It’s a beautiful day, let’s hop in the car, take a road trip
Pick a direction, doesn’t really matter where we go
Play a little hooky, top off the tank with a twenty
We’ll be spending the day together in our Ohio

We can go anywhere, Delaware, Yellow Springs, Cincinnati
Maybe we’ll head for that outlet mall off the highway
We have plenty of time, nothing we have to get back for
The countryside’s calling us to come out and play

In spring the fields flower, trees waving back as the breeze plays
Driving through the green of our Ohio
On those bright blue summer days when the rain’s washed the haze out
And we roll on along through our Ohio

Let’s see what we see on Route 73 as we head south
You roll down the window, smile and roll up your shirt sleeves
Dogwoods in bloom, redbuds jump out of the treeline
We talk about everything, from real deep shit to just shooting the breeze

Savor the day, go to Serpent Mound, look for bluebirds
Calling to woodchucks, stopping for lunch at that diner
Cumulus clouds piling up there to the southwest
It’s sunny and warm, you know today couldn’t be finer
In spring the fields flower ...

See a line of fenceposts topped with turkey vultures
Wings spread, backlit by the sun in a row of totem poles
And there’s that little bit of Kansas between Dayton and Columbus
And look! Another picturesque tumbledown barn!
I love to hear you laugh, I hold your hand, and we’re happy

It’s been a beautiful day riding with you in the sunshine
Watching for redwing blackbirds and redtailed hawks
But there’s a hint of rain in the air and the wind’s picking up, time to head home
Back to our city streets and suburban sidewalks
In spring the fields flower ...

We flew to the coast to win your life back
Walked in the oldest forest
Caressed the tallest trees
Shivered and loved it as the fog hit the beaches
Saw the sunset — best one ever
Bought your blue vacation healing hat
Slept in splendor wrapped in kindness
Gifts only true hearts know to give
Twilight breeze through redwood treetops
Spirits smiling, whispering in the night
Talked and laughed and walked and laughed
Ate and prayed and lived
And Oh I love you

We flew to the stars to win your life back
Your body spoke, your soul spoke
Your spirit white and gold
Shaman drumbeats marked your steps under that inner moon
Saw the doorway — walked right through it
Questioning the light the heat the fire
Gave her everything she asked for
Gifts of reasons why you have to live
Hearts and minds as one we bonded
In quantum leaps we danced on air
Talked and tried and stalked and cried
Healing minds intent
And Oh I love you

Now part of my heart, my heart sings in Portland
But here in my home, my home in the heartland
The light in the dreaming heart of my darkness
Is the blue light that flowed and echoed between us
Chasing the shadows our shadows were seeking
Igniting the knowing the hope and the healing
Exploding in novas of faith, of faith and desire —
Our souls they breathed fire

We flew into your dreams to win your life back
Fought demons on that living beach
Unraveled labyrinths
Aimed to thread the needle and escape that sphere that bound you
Made our choices — eyes wide open
Knowing the reward was worth the risk
Miracles come in a heartbeat
Gifts of sickness vanquished, fugitive
Remedies revealed abounded
Vows arose on lavender and sage
Turned and crossed and burned and lost
The wave of hope collapsed
And Oh I love you!

We flew into death to win your life back ...

That day he went crazy and he went off to die,
’Cause nobody wanted him to live
He beat his heart out against the sky,
Crying when the sky wouldn’t give.
Stood on top of that beautiful cliff
Ready to take that fall,
Then a thought came whispering, “Wait, what if
There ain’t no coming back from this at all?”
So he drifted on, to the water’s edge,
Sat down where he could smell the sea,
Swore that before he’d commit to that ledge
He’d find a place where he could go quietly.

He walked with his demons, he walked with his muse,
Trying to find someone who really knew.
He took anything from anyone he thought he could use,
But he’d return it in a day or two.
He met a couple of saints, in beauty they walked,
Shinin’ with the light of the master,
They’d say, “Come on let's talk, you know my words are rock.”
He said, “You know I know your heart is plaster.
You give all those people a reason to seek
But you know that we’ll never agree,
I’m just looking for a spot down by the creek
Where I can go quietly.”

He saw his mother from a distance but she could not speak,
She was drowning in a private hell,
Her will so strong but her mind so weak,
It broke his heart to see how far she fell.
He caught up with his father and they walked in step
But he couldn't seem to match his stride.
He said, “What happened to you Daddy you were so adept?
But last night you cried and cried” —
He told him, “Son, you shoulda heard the song your mother sang,
All those years ago she sang it for me,
Now I'll go with a whisper or I'll go with a bang
But I won't go quietly.”

