Does the sea dream ? I'm sure - we are here, we attend, we are bells on the shore as the tolling suspends.

does the sea dream

photo by Robert Mapplethorpe (1987)

Does the sea dream ? I'm sure -  We are here, we attend,
We are bells on the shore as the tolling suspends.


Selected Lyrics

People Have The Power
   the people have the power
To redeem the work of fools

   I believe everything we dream
Can come to pass through our union
We can turn the world around
We can turn the earth’s revolution


Going Under
Sun is rising on the water, light is dancing again,
Let's go under where the sun beams, let's go under my friend…
Are we sleeping?  Are we dreaming?  Are we dancing again?
Is it heaven? Crack it open and we'll slide down its stream…
We can hold on - I'm sure - to the sea's foaming mane,
It will serve us, we'll surface and we'll plunge back again.
Sun is rising on the water, light is dancing like a flame,
There's no burning where the sun beams, oh it's such a lovely game…
Does the sea dream ? I'm sure -  We are here, we attend,
We are bells on the shore as the tolling suspends.
Who will decide the shape of things, the shift of being? Who will perceive when life is new? Shall we divide and become another?  Who is due for gift upon gift? Who will decide?
Shall we swim over and over the curve of a wing, its destination ever changing?
Sun is rising on the water, light is dancing like a flame,
Let's go waltzing on the water, let's go under again,
Let's go under - Going under…


Up There Down There
The air we breathe
The flame of wisdom
The earth we grind
The beckoning sea
It’s no mystery
Not sentimental
Ahh the equation
It’s all elemental

The world is restless
Heaven in flux
Angels appear
From the bright storm
Out of the shadows
Up there, down there
But what we can say
Man’s been forewarned


Paths that Cross
Speak to me, speak to me heart, I feel a needing to bridge the clouds, softly go, a way I wish to know.
Oh you'll ride, surely dance, in a ring backwards and forwards,
Those who seek, feel the glow - a glow we all will know.
On that day filled with grace on the way to heart's communion,
Steps we take, steps we trace, all the way the light’s reunion.
Paths that cross will cross again…
Speak to me, speak to me shadow
I spin from the wheel, nothing at all save the need, the need to weave a silk of souls that whisper to me.
Speak to me heart - all things renew: hearts will mend, round the bend,
Paths that cross will cross again…
Rise up, hold the reins, we'll meet I don't know when, hold tight, by-bye
Paths that cross will cross again…
 (‘Paths that Cross’ is dedicated to Sam Wagstaff, art collector and partner of Robert Mapplethorpe)


Dream of Life
I'm with you always - you're ever on my mind, in a light to last a whole life through.
Each way I turn, how the sense of you surrounds in every step I take, in all I do.
Your thoughts, your schemes, captivate my dreams - everlasting, ever new…
Sea returns to sea and sky to sky,
(Child) in a life of dream am I, when I'm with you?
Deep in my heart, how the presence of you shines, in a light to last a whole life through.
I recall the wonder of it all - each dream of life I'll share with you…
The hand above turns those leaves of love, all and all, a timeless view,
Each dream of life flung from paradise, everlasting, ever new.
Dream of Life…


Where Duty Calls
In the heart of the ancient
Ali smiles
In the soul of the desert
The sun blooms
Awake into the glare
Of all our little wars
Who pray to salute
The coming and dying
Of the moon
Oh sleeping sun
(lyric written in memory of the 241 marines, sailors and soldiers on a peaceful mission in Beirut who perished with their assassin on October 23, 1983)


Looking For You
   to be your destiny was all that I pursued
I could see the sights from the lofty heights
But my heart obscured the view

And you were reflected in all that I saw

Gripping my senses like an ancient claim

All that hearts desire
Was written before us
In the medieval fire
It was love’s design
In the glittering stars
Like Shakespeare’s child
To be where you are

Looking for you
I was


The Jackson Song
Little blue dreamer go to sleep, let's close our eyes and call the deep slumbering land that just begins when day is done and little dreamers spin…
First take my hand now let it go - little blue boy you're on your own
Little blue wings as those feet fly, little blue shoes that walk across the sky…
May your path be your own, but I'm with you, and each day you'll grow, he'll be there too,
And someday when you go, we'll follow you, as you go…
Little blue star that offers light, little blue bird that offers flight, little blue path where those feet fall,
- Little blue dreamer won't you dream it all?
And in your travels you will see warrior wings - remember Daddy.
And if a mama bird you see, folding her wings - will you remember me?

As you go…


As The Night Goes By
Darlin’ come under cover
Another night to discover

Let’s drift between the sea and sky
As the night goes by

Sands shift
Orchids so strange
In the moonlight
Brushing our faces
Places where love blooms and dies
While the night goes by
And the spirits call
Sun upon your shadows fall
Tracing every breath we draw

Come into my dreams
Darlin’ let’s go where the night goes
Let’s drift where senses gather
Let’s make this night last forever
Into my dreams

Time slips, oh darlin’ how it flies when the night goes by

Midnight
Moon on our shoulder
Daybreak
Another one older
Darlin’ heavenly blue
Glories fade into view

Let’s go under the stars that are beating under the moonlight
Stars shoot
Dusk just a whisper
Make this night last forever
Oh how I wonder where the night goes
Oh let’s wonder where the night goes
As the night goes by bye by bye


Wild Leaves
Wild leaves are falling, falling to the ground; every leaf a moment, a light upon the crown that we'll all be wearing in a time unbound.
Every word that's spoken, every word decreed, every spell that's broken, every golden deed, all the parts we're playing, binding as the reed, and wild leaves are falling, wild wild leaves.
As the campfire's burning, as the fire ignites all the moments turning in the stormy bright;
Well enough the churning, well enough believe, the coming and the going, wild wild leaves…
(‘Wild Leaves’  was written in tribute to Robert Mapplethorpe)

Wild Leaves Live 2014 with her daughter Jesse on piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90AHg9TLYQg
(the words Patti reads in the middle are by Dylan Thomas from ’In Country Sleep’)
Patti and the words only https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwfsP8dUe_U


Memorial Song
Little emerald bird wants to fly away
If I cup my hand could I make him stay
Little emerald soul, little emerald eye
Little emerald soul must you say good-bye
All the things that we pursue, all that we dream, are composed as nature knew, in a feather green
Little emerald bird as you light afar, it is true I heard, God is where you are
Little emerald soul, little emerald eye
Little emerald bird we must say good-bye
(for Robert Mapplethorpe)

Somalia
If I were rain I would rain on Somalia
If I were grain for Somalia I’d grow
If I were bread I would rise for Somalia
If I were a river for Somalia I’d flow
(lyric written in memory of Audrey Hepburn, who worked with the simple industry of a servant to give comfort to the victims of the famine in Somalia)