mewithoutYou Album

Every thought a Thought of You
No more thought, I ought to do...
When there's not a thing we see
Or touch we trust is true
Every thought a thought of You

Every look in search of You
What need for books when we're with you?
You wear a thin disguise,
O, Light within my Brother's eyes!
Every look in search of You

Every song in praise of You
Our darkest nights are days to You
The Trees raise branches high
Like arms in church to grateful Sky,
Every song in praise of You

No one here to believe but You
Everyone else is bound to leave but You
When we swear, my love is real, we mean
I like the way you make me feel
There is no one here to believe but You

Kul-anaya fikr minh ka
Abadan ahatmam enna ajah
Hayya'alal falal qad qamadis alah
Haqq: la illaha il Allah

Through mostly vacant streets
A Baker on the outskirts of his town
Earned his living peddling sweets
From a ragged cart he dragged around
The clever Fox crept close behind,
Kept an ever watchful eye
For a chance to steal a Ginger spicecake
Or a Boysenberry pie
Looking down was the hungry Crow:
When the time is right I'll strike
And condescend to the earth below
And take whichever treat I like!
The moment the Baker turned around
To shoo Fox off from his cart
Crow swooped down and snatched
a shortbread cookie and a German chocolate tart
Using most unfriendly words
That the village children had not yet heard
The Baker shouted threats by Canzonet
To curse the crafty bird:
You rotten wooden mixing spoon!
Why, you midnight winged raccoon!!
You'd better bring those pastries back,
You no good, burnt-black-macaroon!!!
Fox approached the tree
Where Crow was perched,
Delighted, in his nest
Brother Crow, don't you remember me?
It's your old friend Fox with a humble request
If you could spare just a modest piece,
Seeing as I distracted that awful man...
This failed to persuade Crow in the least,
So Fox rethought his plan
Then, if your lovely song would grace my ears,
Or, to even hear you speak
Would ease my pains and fears
Crow looked down with the candy in his beak
Your pearls of wisdom,
My Good Crow,
What a paradise they bring!
This flattery so pleased the proud bird,
He opened his mouth and began to sing:
Your subtle acclamation's true,
Best to give praise where praise is due
Every Rook and Jay in the Corvidae
Has been Raven about me too!
They admire me, one and all...
Must be the passion in my 'Caw'
My slender bill, known through the Escadrille,
My fierce, commanding claw...

(THE COOKIE DROPS, FOX RETRIEVES IT -
THERE IS COMMOTION IN THE TOWN
AS THE BAKER GIVES CHASE
CROW IS HUMILIATED,
REALIZES HE'S BEEN TRICKED,
CONTINUES HIS SONG)

Ah, I've got a Walnut-brownie-brain
And Molasses in my veins
Crushed graham cracker crust
My powdered Sugar funnelcake cocaine
Let the Crescent Cookie rise!
These Carob-colored Almond eyes
Would rest to see my Cashew Princess
In the Swirling Marble Sky
And we'll rest upon the Knee
Where all divisions cease to be
And rootbeer float in our Banana Boat
Across the Tapioca Sea
When letting all attachments go
Is the only prayer we know
May it be so,

Amen

ANGEL:
Friend, it's time to go
DAVID:
Angel, no, I think you've come too soon!
ANGEL:
Sorry, friend, now put your hand in mine...
DAVID:
But, good Angel, don't I get a warning sign
Before it's my time to go?
ANGEL:
A sign? Come now, David!
Where's your Grandma gone?
And where's your Grandpa gone?
Their time came to go
DAVID:
But I slew Goliath with the sling and stone!
It's not my time to go
ANGEL:
And he'll be waiting for you
When we get back home
It's time to go - come now, David!
Where's your Mama gone?
And where've all your Aunts and Uncles gone?
Their time came to go
DAVID:
Can I tell Solomon the things I've learned
Before it's my time to go?
ANGEL:
I'm sorry, friend, that's none of my concern,
It's time to go - come now, David!
Where's Uriah gone,
Stranded on the battlefield,
The troops withdrawn?
His time came to go
Come now, David!
Where's Bathsheba gone?
And where've your binoculars and rooftops gone?
And the unexpected Baby-from-the-bath-night?
Their time came to go

Come now, David!
Where's every body going?

