The Lyric Poetry of Greg Greenway Like a stone thrown in a pool of memory..."

I waded into the shadows of a warm September day.
The sun slanted down on this little town like a friend from far away.
Once I would not have been caught dead in a place like this,
now, I’m glad to be found here alive.
It’s hard to explain it, how I fought it, I became it,
now I’m late but I’ve finally arrived.
So hello, hello, hello.
So good to see your smile.
I would not have made it all of this way
without these good friends of mine.
Hello, hello, hello.
It’s been such a long, long time.
Your faces are the moon and the stars
in my September sky.
I cannot walk in a straight line without going in circles, my friend,
all around me everything’s moving, beyond my approving
past where the sidewalk ends.
Now, it’s more than a children’s story, but it’s less than a hero’s tale.
It’s just what you see here, it’s just you and me here,
filling in the details.
So hello, hello, hello.
So good to see your smile.
I would not have made it all of this way
without these good friends of mine.
Hello, hello, hello.
It’s been such a long, long time.
Your faces are the moon and the stars
in my September sky.
Come September, sleep so deep,
yellow lines on the freeway invade my dreams.
There’s something warm and familiar when the shadows grow deep and long.
Like a stone thrown in a pool of memories
and the ripples go on and on.
There are only three verses in this song, my friend,
you’re born, you live, and you die,
and so much has to happen between hello and goodbye.
Hello, hello, hello.
It’s been such a long, long time.
Your faces are the moon and the stars
in my September sky.

Big Wide World
I was born by the river
where the boats could go no farther
and the history flowed like water
through my mother and my father
they said, “nothing good comes easy
in the land of the free,
and those folk over yonder,
they’re not like you and me.”
It was too hard living
with what I was told,
heads were shaking
at the newspapers and the radio,
like the whole world had gone crazy
when they heard that man say,
“change is gonna come, oh yes it will,”
it’s headed right this way.
It’s a big wide world for all to see
beyond these walls built inside of you and me
where half of the story has been raised to an art
but no lie can live forever
without killing your heart
There were times when I thought
I could leave it all behind,
I could find a highway, I could cross a state line.
But, you could drive your whole life,
no matter how far.
There’s no map in the world
of people’s hearts
Chorus
Bridge:
People get ready, there’s a change coming
People get ready, there’s a change coming
Now, I’m still standing / after all this time.
It’s the statues that have fallen / in that hometown of mine.
And that river keeps on flowing / right on down to the sea,
and those folks over yonder, / they’re still dying to be free.
Chorus

Just a little bit of hope, everybody,
a little bit of hope, everyone.
Oh, my heart is broken, the work is never done.
You could quit every night, tired of the fight
then up comes the morning sun
but, your heart is still beating (beating).
That’s where the hope comes from.
Just a little bit of hope, everybody,
a little bit of hope, everyone.
Oh, my feet are tired, the race is barely run.
You could quit every night, tired of the fight
then up comes the morning sun
and my feet, they start moving (moving).
that’s where the hope comes from.
Just a little bit of hope, everybody,
a little bit of hope, everyone.
Oh, my hands are weary, the work is never done.
You could quit every night, tired of the fight
then up comes the morning sun
and my hands, they start working (working).
That’s where the hope comes from.
(harmonica break)
Just a little bit of hope, everybody,
a little bit of hope, everyone.
Oh, my voice is faltering, this song is hardly sung..
You could quit every night, tired of the fight
then up comes the morning sun
and everybody starts singing.
That’s where the hope comes from.
and everybody starts singing.
That’s where the hope comes from.
and everybody starts singing.
That’s where the hope comes from.

