barbara

“Divine Decline”
Barbara Roughton – 50/90 – 2010

Lyrics:

it’s Saturday noon
and I’m grumpy and tired
I can’t get the week off my mind
and I’m wired
I’m going ‘round
in overdrive
I’m going ‘round, ‘round, ‘round
in overdrive
mm mm mm

my mind’s in an argument
here’s what I should’ve said
then you invite me so sweetly
to come to bed
going for
some quiet time
gonna lay right down
in quiet time
mm mm mm

it takes me awhile
to recover my instinct
to feel what is happening
why would I want to think?
we’re going for
divine decline
we’re going down, down, down
divine decline
mm mm mm
mm mm mm

you fill me up
fill me up
fill me to emptiness
push me right over the edge into willingness
I’m heading down now
the divine decline
I’m heading down, down, down
the divine decline
down, down, down
divine decline

Read Full Post »

Lyrics:

I see a cloud that has your features
I feel your love come through the rain

Where did you go
I know I can’t know
I’m here all alone
With you

You cross my mind in ways I treasure
I fold my heart into your hand

Where did you go
I know I can’t know
I’m here all alone
With you

The days were long, now nights are longer
I hold you close against the cold

Where did you go
I know I can’t know
I’m here on my own
With you

Read Full Post »

Lyrics:

we went to Sweetwater Creek
to get a nice break from the heat
to wander by water
by rocks and by ruins
get lost taking pictures
of ripples on pools

and when the light started to fail
and we were still on the trail

we heard the twilight band of August
playing their concert through the vale
we heard the twilight band of August
telling their tale

habits can be hard to break
we talk just to fill up the space
a comment on this, and a question on that
a point of confusion turns into a spat

but when the light started to fail
and we were still out on the trail

we heard the twilight band of August
playing their concert through the vale
we heard the twilight band of August
telling their tale

off in the distance the roar of the falls
we’re hiking our way back to ceilings and walls
suddenly nothing occurs as a rush
and something inside feels the need to be hushed

we heard the twilight band of August
playing their concert through the vale
we heard the twilight band of August
telling their tale…
we heard the twilight band of August
playing their concert through the vale
we heard the twilight band of August
telling their tale

Read Full Post »

“Selkie” ©barbara, FAWM2020, Feb 2020

Lyrics:

Dark eyes are surfacing
out on the water
beckoning “darling, come home”
Fly to the window
and see if it opens,
he’s gone and there’s no one to know

My child I adore you,
I’ll try to come for you,
don’t cry when you wake for the day
For here I was withering,
starved of my soul,
I’m no good for you, wasting away

Today he was careless
A moment I’d hoped for
The warden not minding the keys
Wrapped in my element,
no looking back,
I run fast for the nourishing sea

Now stars shine above me,
I know who I am,
I remember what living is for
With dark eyes I’ll seek you
And swim close to greet you
With a heart so irreparably torn

Dark eyes are surfacing
out on the water
beckoning “darling, come home”

(C) Barbara Roughton

Read Full Post »

“Thursday” ©barbara, FAWM2014, Feb 2014

Lyrics:

the last day things were normal was a Thursday
and now we’ve had four Thursdays in a row
I guess this is the normal to get used to
the weeks will keep on flying even so

Friday was a dropping out of orbit
a splashdown to reality long due
but both of us went under and I lost you
now I’m solo, treading water in the blue

the way I’m counting
is in base seven
we’re up to 40
the weeks are batches I can do
and soon the months..
and then the years..
but I’ll stop counting (somewhere in there) by ‘you’

today is Thursday; it’s dress rehearsal,
for a weekend that has room for feeling blue
but I’ll be listening for sweeter sounds than heartache
such as balance, and dignity, and something that is true

I’ve been drowning
in base seven
call off the rescue
I may swim before I’m through
bring on the months
bring on the years
so I’ll stop counting the days that pass by ‘you’

Read Full Post »

“Wetlands” ©barbara, FAWM2014, 02.15.2014

Lyrics:

ripples ease
by cypress knees
a mirror landscape dazes
in our canoe
just me and you
we stand out from the grays

you can’t drain a wetland
without loss of life
beauty forms to circumstance
Nature wields a knife

Spanish moss, a
garland made of loss
decorates the hollow branches
from our canoe
me and you
we paddle by in quiet gestures

you can’t drain a wetland
without losing life
beauty forms to circumstance
Nature wields her knife

herons dip
turtles flip
frogs in chorus surround you
the setting sun
another cycle done
their music has ways to ground you

ripples ease
by cypress knees
a mirror landscape dazes
in our canoe
just me and you
we stand out from the grays

you can’t drain a wetland
without losing life
beauty forms to circumstance
Nature wields a knife

Read Full Post »

“I Remember” ©barbara, FAWM2015, 02.02.2015

Liner Notes:
This song is influenced by the fact that my mother has Vascular Dementia and is less and less able to reminisce with me, which I thought was going to be the saving grace. So this is part lament, and part acceptance of the new relationship we are working out. If it’s repetitive, well… welcome to our world!


Lyrics:

I remember… (x 4)

I remember all the things that used to be so special to you
the things that made you proud to be the one you were
and I give them to you slowly; when you’re empty it’s so lonely
and I wish you knew the woman that you were
but it’s alright that I’m with you…and not with her

(repeat)

and I want you… to be happy…
I want you… to be happy…
I want you… to be happy

(repeat verse)

I remember…
I remember…

Read Full Post »

Read Full Post »

Read Full Post »

Read Full Post »