Five Fathers Fighting From the Pulpit
1: The sun does rise on me…
Its warmth is mine
Its warmth is ours
Clouds may come and go
But I do know the sun remains.
It will see me through again.
And ghosts of me in the past
Who’ve all but died and gone from me
Are hidden in my memory
Waiting for the sun
2: Hold out your hand
Palm down to the dirt
So that when they reach for you
They’ve got no way to miss
Don’t look away
Don’t hesitate
Hold out your hand
We have so many down
We have to pick them up
No mess that we can see
Is not ours to clean.
Hold out your hand
And reach for me.
3: When I look out the window
What I see is clouds
Ghosts, wind, memories…
Sometimes the leaves are still
Sometimes the leaves are rattling
And each time I look away
I forget what once was there
Until I look again.
Everywhere I look I forget
Until I look again.
Beauty is so quickly forgot
It is a travesty. I know the greatness
Of the heart well enough
To know that beauty passes through
Like blood and should stay, but
Roams til drawn too thin it’s gone
How do we forget
And how do we remember?
4: Nobody, nobody knows anymore.
About things like love.
No, nobody does, no nobody does.
I’m no old-time man
Rocking away my regretful years
Not yet. But I’m a man of mistakes
And I’m struggling to make them better
Be somebody just as good as most
Think I am from their birds-eye view.
But nobody knows, but me.
And sad enough is that I’m fighting my soul
To beat the fear that breaks me
Down and holds me back
Cuz its not about these things like having it
But really wanting it
And not the thing but the being.
5: What do we believe in?
Do we believe that we are right?
Do we believe that life is right?
Do we believe that nothing stays true?
Can we? Can I? Can You?
I believe in nothing more than this:
That what we believe
Is right. For you its this
And him, well, it’s that.
And one may scream and scorn
Another tongue’s articulated thoughts
And fists rise and fall in rage
But we all are right. Not us but all.
Belief is singular and there is no right
More than us.
Somewhere upon a dirty hill, some loving
Man may see the sun and forget it
But he will be fine.
He’ll move on.
We all must believe and get along.
Hope remains despite all the ugly
Things that compel us to despair.
But we are Here and There
We are still everywhere
And life will remain triumphant
For we can still believe
In what, who cares?
We have the right
We have the hope
So let us let the light out.