Mindful, Mary Oliver
3 Little Birds, Bob Marley
Oh What A Beautiful Morning, Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rogers
Come, My Beloved, Rumi
Some Keep The Sabbath, Emily Dickinson
The Same Stream of Life, Rabindranath Tagore
That’s Amore, Jack Brooks and Harry Warren
Morning Swim, Maxine Kumin
The Open Road, Walt Whitman (excerpts)
The Rules of Evidence, Lee Robinson
Singing In The Rain, Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown
Some of My Favorite Things, Oscar Hammerstein
Everyone Eats When They Come to My House, Cab Calloway
The End of the Line, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty,
…..George Harrison and Roy Orbison (Traveling Wilburys)
To Joy, Friedrich Schiller (excerpt)

* * *

Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman (excerpts)
Closed Path, Rabindranath Tagore
Clouds and Mountains, Hashan
O Me! O Life! – Walt Whitman
Cheek to Cheek, Irving Berlin
Joy to the World, Hoyt Axton (3 Dog Night)


 

Mindful
by Mary Oliver

You should get the text from another source.

 
 
 

Three Little Birds
by Bob Marley

You should get the text from another source.

 
 
 

Oh What a Beautiful Morning
by Oscar Hammerstein (R. Rodgers)

You should get the text from another source.

 
 
 

Come My Beloved
by Rumi
(translated)

Come my beloved
Come my sweetheart
Come, come, come ..

Don’t talk about the journey
Say no more of the path
The path one must take.
You are my path
You are my journey
Come, come, come..

You stole from this earth
A bouquet of roses
I am hidden in that bouquet
Come, come, come..

As long as I am sober
And keep talking about good and bad
I am missing the important event
Seeing your face
Come, come, come..

I must be a fool
Missing this life,
If I don’t cast my mind
In the fire of love
Come, come, come.
 
 
 

Some Keep the Sabbath
by Emily Dickinson

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church —
I keep it, staying at Home –
With a Bobolink for a Chorister –
And a Orchard, for a Dome –

Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice –
I, just wear my Wings –
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton – sings.

God preaches, a noted Clergyman –
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last –
I’m going, all along.

 
 
 

The Same Stream of Life
by Tagore
(translation)

The same stream of life
that runs through my veins
runs through the world
and dances in rhythmic measure.
It is the same life
that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth
into numberless blades of grass,
and breaks into tumultuous waves
of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked
in the ocean cradle
of birth and death,
in ebb and in flow.
My limbs are made glorious
by the touch of this world of life;
and my pride is from
the life throb of ages
dancing in my blood this moment.

 
 
 

That’s Amore
by Jack Brooks and Harry Warren

You should get the text from another source.

 
 
 

Morning Swim
by Maxine Kumin

You should get text from another source.

 
 
 

The Open Road (excerpts)
by Walt Whitman

Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune — I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing . . .
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

* * *

You road I enter upon and look around, I believe you are not all that is here;
I believe that much unseen is also here.

* * *

Here is the efflux of the Soul;
The efflux of the Soul comes from within, through embower’d gates, ever
provoking questions:
These yearnings, why are they? These thoughts in the darkness, why are
they?

* * *

Allons! whoever you are, come travel with me!
Traveling with me, you find what never tires.

The earth never tires;
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first — Nature is rude and
incomprehensible at first;
Be not discouraged — keep on — there are divine things, well envelop’d;
I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.

* * *

The Soul travels;
The body does not travel as much as the soul;
The body has just as great a work as the soul, and parts away at last for
the journeys of the soul.

* * *

All parts away for the progress of souls;
All religion, all solid things, arts, governments, — all that was or is
apparent upon this globe or any globe, falls into niches and corners before
the procession of Souls along the grand roads of the universe.

Of the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of the
universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and sustenance.

Forever alive, forever forward,
Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawn, baffled, mad, turbulent, feeble,
dissatisfied,
Desperate, proud, fond, sick, accepted by men, rejected by men,
They go! they go! I know that they go, but I know not where they go;
But I know that they go toward the best — toward something great.

* * *

Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe — I have tried it — my own feet have tried it well — be not
detain’d!
Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf
unopned’d!
Let the tools remain in the workshop! Let the money remain unearn’d!
Let the school stand! Mind not the cry of the teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! Let the lawyer plead in the court,
and the judge expound the law.

Comerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love, more precious than money,
I give you myself, before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

 
 
 

The Rules of Evidence*
by Lee Robinson

What you want to say most
is inadmissible.
Say it anyway.
Say it again.
What they tell you is irrelevant
can’t be denied and will
eventually be heard.
Every question
is a leading question.
Ask it anyway, then expect
what you won’t get.
There is no such thing
as the original
so you’ll have to make do
with a reasonable facsimile.
The history of the world
is hearsay. Hear it.
The whole truth
is unspeakable
and nothing but the truth
is a lie.
I swear this.
My oath is a kiss.
I swear
by everything
incredible.

 
 
 
* Quoted with the permission of the poet and copyright owner Lee Robinson.
 
 
 

Singing In The Rain
by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown

You should get the text from another source.

 
 
 

Some of My Favorite Things
by Oscar Hammerstein

You should get the text from another source.

 
 
 

Everyone Eats When They Come to My House
by Cab Calloway

You should get the text from another source.

 
 
 

The End of the Line*
by Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty,
George Harrison and Roy Orbison (Traveling Wilburys)

Well it’s all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it’s all right, if you live the life you please
Well it’s all right, doing the best you can
Well it’s all right, as long as you lend a hand

You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring
Waiting for someone to tell you everything
Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring
Maybe a diamond ring

Well it’s all right, even if they say you’re wrong
Well it’s all right, sometimes you gotta be strong
Well it’s all right, As long as you got somewhere to lay
Well it’s all right, everyday is Judgment Day

Maybe somewhere down the road away
You’ll think of me, wonder where I am these days
Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays
Purple haze

Well it’s all right, even when push comes to shove
Well it’s all right, if you got someone to love
Well it’s all right, everything’ll work out fine
Well it’s all right, we’re going to the end of the line

Don’t have to be ashamed of the car I drive
I’m just glad to be here, happy to be alive
It don’t matter if you’re by my side
I’m satisfied

Well it’s all right, even if you’re old and grey
Well it’s all right, you still got something to say

Well it’s all right, remember to live and let live
Well it’s all right, the best you can do is forgive
Well it’s all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it’s all right, if you live the life you please

Well it’s all right, even if the sun don’t shine
Well it’s all right, we’re going to the end of the line

* Used with the kind permission of Bob Dylan Music Company.

 
 
 

To Joy (excerpt)
by Friedrich Schiller
(translated)

Joy, thou beauteous godly lightning,
Daughter of Elysium,
Fire drunken we are ent’ring
Heavenly, thy holy home!

Thy enchantments bind together,
What did custom’s sword divide,
Beggars are a prince’s brother,
Where thy gentle wings abide.

Chorus:
Be embrac’d, ye millions yonder!
Take this kiss throughout the world!
Brothers–o’er the stars unfurl’d
Must reside a loving Father.