Psalm 23

Progressive Chaos with Milk and Cookies

I have watched the northern lights begin to climb,
A slow electric fire, a ghostly pantomime.
They dance on the ice of a silent fjord,
A spectrum bleeding from a hidden source.
And I thought of the charge in the air when you are near,
A static tension, beautiful and clear…
A gift to match that celestial show…
But I have no heavens to bestow.

(Chorus)
For had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would lay them down where your pathway goes,
A phantom ribbon, a synthesized rose.
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet.
Tread softly, love, tread softly,
For you tread on my dreams.

(Verse 2)
My studio is built of failing amps,
And melodies that fade from memory's maps.
My instruments are breath and a fragile hope,
A worn-out tape on a broken loop.
I have no anthems, no stadium's roar,
Just this quiet hum behind a locked door…
A simple chord progression, raw and true…
That I'm weaving into a sky for you.

(Chorus)
For had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would lay them down where your pathway goes,
A phantom ribbon, a synthesized rose.
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet.
Tread softly, love, tread softly,
For you tread on my dreams.

(Bridge)
And every dream is a shimmering thread,
A synthesizer's voice, in a beatless bed.
One careless word, a change in the key,
And the harmony shatters, the vision flees.
This frequency is all I can ever send,
My vulnerable signal, my truest friend.
So know the ground on which you stand,
Is the mix-tape of my heart, held in your hand.

(Outro - Fading Arpeggio)
I have spread my dreams…
Under your feet…
Tread softly…
(You tread on my dreams…)
…on my dreams…

The Song of the Dreamweaver - Progressive Rock

Touching on the grandeur of Progressive Rock Concept Albums of the 1970s...
Interpreting the musical styles and genres of each Gospel and The Book of Acts.
It's way deeper than you may think.
There are sacred geometric shapes that reflect the movement of genres and time signatures from Matthew's commitment to order through to John's looser flowing style and then on through The Book of Acts initial chaos resolving into the New Order of the Early Church

Synoptica plus John and Acts - The Shape of Things to Come

Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction.
    Pay attention and know understanding;
for I give you sound learning.
    Don’t forsake my law.
For I was a son to my father,
    tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.
He taught me, and said to me:
    “Let your heart retain my words.
    Keep my commandments, and live.
Get wisdom.
    Get understanding.
    Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you.
    Love her, and she will keep you.
Wisdom is supreme.
    Get wisdom.
    Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
Esteem her, and she will exalt you.
    She will bring you to honor when you embrace her.
She will give to your head a garland of grace.
    She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”
Listen, my son, and receive my sayings.
    The years of your life will be many.
I have taught you in the way of wisdom.
    I have led you in straight paths.
When you go, your steps will not be hampered.
    When you run, you will not stumble.
Take firm hold of instruction.
    Don’t let her go.
    Keep her, for she is your life.
Don’t enter into the path of the wicked.
    Don’t walk in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, and don’t pass by it.
    Turn from it, and pass on.
For they don’t sleep unless they do evil.
    Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness
    and drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light
    that shines more and more until the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is like darkness.
    They don’t know what they stumble over.
My son, attend to my words.
    Turn your ear to my sayings.
Let them not depart from your eyes.
    Keep them in the center of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them,
    and health to their whole body.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
    for out of it is the wellspring of life.
Put away from yourself a perverse mouth.
    Put corrupt lips far from you.
Let your eyes look straight ahead.
    Fix your gaze directly before you.
Make the path of your feet level.
    Let all of your ways be established.
Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left.
    Remove your foot from evil.

Proverbs 4

Copyright Credit: Maya Angelou, "Still I Rise" from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems.  Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou.  Used by Poetry Foundation with the permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994)
Permission applied for by Neil Alexander McKee
Downloads disabled until we have copyright clearance.

Still I Rise
BY MAYA ANGELOU
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Still I Rise - Maya Angelou - Afrobeat Liberation Rhythm

Maya Angelou: Still I Rise - a poem put to music

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou - Still I Rise - Polyrhythmic Symphony

This is the extended version.
For the NSFW video that celebrates Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood style frank art:
https://youtu.be/3merdNLy6c0?si=gMEkmpjso5kfexVR

At the close of this day
I sigh
A sigh and sign of deep gratitude 
To the One who lifts my attitude
To new altitudes of bliss

At the summing of this day
I breathe
A breath and breathing of ecstatic hope
To the One who saved me
When I was at the end of my rope

And so I lift my hands
And so I lift my head
And so I lift my heart
And with words unsaid
I praise the LORD
Hallelujah!
With words that only the Spirit can express

At the start of this day
I raised my chin in great expectation
To the One who is my glory and the lifter of my head

At the dawn of possibility
My heart grew wings and flew up
To praise the One whose mercies
Are new every morning.

Great is His faithfulness.

And so I lift my hands
And so I lift my head
And so I lift my heart
And with words unsaid
I praise the LORD
Hallelujah!
With words that only the Spirit can express

And so I lift my hands
And so I lift my head
And so I lift my heart
And with words unsaid
I praise the LORD
Hallelujah!
With words that only the Spirit can express


CD To the Lifter of My Heart

NO driving!  NO handling heavy machinery!  Wear headphones or it won't work!
This is a time for you to come aside from any other task and simply 'be' - treat yourself to a Mind Spa.  Relax, or work safely on a creative project on your computer while your brain is entrained and encouraged to support you being in a stated of relaxed and focused concentration.  Stick it on repeat for a couple of cycles to make the most of the brainwave entrainment.