The Farmer drove his tractor where the soil had been tilled
Planting Corn in rank and file from the silo to the lumber mill
He rode along in silence as he looked out past the Honeysuckle field,
Watched the water turn the waterwheel
Thinking about his daughter with affection,
Her reaction of disdain
The day he replaced the blue Hydrangea with the climbing frame
While her disappointed Sister looked on,
Quiet as the snow, knowing well:
Those who know don't talk
And those who talk don't know
But (tho she tried)
She couldn't help but sing!
The Tortoise in the wheelchair wrapped his forehead in a bandage
Wore a plaster cast on his phony broken leg
So he'd get pushed around the sidewalk by the Zookeeper's assistant
With the Hummingbird observing from behind a yellow Flower,
Flapping his tiny wings so fast you couldn't see them
With resentment for the Tortoise (which was clear by his expression)
But the Tortoise turned and smiled with a Peacefulness which proved
There's a movement in our stillness and however much we move
We're bound to stand completely still

So let's stand completely still!
Come, Tortoise, standing still -
Go, Hummingbird, my will
Come, Tortoise, stumbling blind -
Go, Hummingbird, my eyes
Come, Tortoise, letting go
Go, Hummingbird, 'I know'
Come Tortoise undefined -
Go, Hummingbird, my mind
Come Tortoise, empty hands -
Go, Hummingbird, my plans
Come, Tortoise, come and die -
Go, Hummingbird, my I
Goodbye, I!

The Horse's hay beneath his head
Our Lord was born to a manger bed
That all whose wells run dry could drink of his supply

To keep him warm the Sheep drew near,
So grateful for his coming here:
You come with news of grace,
Come to take my place!

The Donkey whispered in his ear:
Child, in thirty-some-odd years,
You'll ride someone who looks like me
(Untriumphantly)

While the Cardinals warbled a joyful song:
He'll make right what man made wrong
Bringing low the hills
That the valley might be filled!
Then Child, asked the birds,
Well, aren't they lovely words we sing?

The tiny Baby lay there
Without saying anything

At a distance stood a mangy Goat
With crooked teeth and a matted coat,
Weary eyes and worn, chipped & twisted horns
Thinking:
Maybe I'll make friends some day
With the Cows in the pens and the Rambouillet,
But for now I'll keep away -
I got nothin' smart to say

But there's a sign on the barn in Cabbagetown:

WHEN THE RAIN PICKS UP
AND THE SUN GOES DOWN,
SINNER, COME INSIDE!
WITH NO MONEY, COME AND BUY
NO CLEVER TALK NOR GIFT TO BRING
REQUIRES OUR LOWLY, LOVELY KING
COME, ALL EMPTYHANDED
YOU DON'T NEED ANYTHING

The night was cool and clear as glass
With a sneaking Snake in the garden grass
Deep cried out to Deep,
The Disciples, fast asleep
The snake perked up when he heard you ask:

If You're willing that this cup might pass
I could find my way back home,
Maybe start a family all my own...but
Does not the Father guide the Son?
Not my will but Yours be done!
What else here to do?
What else me but You???

And the snake who'd held the world,
A stick, a carrot and a string
Was crushed beneath the Foot of
Your not wanting
Anything

Let us die, let us die,
And, dying, we reply
Lowering our basket down into the open bed
Of the fruit truck passing by
As we smile at each other,
Me and my Cantaloupe Friend
Cast our cares as a couple of Pears
Set a Blueberry garland on Apple's head
Who threw our half-baked fears
like a wooden shoe in the windmill gears
The turning stopped - we clearly saw:
The flaw is in that which finds the flaw!

