We were riding borrowed bikes.
Clouds were hanging from the sky.
Owls were watching from the moss*,
daring us to pass them by.

Chorus:
    When do new friends become old?
    Are there bears with crowns of gold**?
    What cannot be bought or sold?

    Våren regnar och okända vägar
    Våren regnar och okända vägar
        (springtime rains and unknown roads)

We found music in the plaza square,
new songs from unfamiliar faces.
Clouds could never follow there:
sunshine, dancing and amazement. 

(repeat chorus)

I begin to lose these feelings,
my new perspective shifted by routine.
Today's sun reveals familiar things, now,
which of these should I believe?

(repeat chorus)

* The lyric "Owls were watching from the moss" refers to the Swedish idiom "Jag anar ugglor i mossen." This translates into "I sense owls in the moss." It means that something feels "wrong"-- that "can't put my finger on it" intuitive sense that something isn't quite right.  In the song, the owls are "daring us to pass them by," to get past the sense of something being "off" and move on to something that feels right.

** The lyric "are there bears with crowns of gold" refers to one of the places we bicycled, "Kung Björnsspåret," where there were many signs featuring a bear wearing a crown.  Björn (Bear), is a popular first name in Sweden, so it is really "King Björn's trail", but I appreciated the imagery.

Springtime Rains

melody and lyrics by Stephin Merritt / Magnetic Fields; dulcimer arrangement by Michael Schenkel

The Book Of Love

shadow on the mountain
a cloud over despair
smile like wind over water
heart like fire above air

on the platform of every station
in the eye of each storm
your hands spin glass out of burning paper
song from ashes reborn

changing lines, changing lines

mountain over earthquake
the earth could swallow me here
eyes are earth above water
lips are wind over flame

in the dark when I held your face
the truth was not words I could say
a combination of a furrowed brow 
and a place where my heart could not stay

changing lines, changing lines

toss these coins on the sidewalk
toss these coins in the air
toss these coins in the water
when you fish them out I'll be here

Book of Changes (demo)

"Imagined Conversation" Live, Nov 20 2015, Mohawk Place, Buffalo NY.  Written in response to a prompt during DWWaSTM July 13-17 2015.

"Imagined Conversation" Live, Nov 20 2015, Mohawk Place, Buffalo NY

"From A Spark", Live, Nov 20 2015, Mohawk Place, Buffalo NY.  Written early October 2015.