Victory Gardens
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Red Wooden Beads
(John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey)
Marika stamped her feet saying
hey hey listen to me
A face she'd never meet, saying
hey hey listen to me
Sitting in the kitchen light,
prism crystal glass
The banging ledger overdrawn
A silent prayer as if to make it pass
Marika's days were spent thinking
hey hey listen to me
Her nights in argument thinking
hey hey listen to me
Running down the alleyway to catch
the last Guignol
Calling names of cities and a life that
she would never know
Late in the evening, sorting what to keep
The boxes in the bedsit, her clothes
all in a heap
Marika free at last singing
hey hey listen to me
All through her autumn past singing
hey hey listen to me
Moving towards the telephone,
dinner on the run
The spiral cord wrapped round her wrist,
the table sold
A brand new day begun
Later in the evening, she found the missing key
the lock turned in her jewel box
And there some red wood beads for her to wear
The Azalea Festival
(John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey)
Like strangers on the road, a distant view
I saw someone who looked like you
My blood ran chill as snow, my body shook
I'd only found where not to look
I'd hung the sky with stars,
in hopes you came
I called you by your childhood name
Tears raining in my heart, a funeral kiss
I never thought it'd end like this
Not you alone you won't delay
Or wound the dawning of the day
Not you alone this voice is screaming
A ray of hope, get up stop dreaming
With joined hands and downcast eyes,
the curious crowd
Very angry and very loud
The saddest of farewells, the pouring rain
A ticket on an empty train
I am too near so much to lose
I wonder how she'll take the news
Like emeralds from the sky,
the green pier lights
How children would have loved those sights
Hearts ticking through the night,
the morning bells
The wait for death in shore hotels
Not you alone... I am too near...
Coffins with sails set by the brave
Sharp pointed spears around each grave
Not you alone
Piles of Dead Leaves
(John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey)
Piles of dead leaves, warm wind blowing
crabapple trees
Hands to the sky, eye at the keyhole on
bended bare knees
Lying face down, small eyes glancing
room all around
Dark at the stairs, the warm wind blowing
breath through hair
Without a home alone
Suffering and not saying so
That lesser souls will never see me
Turning back again and again
I went my way, looking around at scars
on the ground
You went your way, naming the stars,
the stairs, the shells, the trees
Susie and me, riding our bikes
and swinging from trees
Mud in our toes, the red rocks glowing
in the glistening stream and catching
raindrops few
Iridescence in the haze
The colours twisting in and out
The crunch the creek the crackle the crow
And you on your way to school
Me sitting all alone
Playing with the dusty things
Waiting for the hall clock's chime to ring
We were two, just two you, you, you, you
And everything we did so far
Lightning bugs in canning jars
Rocks and rings and funny things
Ashes, ashes we all fall down
Late Sunday night, there on the table
package from you
Woolen bright socks, stripes and dots
of burgundy blues
Soles have been worn playing around
in different towns
Sometimes when I sleep
The sounds from the window
they bring me on back
When we went away dancing in the rain
I was splashing you here, everywhere you
And you on your way to school,
me sitting home alone
Rocks and rings and funny things
in our boxes all away
I collected more than you, went fishing,
this and that with you
Rocks and rings and funny things
all around you
We Have Nothing
(John Lombardo)
As it hides from sunlight the winter
moves on
And now gone like ghosts things
we counted upon
The check you promised never came
I beat the windows and bawled your name
We have nothing
I've the feeling this is happening twice
Longtime friendships are now melting
like ice
So good with words yet now they fail
As seasons meet and the days grow pale
We have nothing
The long-buried poems the night that we met
And then the hour we swore we'd
never forget
The ticking clock moved backwards to
Till I wasn't sure if it was you
People stirring at their windows at dawn
We stood pissing on the constable's lawn
Is that the moon there at the foot of the pool
I was happy now I feel like a fool
Like a curtain dropping down from above
It's as though you had never been loved
We made a list from one to five
Good reasons not to be alive
We nursed our drinks in a workmans bar
We kissed good night in a freezing car
We have nothing
Rags of Flowers
(John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey)
City streets with noises abound,
telephone wires sparkled with sound
All believed impeachably world without end,
amen, amen
And the grass grew yellow and brown
and the sky wasn't blue
And at first when our radios worked
we wouldn't believe it was true
Boy with a friend a walking the land,
woman in fields a plow in the earth
Goods a'plenty in front of the store, life was
in love with the mushroom cap war
And the grass grew yellow and brown
and the sky wasn't blue
And at first when our radios worked
we wouldn't believe it was true
Looking for the fort we built by the
old abandoned mine
But there was nothing, nothing we could find
There was no place for seeking and hiding,
no time left for us finding
The worn-out whiskey bottles as my cold
hands drawing crosses on the ground
Searching for our secret tree, the one with
both our names
But there was nothing, nothing we could find
There was no place for seeking and hiding,
no time left for us finding
The worn-out whiskey bottles as my cold
hands drawing crosses on the ground
Stunted trees growing wild in the pool,
once summertime swims
Now shade keeps us cool
Kunda's baby never got born,
victory gardens all withered and worn
And the grass grew yellow and brown
and the sky wasn't blue
And at first when our radios worked
we wouldn't believe it was true
The rags of flowers bloom
The clouds a living tomb
And Christmas is coming soon,
turn gladly back home
I Became Alone
(John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey)
Cutting squares of cloth from scraps
of old dresses
Sewn quilt hanging on the wall
Over there just to remind me
How I became alone
Angled scissors to the life there devoted