The Tundra Under The Aurora Borealis - 8Hz Binaural for Relaxation

Verse 1]
In the void, His Word was spoken, light from darkness torn apart.
He set the stars in place, the cosmos cradled in His heart.
He formed the dust to Adam's frame, and breathed a living soul.
A world was built on His command, to make the broken whole.

[Refrain:]
Is anything too wonderful for God, the Father?
Is anything too difficult for God, the Son?
Is anything too hard for God, the Holy Spirit?
Consider all the great things God has done!

[Verse 2]
To Abram, aged and without heir, a promise He did make:
"Your descendants, countless as the sand, a nation I'll create."
Then Sarah laughed within the tent, yet in her aged years,
God brought forth Isaac's joyful cry, and dried her doubtful tears.
Refrain:
Is anything too wonderful for God, the Father?
Is anything too difficult for God, the Son?
Is anything too hard for God, the Holy Spirit?
Consider all the great things God has done!

[Verse 3]
The Red Sea road, a path of grace, through walls of water, deep,
While Pharaoh's chariots and pride sank in the briny deep.
He fed them manna from the sky, and water from the stone,
To lead them to a promised land, to make their hope His own.

[Refrain:]
Is anything too wonderful for God, the Father?
Is anything too difficult for God, the Son?
Is anything too hard for God, the Holy Spirit?
Consider all the great things God has done!

[Verse 4]
The Word made flesh, the Son of God, in humble manger lay.
The blind saw light, the lame man walked, the dead were raised that day.
But greater still, upon the cross, our sin and shame He bore,
Then rose again from death's dark grip, to live forevermore!

[Refrain:]
Is anything too wonderful for God, the Father?
Is anything too difficult for God, the Son?
Is anything too hard for God, the Holy Spirit?
Consider all the great things God has done!

[Verse 5]
And on the day of Pentecost, a sound from Heaven came,
The Spirit's fire on each one fell, to speak of Jesus' name.
The Church was born in power and grace, a people called and sealed,
The very life of Christ in us, a living hope revealed!
Refrain:
Is anything too wonderful for God, the Father?
Is anything too difficult for God, the Son?
Is anything too hard for God, the Holy Spirit?
Consider all the great things God has done!

[Repeat Refrain]
Is anything too wonderful for God, the Father?
Is anything too difficult for God, the Son?
Is anything too hard for God, the Holy Spirit?
Consider all the great things God has done!

CD Is Anything Too Wonderful

An homage to Leonora, Rasmussen, KEiiNO, and Emmelie de Forest

[Languages Used:
English (primary), French, Danish, Sami phrase, and an Icelandic chant-like hook.]

[Verse 1 - English]
The tide has pulled our shores apart
We’re whispering across the dark
No compass left, no map to lead us home
I’m holding out an empty hand
Across this broken, promised land
Why does the war go on when both have lost?

[Pre-Chorus - English with Danish hint]
Hvor mange gange? (How many times?)
We win and lose the same old fight
Kom nu, sig mig, (Come now, tell me)
One spark could relight every sun tonight...

[Chorus - English]
OH—I see your spirit in the rain!
(He lå e loi la)
When every teardrop turns to rainmaker’s call
OH—I’m reaching for that higher ground!
(Taka stökk til hærri jörð)
Where love is forever, or not at all!

[Verse 2 - English/French blend]
Come find me where the north winds trace
A frozen arrow’s resting place
Venez, cherchez, the light we left behind
No shooting stars to guide the way
Just echoes from a yesterday
But in your eyes, I see the dawn aligned...

[Pre-Chorus - English]
Why make it tough? The world has had enough
Entends le tambour (Hear the drum)
It’s in your hands, this fragile miracle...

[Chorus - Full power]
OH—I see your spirit in the rain!
(He lå e loi la)
When every teardrop turns to rainmaker’s call
OH—I’m reaching for that higher ground!
(Taka stökk til hærri jörð)
Where love is forever, or not at all!

[Bridge - Intimate, then building]
Eye for an eye leaves both hearts blind...
So freeze the arrow in the air tonight
Let the past be footprints in the snow
Čajet dan čuovgga — I see your light!

[Key Change ↑]
[Final Chorus - Multilingual cascade]
OH—I see your SPIRIT IN THE SKY!
(He lå e loi la – make it rain!)
When every teardrop turns to rainmaker’s call!
OH—WE’RE REACHING FOR THAT HIGHER GROUND!
(Taka stökk – l’amour est pour toujours!)
Where love is forever…

[Outro - Fading, chant-like]
Only teardrops… become rivers… become oceans…
(Make it rain)
Higher ground…
(Spirit in the sky…)
Love is forever… everyone…
[Final whisper]
…Everyone.

CD Northern Heart (Eurovision)

"Becoming Heroes," is the podcast for the Hero inside of you.  Every Hero needs a Guide to help them become the best version of themselves.  Our podcast brings you the best Guides and guidance in bite-sized chunks of awesomeness!

Proverbs 4

Lex McKee