While Strawberry says to Tangerine:
My face is red
But our hats are green
Yours, the orchard,
Mine the curling vine...
There is One Sun for us all

Ya subhannallah
Hayyul Qayyum
Subhannallahi Amma Yassifun
Sallalah wallah Muhammad (Sal.)
Ya Rabbi sali alaihi wa salim

Lettuce grows in neatly sectioned
Beds and rows
But one day asked the Gardener
To be moved where the Eggplant grows
The reason being, I must confess,
I adore her shiny, purple dress!
As Eggplant listened in,
She wasn't offended
She wasn't impressed
While Potato calls from underground:

You've all got it turned upside-down!
Does the Rain that's sent each spring anew
To fall on her not fall on you?
You project on her your inward scenes,
She's a blank, external movie screen
While the One who looks out from your eyes
Looks through hers and looks through mine

We all well know
We're gonna reap what we sow
We all well know what kind of crops are gonna grow
From each time you disrespect your parents
Oh, you'd better hope we don't hear it!
We who know: you're gonna reap what you sow

We all well know,
We're gonna reap what we sow
But Grace, we all know,
Can take the place of all we owe
So why not let's Forgive

Everyone
Everywhere
Everything
All the time?

On a cold December, just before dawn
As the sun said Hello! to the sky
The Mantis prayed while the Lamellicorn
Tunneled and rolled in a threadbare tie
While the Holland Lops in the Karakung Glades
Indignantly thump their feet and hop away
When they cut their noses on the sharp-tipped blades
(Which the grass doesn't mind in the least)
And there's a heat-pat waiting in the chicken-wire hutch
Where the does from the Netherlands stay

(BUT THAT DRY ALFALFA DON'T TASTE LIKE MUCH
AND WE'RE TIRED OF THE TIMOTHY HAY)

I touched her back, she was lying facedown
As the dew turned to frost around her eyes,
Me and Sister Margaret on the Pentagon lawn
Arrested, our wrists in a plastic tie
While the rats by the tracks on these winter days
Seeking shelter from the cold make a nest
From the tracts of our various ways
They can save their immortal souls

(OH, NO... TIMOTHY HAY?
PLEASE, NO MORE TIMOTHY HAY!)

On a cold December, just after dusk
As the sun bids its cordial goodbyes,
We'll be split to pieces like an apple seed husk
To reveal the tree that's been hidden inside
Which sapling called in a tattered sarong
As the seeds from the Shepherd's Purse fell,
Broke the news to Mom,
We found a better Mom we call 'God,'
Which she took quite well
Singing, what a beautiful God there must be!

The Camel in the desert took a ship across the lake
While the Fish in search of water found a Fig with a bellyache
Who overheard the waves as they headed for the shore:

We're not so sure of separations anymore!

At the Caterpillar picnic Brother Butterfly stole a rhubarb stem,
Licked and dipped it in the sugar bowl
Caught out for Massachusetts in a double-stack train
Through the Adirondacks, spinning like a weathervane
Gathering & cutting & splitting & stacking the wood
Our fuel is neatly piled and we all feel good

We pretend to care and like we understand
Our eyes go soft, but know it now:
What we're thinking about's your mammary glands
And how to sail your birth canal

We found a pot to fit the lid, to
Know less now than when we were smarter did
Our thoughts are like a teabag on the saucer -
All the flavor gone

The Dog below our waist's aroused
As arms embrace the pretty Gals
But came much more as a surprise
It happening while I hugged the Guys!

We planted before the final frost and
Once were found but now we're lost
We've got a heckuva lot to learn
About remaining Taciturn

Cattail Down, the morning rail yard whistle blows
Cattail Down, our boxcar bound for no-one-knows
After every hidden seed
Out from its covering has been freed
When every book has been discarded from the bookshelf
Cattail Down, in the forgetting of myself
Cattail Down, replace the feathers in our vest
Cattail Down, surround the ivy that's gone to poison in my chest
The Parachutes broke loose!, cried the Goose
With misplaced (but understandable) concerns
For his little Brother's mental health,
His happy little Brother
In the forgetting of himself
Cattail Down, the pollen shed around the bulrush
Cattail down, to dress my wounds, left a Bee sting in their stead
Headed east out of St. Paul we stopped for water,
Rested in the cemetery, watched the Mississippi
Running out of food stamps,
Found a bag along the footpath off highway 61
Filled with what looked like marijuana

(DON'T WORRY, DAD, WE LEFT IT THERE...)