(suggested by “Preacher Don’t Send Me” by Maya Angelou0
Don’t promise me a mansion in the sky,
the reservation starts the moment I die.
The mortgage is paid, there’s no money anyhow.
It’s so much less messy than the here and now.
Don’t promise me a fountain of youth,
politicians will tell the truth,
and billionaires will have my best interests at heart.
Must I leave this earth before the benefits start
What I see is paradise
is when we’re all one big family
and everybody’s nice.
Where the music is jazzed
and the season is fall.
Promise me this, or nothing at all.
Everyone’s at the table with a full plate.
No one will profit from preaching hate.
There will be reunions of the family of man,
when someone says trust me, you actually can.
What I see is paradise
is when we’re all one big family
and everybody’s nice.
Where the music is jazzed
and the season is fall.
Promise me this, or nothing at all.
Shame and guilt are off the list.
Eternal damnation will not be missed.
Everyone will have walked in everybody else’s shoes,
Now, someone grab a harp and lay down the truth.

I’ve made my mistakes, my mistakes have made me.
Now I make my steps carefully.
You’ve got your story, I’ve surely got mine.
Between the two of us, we’ve done our time.
But love has a way of,
a way of erasing the past.
Oh love, look at me now
saving the best for last.
A prince and a pauper, you know who I am.
You’ve got the heart of a lion, the soul of a lamb.
We’ve both come so far, but never so near.
I’ve got the feeling, we’ve never been here.
But love has a way of,
a way of erasing the past.
Oh love, look at me now
saving the best for last.
You did not want to dance with me
you did not want to kiss me.
You did not want me to stay,
this yes has come a long way.
This is our moment, this is our day.
You make forever, so easy to say.
But love has a way of,
a way of erasing the past.
Oh love, look at me now
saving the best for last.

The spring of 1943, from England to Germany,
50 million lives decreed my father would be spared.
In his long life, he’d never guess, he’d left unfinished business,
that his son would see the world regress in the streets of Charlottesville.
It’s another day in Hollywood, another day.
Another stroll past the statues on the Champs-Elysee of the South
Another roar in the DC streets, behind closed doors a president tweets,
and history repeats another day.
From every corner came the noise of dress up soldiers, angry boys,
a tragic tantrum in tabloid in the streets of Charlottesville.
That young life was brushed aside, “there are very fine people on both sides,”
50 million ghosts arrive to disagree
Chorus
Bridge:
Show your face, we know your name.
in the storied human race, it’s always the same
blame those with no defense
you only are what you’re against
we know your name
we know your name
One year gone, Lafayette Square, only 24 would dare
celebrate a year’s dispair in the streets of Washington.
The high rise canyons rolled with sound
as 10,000 voices shout them down,
to chase them all back underground
to the dark from where they came.
Chorus
Spring of 1943, that’s 75 years to me.
Berlin, Charlottesville, DC,
we must be there.
Chorus.

I’ve always been a dreamer,
it’s the way that I’ve found
of keeping my head in the clouds
my feet off the ground
from that stumbling, humbling parade.
Love has brought me here,
what’s going to help me to stay.
The romance of the loner
is the power of one.
You know, it takes the power of many
to get anything done,
anything beyond the nose upon your face.
Love has brought me here,
what’s going to help me to stay.
No one is an island, no one is a stone.
Nothing worth doing can be done alone.
Not alone.
Instrumental verse
Bridge
For us the new arrivals,
late to the stage,
whatever got you to this door,
whatever brought you this way,
from that stumbling, humbling parade.
Love has brought us here,
Love’s going to help us to stay.
Love has brought us here,
Love’s going to help us,
Love’s going to help us,
Love is going to help us to stay.

The river was a danger in the dawn of time
a risk of life, a dividing line
boundaries that humankind would heed
As long as that river flowed deep and wide
the people lived in a world divided,
forever as a river, so it would be.
If you’re gonna build a bridge
you’ve gotta go all the way
make it to the other side
before you’re done.
There is just no half way
across a deep divide
over a rising tide
you’ve gotta build a bridge.
That was a long long time ago,
now there is no place we can go
mountain high, valley low, ocean deep.
But that old river stayed here inside,
we still won’t make it to the other side
until we find the will to build a bridge
Chorus
Bridge:
Will all our words fail us in the end
or is it we will fail them
What are the children going to say
walking in a world left in our wake
stumbling on mistakes we have made
with the insurmountable of our time
be the distance between hearts and minds
and we never found the will to build a bridge.
Chorus
Chorus (a cappella)
Chorus