Death met him in the dark at the foot of a hill
While he was all alone late one night,
And you know I really do believe he felt that chill
And he had to turn away from the sight.
He said, “I got nothing any more to protect,
If all you want's my life, well you can have that.”
“Oh no!
I want your work, I want your love, I want your self-respect,
And on my way out I'll take the cat.
Is it worth dying for? Is it worth living with?
You’re gonna learn about that from me.
I’m gonna take it all, then I’ll let you take the Fifth —
Take it and go, quietly.”

He walked up hill and down dale, he walked and walked,
Along the lake, through sand and stone,
Met a woman who smiled, but they could not talk,
It was not time — she was not alone.
But there in the dark that lamp flickered and burned,
The smallest echo of a shadow of light.
He felt her ghost so near, and he ached and yearned,
And he knew he wasn’t leaving that night.
He met two women who sang, only truth in their songs,
Memories of life yet to be.
He thought, “For now this world is where you belong,
When it’s time, you can go quietly.”

And all because he’d loved a crazy angel with a steady eye,
Cassandra by another name.
She gave death wings and then she let him fly,
And then she put his mother’s love to shame.
She said, “It takes all you got and then it takes the rest,
Dodging bullets and sweating romance,
Bleeds you dry, breaks your heart, and then you hit the real test —
Can you look God in the eye and dance?”
Now my ear is on the music as I read the book,
To the rhythm of the mystery,
Walking to return a little part of what I took
To the place where I’ll go quietly.

Walking all the way ’til we’re together again
In Tír na nÓg, where I’ll go quietly.

Suzy dammit, why’d you have to go and leave me this way?
We were doin’ all right
We were just startin’ to figure it out, now
Suzy dammit, why’d you have to go and leave me like that?
Why’d you have to go and leave me?
Aw, Suzy dammit

One more time!

I used to live with a friend in this basement
One of my many times
I was trying to forget an old love
He had a new one, downy as a golden dove
He thought he had it all behind our common wall
It was one of his many crimes
I thought I’d crack, I sure was off the track
I hated him and I wanted her
I tried to load the dice, I’d try anything twice
But it was fated to fail, never meant to occur
The way she wore that dress, she was a walking caress
Lit within by her own private light
The radiance and the heat knocked me straight off my feet
The false innocence got me upright
Now after many years of struggle I am winning myself back
Beaten and bedeviled I somehow still remain intact
Still I serve the magic, still I live in myth and dreams
I wanted only to believe that she was perfect, so it seems

I remember when we saw them both later
You thought they looked so smug
They were cool and serene, they really were a bore
Mannequins in the window of a health food store
Thought they were safe from it all behind their common wall
But it was just another drug
Yeah it was meaner than smack and left an ugly track
Dried ’em out in the height of their prime
It was good for me, I got to see it for free
I loved you far too much to commit that crime
The way you wore that dress, it was my heart you possessed
There’s a photograph I keep in my mind
By the spring and the fall, shadows on the wall
Our two solitary lives redefined
Now after all that this has cost me I am winning myself back
Ravaged, robbed, and run down I somehow still remain intact
Still I serve the magic, still I live in myth and dreams
And still I want to believe we were as perfect as it seems

We used to love by the light of your stereo
Dancin’ till near dawn
Body to body and soul to soul
It seemed that the stars would swallow us whole
We thought we never could fall off our common wall
But now Humpty Dumpty’s gone
And what really takes me back is a Dylan track
That I listen to late at night
It’s a story, it’s true, and it’s just like you
Written in my soul, holdin’ me up to the light
The way you wore your dress, the way your hair was a mess
Oh, if love could only conquer everything!
We went all out for the cure but it couldn’t get pure
We just wouldn’t let go of that ring
Now after all that I have lost here I am winning myself back
Warier and wiser, I somehow still remain intact
Still I serve the magic, still I live in myth and dreams
Whether sleeping or awake now I no longer see the seams

The way you wore that dress, it made me want to confess
You broke down every defense
It was a lesson to me when the gods set you free
The pain tore through every pretense
Now after all we’ve lived and died through I am winning myself back
Guarded, graced, and grayer I somehow still remain intact
Still I serve the magic, still I live in myth and dreams
Reaching out and reaching inward’s all the same or so it seems