Hopped a grainer out of Pig's Eye toward Milwaukee
The Deer between the tower and the tracks
Saw right through us, said:
You don't know where you came from,
You don't know where you're going.
You think you're you?
No, you don't know who you are,
You're not you...
You're Everyone Else
(In the forgetting of your self)

As the Moon rose and the hour grew late
The day help on a Coconut estate
Raked up the leaves that fell dead from the Trees
Which they burned in a pile by the lake

The Beetle King summoned his men
And from the top of a Rhododendron stem:
Calling all volunteers!
Who can carry back here
The Great Mystery that's lit once again?

One Beetle emerged from the crowd
In a fashionable abdomen shroud:
I'm a Professor, you see, that's no mystery to me...
I'll be back soon, successful and proud

But when the Beetle Professor returned
He crawled on all six, as his wings had been burned
And described to the finest detail all he'd learned
But there was neither a light nor a heat in his words

The deeply dissatisfied King
Climbed the same stem to announce the same thing
But in his second appeal sought to sweeten the deal
With a silver Padparadscha ring

The Lieutenant stepped out from the line
As he lassoed his thorax with twine, thinking
I'm stronger and braver,
I'll earn the King's favor, and
One day all he has will be mine!

But for all the Lieutenant's conceit
He, too, returned singed and admitting defeat:
I had no choice, please believe, but retreat...
It was bright as the sun, but with 10x the heat!
It cracked like the thunder and bloodshot my eyes,
Tho smothered with sticks it advanced undeterred
As it carelessly cast an ash cloud to the sky,
My Lord, like a flock of
D a r k, v a n i s h i n g b i r d s.

The Beetle King slammed down his fist:
Why, your flowery description
Is no better than his!
We sent for the Great Light and you bring us this??
We didn't ask what it seems like,
We asked what it IS!
O, His Majesty's hour at last has drawn night!

The elegant Queen took her leave from his side and,
Without understanding but without asking why
Gathered their Kids to come bid their goodbyes
The father explained:

You've been somewhat deceived...
We've all called me your dad,
But your True Dad's not me
No, I lay next to your mom
And your forms were conceived
But your Father is the Life within all that you see
He fills up the ponds as he empties the clouds,
Holds without hands and speaks without sounds,
Provides us with the Cow's waste and coconuts to eat
Giving one that nice salt-taste and the other a sweet,
Sends the black carriage the day Death shows its face
Thinning our numbers with Kindness and Grace
And just as a Flower and its Fragrance are one
So must each of you and this Father become
Now distribute my scepter, my crown and my throne
And all we've called 'wealth' to the poor and alone...

And, without further hesitation,
Without looking back home
The King flew headlong into the blazing unknown!
And as the Smoke King curled higher and higher
The troops, flying loops around the telephone wire, said:

Our Beloved's not dead,
But His Highness instead
Has been utterly changed into Fire!!!

Why not be utterly changed into Fire??

In everywhere we look,
Allah, Allah, Allah!

In everyone we meet,
Allah, Allah, Allah!

In every blade of grass,
Allah, Allah, Allah!

It doesn't matter what you've done...
What effect is without a cause?
So what does it matter what you think you've done?
Now, lay your faithless head down
In necessity's Cotton Hand
There's a Love that never changes
No matter what you've done

Or if your Old Man did you wrong,
Maybe his Old Man did him wrong
So if you'd care to sing Forgiveness songs
Come down and join our band
We'll cut you like a Sword
And sing Forgiveness songs

(Don't worry, it'll heal just fine!)

Everywhere we look,
It's all crazy!
It's all false!
It's all a dream!
It's alright