Apple branches scent the air
Asking her who hasn't been asked,
red the colour of her hair
I pulled the rope and it broke,
laughing startled with surprise
I knew there and then that everything
had changed
No good days and no goodbyes
I caught you in the web,
you were standing there alone
I could cry but then I hear voices
Just brittle flowers in the wind
I woke the old man sleeping on the
rumpled bed
He grasped my hand so tight
As the snow fell silent into the shadows
holding breath
'tween slanted light
All the boys are now far gone away,
folded letter by the phone
Watch the mouths move but they're
not hearing
I became alone
The Open Window
(John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey)
She walked away with the ring in her hand
The back door open scattered coins on
her night stand
The room around her so silent and still
The echoes of the voices lingered from a time
When so long ago and far away
How sweet the fiddle bow did play
The smiles around the table as
they talked intimately
When she would leave them her
children alone
Their cries and protests made her
want to stay back home
In isolation she worked into night
Her hands all calloused by the twisted
vines she'd fight
Then she'd think of times so long ago
The dinner embers still aglow
The smiles around the table as they talked
intimately
The window was open, the daughter was pale
The steam pipes were broken and her hand
Froze to the rail
When so long ago and far away
How sweet the fiddle bow did play
The smiles around the table as they
talked intimately
The grief lay all around her
No food, heat, just war
She looked in the tarnished mirror,
her glowing eyes
Traveled to a place
Where they would drink and dance
on dusty florid days
The little boy sat and polished his shoes
He'd rub them with a cloth so shined
he couldn't lose
A small green vase for his mom he
wished to win
To bring the life back to the face
that's always been
Full of love and life a sparkle lay
A mother's tear to make her stay
The sky grew dark, the rain clouds pour
She wouldn't see her anymore
So long ago and far away, how sweet
the fiddle bow did play
The smiles around the table as they
talked intimately
The window was open, the daughter was pale
The steam pipes were broken and her hand
Froze to the rail
July 6
(John Lombardo)
July 6: the end of the war was in sight
And in Hartford the circus tents glowing
if just for one night
'44: a world torn apart at the seams
But a three-ring performance tonight
to a land make-believe
And all eyes were moving as one
At marvels from faraway lands
But no eyes had noticed the child,
happy to just be there in the stands
Eyes so wild
Working men as honest as summer days long
Had been saving for weeks for this night
that now finally had come
Times like these can make you forget
all that's lost
Yellow ponies parading as flaming batons
skyward tossed
But no one could ever explain
How everything just fell apart
How heaven was turned into hell
Or just how a fire could start
Over six thousand people were panicking,
screaming
And clawing their way to the gate
And by morning the death angel's toll
had reached one sixty-eight...
Families came, a listing of victims
they'd read
All so senseless and tragic this wake
of a human stampede
All but one identified there cold as stone
All but one had been claimed by their loved
ones and taken back home
A young girl lay silent and still
As if she were trapped in a dream
The newspapers posted her face
A face that nobody had seen
Not a soul
The photograph taken was printed in papers, Seattle clear to Maine
And no person on earth would admit
just to knowing her name
Not a friend, not her school
Playmates gone, neighbors none
Not one clue
Pram
(John Lombardo)
The year has passed like a snake on a lawn
You could reach for its tail and in a
moment it's gone
Out from the shadows a dream opens wide
Like a light from a star that already has died
The woman held her daughters hands
(a lucky penny in the well)
And sang them songs of distant lands
(the ocean in this hollow shell)
The pram cut loose away it floats
Their song will never reach these boats
For eighteen years I have studied the way
But I see no more clear and my hair
is still grey
If someone asked me just what I have found
I would point to the heaven, I'd point
to the ground
The moonbeams dancing on the lake
(the snow fell silent soft and white)
I've heard their sound it's yours to take
(a halo 'round the amber light)
The pram cut loose away it floats
Their song will never reach these boats
I sat upon the master's chair to wait
Caught in the midnight sky, the moon
would silver everything:
Head up eyes straight
The lamplight burning, the staircase is steep
And the children are noisy so no one
can sleep
The wind is rising, a train whistle moans
I am clapping my hands and I'm coming
back home
One room, one bed, one jar, one bowl
(the starlings perched along a wire)
There's not a single house I know
(the poachers huddled 'round the fire)
The pram cut loose away it floats
Their song will never reach these boats
The grand dream palace as the hour
grew late
Caught in the midnight sky, the moon
would silver everything:
Head up eyes straight
(now Lindy wipe that tear away)
Head up eyes straight
(and things won't always be this grey)
Head up eyes straight
(if you don't like it we won't stay)
Head up
Un Canadien Errant
(Public Domain, arranged by Mary Ramsey)
Un Canadien errant banni de ses foyers
Un Canadien errant banni de ses foyers
Parcourait en pleurant des pays etranges
Parcourait en pleurant des pays etranges
Un jour triste et pensif assis au bord des flots
Un jour triste et pensif assis au bord des flots
Au courant fugitif il adressa ces mots
Au courant fugitif il adressa ces mots
Si tu vois mon pays mon pays malheureux
Si tu vois mon pays mon pays malheureux
Va, dis 'a mes amis que je me souviens d'eux
Va, dis 'a mes amis que je me souviens d'eux
Non, mais en expirant o mon cher Canada
Non, mais en expirant o mon cher Canada
Mon regard langard languissant vers
toi se portera
Mon regard langard languissant vers
toi se portera
Un Canadien errant banni de ses foyers
Un Canadien errant banni de ses foyers
Parcourait en pleurant des pays etranges
Parcourait en pleurant des pays etranges
All words Theme Park Music (ASCAP)/GMMI, a division of Gerd
Muller Music International
MCA Music Publishing, a division of MCA Inc.
Conceived and produced by Joske&Deca
