For Kaye, For Nikolai, for us.
Onward Traveler
Ever forward
Onward traveler
Fortunes favour
Hold you to her breast
still will you venture
Never ending
Past the circle
As the East into
the west
ancient doorways
star lit causeways
arch the vault
above your head
where you’ll find me
Ever after
Waiting in the hope to hear once more
the sound of your footsteps
on the path
that leads you to my door
Go on seeking
Onward traveler
grace of morning
Bright shall be your guide
Breadth of heavens
Lay before you
Stake your claim
To the purpose you must find
Windlashed shores
and mountains ranging
great deeps
Resound beneath your feet
worlds await you
teemed with wonders
of all the joys and perils you will know
love that I bear for you
will follow you wherever
you may go
Godspeed weary
Onward traveler
May the angels
sing you to your rest
Walked with bravery
Held determined
yet surrendered
to that greater gentleness
Halls of heroes
of myth and legend
Welcome you to
their shining fields
Arms of friends long
Un-remembered
Shall take you to a place
upon your throne
and all’s the stuff of stardust
But the knowing
That you’re coming home
You’re coming home
(c) 2013 Barry/Rosenthal
Put on your sunhat sweet Adeline
We’ll go out walking down that
long country run
I’ll be with you in the
By and by
From noon until sunset
from dark till sunrise
You can tell everyone that we’re
just out walking
Put on your sunhat sweet Adeline
We’ll take our leisure by that slow riverside
You’ll be with me in the
By and by
From noon until sunset
from dark till sunrise
You can tell everyone you don’t
Care if they’re talking
Put on your sunhat sweet Adeline
We’ll walk together on that unwinding road
We’ll be together in the bye and bye
From morning to sunset from dark till sunrise
You can bless everyone with the light you’re shining
Put on your sunhat, sweet Adeline
(c) 2013 Barry/Read/Rosenthal
Road Rise Up
Come on Darlin now don't be sad
(don't be sad)
You know things just ain't so bad
(ain't so bad)
The better angels of your nature
Will rush to help when hope has failed you
when the darkness deepens and you're far away
you're not lost but wandering
and every road you take will lead you home
may the road rise up to meet you
each hand be a friend
may the road rise up to meet you
and even though the journeys long
may each step bring you close to home again
Angel sitting on my shoulder tells me that
(ain't so bad)
there'll come another chance to hold you
(don't be sad)
the light that's hidden in your eyes
will shine like gold when fortune smiles
when the evening closes and you're far way
I know that tomorrow brings
another road that homeward leads you now
may the road rise up to meet you
each hand be a friend
may the road rise up to meet you
and even though the journeys long
may each step bring you close to home
may the road rise up to meet you
each hand be a friend
may the road rise up to meet you
and even though the journeys long
may each step bring you close to home again
(c) 2011-12 Michel JE Barry/Paul A Read
Wine to Water
Standing at her riverbank
see it running black and thin
She’s telling me to cross to her
But there’s no way back once you step in
and on the other side a place
where you’re not a wanted man
and all the yearning promises
of an undiscovered land
an undiscovered land
You can't touch her south of the border
She's gonna change your wine into water
knows the night becomes her
Wears the darkness as a veil
lips are running scarlet
With the promises they entail
And still you try to reach them
and the troubles that await
hear her name in legion
call you closer to your fate
Closer to your fate
You can't touch her south of the border
She's gonna change your wine into water
Sometimes when I feel a little strange
Sometimes when I’m feeling low
I still feel her carving my name
Deep in the wood
Of a cross beside the road
(C) 2012 Michael JE Barry/Paul A Read
Even in a lifetime
It’s so hard to get a
straight answer
so don’t mind when I ask again
You say that you don’t want
Another lover
But I don’t want to be your friend
Even in a lifetime it seems
You still don’t know what you mean to me
Even in a lifetime it seems
And by the time you wake up
I’m outta here
I can’t tell you how
To make your choices
I’d make one for you, if I could
So tired from taking
your pick of poisons
Can’t tell the bad guys from the good
Even in a lifetime it seems
You still don’t know what you mean to me
Even in a lifetime in dreams
And by the time you wake up
I’m outta here
Even in a lifetime it seems
You still don’t know what you mean to me
Even in a lifetime in dreams
And by the time you wake up
Even in a lifetime it seems
You still don’t know what you mean to me
Even in a lifetime in dreams
Of waking up to find you
Still lying at my side
morning on a day
That never comes
(c)2011-12 Michael JE Barry / Paul A Read
Country Radio
Another dusty afternoon
Another long day gone
Put one foot behind the other
sing that chain gang song
And though I’m many miles from home
Still I yearn for sleep
yet so many miles to go many promises to keep
Maybe some day
Maybe we’ll see
Maybe some day
Picking up speed
Headed down on a country road
Not there yet but I’m getting closer
Hear them on a country radio
sing yeah yeah yeah
Another useless day of trying
The things you should foreswear
You only laugh to stop from cryin
make like you don’t care
but when you peer into the distance
It’s like it’s looking back
To ask you what you’re waiting for
When nothing's built to last
Headed down on a country road
Not there yet but I’m getting closer
Hear them on a country radio
Sing yeah yeah yeah
Headed down on a country road
just another bleeding soul
singing on the country radio
sing yeah yeah yeah
(c) 2011-12 Michael JE Barry/Paul A Read
Hard Times
Tell me the company's closing
that's what they say
there's been some money explosion
but not in my pay
words from the running man
speaks of a promised land
seem they don't understand
difference between their God and Man
When they tell you the things they believe in
take a look at the company their keeping
they'll take you to the hard times
take you to the hard times
Tell me they traded my future
for a better yesterday
their service keeps me a pauper
to stay in my place
'til I wake to the freedoms I'm losing
feel the vice of the future i'm choosing
take a breath as you rise from your seat
join the mob forming down in the street
grab your torch to help light the way
all the monsters are on parade
take you to the hard times
they'll take you to the hard times
(c) 2011-12 Michael JE Barry/ Paul A Read