
Lying here, by your side...
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Terry Champlin Pleasant Valley, New York
Originally educated as a theoretical physicist at MIT, Terry switched to music at the age of 21. His music has been
performed around the world by such artists as Evangelos and Liza, David Starobin, and The Woodstock Chamber Orchestra. He has performed at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fischer Hall.
Terry is on the faculties of Vassar College and the Mannes College of Music.
... more
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