If you paint me, paint me blue
cerulean September sky
there must be a yellow sun
and something far, passing by
For I am made of all of this
a mother’s love, a lover’s kiss,
my brother’s pain, a dove, a fist,
and more.
Above the sparkle of the sea
render me that distant thing
over hues of blues and greens
a glint of gold on fleeting wings
For I am made of all of this
a mother’s love, a lover’s kiss,
my sister’s struggle to persist.
and more.
More than the hand that holds the broad
brush strokes of destiny.
More than you can fill in the rest of me.
Frame me with translucent time
a moment like no other.
Paint how you will this life of mine,
a melody in colors.
For I am made of all of this
a mother’s love, a lover’s kiss,
my brother’s pain, a dove, a fist,
my sister’s struggle to persist.
and more
For I am made of all of this
a mother’s love, a lover’s kiss,
my brother’s pain, a dove, a fist,
my sister’s struggle to persist.
My father’s gift, resist, resist.
and more

Here’s a public service announcement for everyone who drives
the highways of America, Stayin’ safe, staying alive.
It only takes a couple from the ignorant, the insane
to muck it up for everyone, but this song feels your pain
talking ‘bout the scourge of America
There are those who can’t merge peacefully, those, when all are stopped
fly by you in the breakdown lane (when you need one, where’s a cop)
There are Harleys that split traffic to do that death wish thing
but it’s the squatters in the outside lane that make me want to sing.
Get out of the left lane, get out of the left lane,
you’re driving me insane, get out of the left lane
who taught you to drive a car, who do you think you are,
Get out, get out, get out of the left lane.
There’s that phalanx of big semi trucks all lined up to draft
there’s the one inch from your bumper speed addict psychopath
there’s the right to left lane floater
that keeps us on the edge, but it’s the squatter in the passing lane
that makes me speak the pledge
to cure the scourge of America
there’s a blinker that’s been blinking since before the last 12 towns
there’s the one who zips right past you,gets in front then slows way down
for some the rear-view mirror is a long-forgotten thing
it’s the squatter in the outside lane that makes me want to sing.
Chorus
For those who’re feeling powerless, forgotten and forlorn
done with wild hand gestures, lashing light, blaring horns
There is a solution in the chorus of a song to join the national movement
you need only sing along
to cure the scourge of America
From the access roads in Austin to the 5 in LA
to the Big Dig in Boston (what the hell’s a rotary anyway)
From the Cross Bronx Triple Gridlock to the mosh pit of DC
It’s the Anti Rolling Road block left lane vigilante plea
Chorus
Chorus

If the word escapes you
you will hear it in my voice
we’ll always find a way to
hear it through the noise
It’s better said too many times,
than never quite enough
Unless somebody knows better
the word is love
When I say I’m sorry
it never feels like giving in
It’s like a window opens
and the light comes streaming in
You’d never say that I’m behind you
but I’m always catching up
when that smile creeps across your face, the light reaches your eyes.
It’s a good day here on planet earth, I’m here to testify
to everyone who’s lost it
at the darkest of dead ends
It so hard to find it
so hard to start again
when I wandered through that wilderness
I could not dream you up (but here you are)
unless somebody knows better
I’ll call that love.

It’s been the deal beginning to end,
but never so real, beloved friend.
The words that they sent, they made no sense.
My mind could not read them in past tense.
My mind could not read them in past tense.
The letters, they built a wall to me,
no “h,” no “o,” no,“ p,” no “e.”
No matter how hard we read and reread.
It was, am, am not.
Smiling, smiled,
started, stopped.
Is, was,
here and beyond,
Loved, love
Here, gone.
This wasn’t the way you were to leave
when I touched my heart for you to see.
They say they you fell, as everyone will.
We all fell with you, we’re falling still.
We all fell with you, we’re falling still.
It was, am, am not.
Smiling, smiled,
started, stopped.
Is, was,
here and beyond,
Loved, love
Here, gone.