Preaching to the Choir Words by Douglas Heyes Jr. PREACHING TO THE CHOIR I'm Walking on a Wire Up above a Raging Fire The Ultimate Insider When I'm Preaching To The Choir My Father was a Writer The Best there ever was From the Land of In Between To the Land of Just Because Ceramic Glaze of certainty Titanic of the Century Captain of his Industry Plain old Dad to you and me I caught a ride out of LA Up to San Francisco Bay I was just 15 years old Starting Lifetimes on the Road I caught a Ride with a Colored Girl A Virgin Bride with Jheri Curl She was Black as past Midnight I was feeling quite all right Late that Night, we found a Perch Outside a Pentecostal Church She's a Woman, I'm a Man Glory Be, Baruch Bashan There, before the rising Sun We gave ourself into the one We were plunged into the water Mother father, son and daughter A journey to where it began Ancient times, cradle of man Up above, the Pastor's voice Urging me to make a choice Blowing bubbles underwater Is the punch line to a joke A very famous writer Himself, totally broke It seems like all the authors Artists and criminals 2 Are maybe just like Dorothy In the Summer of ‘42 Here's a little piece of me And here's a look at you Will march on to Victory Before this day is through Crying the crying of the Wind Seek forgiveness for your Sins Your lover's life, on you depends Eternal life that never ends Classic structure narrative Page turner, by the Book Violent invective That is worth a second look I start a second lifetime Of fear and doubt and want Inside the Church of the One I began to Pray in Tongues If there's a thing called Innocence Let your Words become a Sentence Release the Birds inside your House Open your Eyes and Shut your Mouth You will Find the Holy Word In your Mind, just like a Bird That Flies beyond the 7 Seas That lie beyond the Galaxies Her name was Alma, from the Soul Like the Sunrise from the Cold Her young Life was bought and sold Before she was 10 years old I was up on 101 California Rising Sun Devil's Empire in the Sand A Traveler to the Promised Land Alma was a Singer trained On the Golden Central Valley Plain Her Daddy died when she was 5 Her Sunshine turned to Rain She became a Traveler Much like You and I A true Shamanic Master From on the Other Side Alma stayed with me that Night No Fireflies or Candlelight Nothing there to keep us Warm No more Shelter From The Storm Come the Bright, new Early Morn I must say that I was torn Between the Wickedness I See And the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Alma found a part of me Somewhere out there beyond the pale We spent some time across the line Before we found a way of Mind That let us penetrate Space-time And Experience the Divine Golden Gate, Strawberry Wine Côtes du Rhone, Banks of the Rhine There is no Mythology No History or Culture That separates the You from Me On a tree limb like a Vulture If you know your Lifetime Is in the Hands of Fate The Cruelties of your Bottom Line Keep you waiting at The Gate Alma’s Sister, Maya Lived out on the Beach Among the giant redwoods So far Out Of reach The Indians would come around Lord, how Blessings would Abound Maya and my Alma Would Turn the Beat Around Up in Redwood City On the edges of the Park The Morning Mist comes creeping in To the Song of the Meadowlark And what was once In Shining Light Is now lost in the Dark It is said that from a single spark We might ignite a quark A Quasar or a Lumina I'll always be True to you No matter what they do to you The Light comes shining through to you What we put each other through Has been Pain mixed with Pleasure Floating down the Blue Bayou Through The Gardens of Forever I'd rather Seek for Treasure Then walk the road alone I've taken every measure In lockstep, bone on bone But unto all the naysayers I now commit my fight With my Alma by my side We will make it through the night We drifted up to Oregon The Cascade Siskiyou Much alike the range of light That Ansel Adams knew Alma's sister Maya Became our family With life growing inside them One and one makes 3 We made it into Ashland The Shakespeare festival She got a job as a bawdy maid Planters Punch and Lemonade Good dark Mead and demon seed As we all turned out the light Time to let the devil feed Before we say goodnight We lived our lives behind a mask A faded tintype Photograph She made me Cry, she made me Laugh Glacier Ice, Fire to Ash Maya had to go away Said, she'd be back another day That's the last we saw of her Beaver dams and trapping fur We hunted with Grizzly Bears We ascended Golden Stairs As if we were never there Disappeared into Thin Air We kiss eand flirted shamelessly The most public display Of affection and panamory Carved into our family tree Extended to Infinity We never heard from Maya After that very day We don't know what happened Or why she went away Thunderbolts and lightning The Northern Lights beyond We found our way to Redding And a baptismal font Nothing we could ever need Nothing we could want Aholy water sacrament, a solitary incident Recorded down the halls of Time Carved in Marble and in Lime I could feel the Thunder From Down Under the Earth I Stopped and Stared in Wonder At the Virgin Childbirth And all along the North Wall The Shadows come out to play Footsteps echo down the hall And they slowly fade away Alma made a wedding dress From Calico and Lace Wedding night, her hair a mess With so much out of place We crept into the rectory The holiest of holies And there we did surrender To some old time Holy rollers We were both all dressed in white Beyond the gates of paradise It has only happened once or twice In both of our lifetimes We've joined the spirit army Marching as to War What was then shall forever be Till it's not there anymore We went along the creek bed A morning song was in my head Bring us back to where she bled We learned our Sister, Maya, was dead She’d contracted Cholera A shimmering mirage A disease we found in bottles In the back of her garage She was a noble scientist An empiricist, for sure Another astrophysicist Behind the golden door We travel East through Mountain Pass Belly of the Beast and Classical Gas Altitude just kicks my ass California Looking Glass Just like Jessie Liberty On her Victory 101 I became the Pastor Of the New Church of the One Pastor of Disaster Is the name they hung on me You could find me Hanging From a Sentinel Oak Tree And all across the Mountains The Guns of Navarone The rainbow colored fountains We are finally going home Across the Continental Great Divide The ending of a long, dark ride Anasazi, Native Pride See you on the Other Side You will eat and drink your fill As they Circle for the kill You're Forever satisfied Until the Night that Maya Died I can't talk about it It still hurts really bad Can't think or dream about it The best love I ever had Echoes through the halls of pain Windows, clinically insane Circle turns around again When our Sunshine turns to Rain I saddle tramped I forgotten path Down by the Riverside I couldn't see most anything For the teardrops in my eyes I couldn't even think of her My Revolucionaria They called in military men To stabilize the area Up on Highway 666 Roswell, New Mexico Site of strange discoveries Since 1954 I wasn't even born yet Not yet a good idea The queen of hearts, the darker arts Committed me to mania I was clinically insane No one cared at all I was absent from the building My epitaph on the wall I waited for the moment When I could answer the call And be with my sweet Maya For good, once and for all I simply cannot count the times That I committed suicide Crying Game, the worst of times Suicide will get you dead Homicide will get you read My book sold everywhere worldwide God knows, after Maya died I had no reason to exist To the Liars, I raised my Fist I made it high up on the ridge I ran into a little kid He was traveling alone Nowhere that he could call home Cold and shaken to the Bone Heartbroken, forsaken Postcards sent to no one Home Deep in the catacombs of Rome Designed by the Egyptians Smash and stashed and crushed to dust A deadly Secret Mission Written on the Dead Sea scrolls Missing for all time A Socrates prescription For a cup of Hemlock Wine I've always been a thinker Like the sculpture by Rodin A solitary drinker For I am only a man I bought hook line and sinker The devil's master plan And I poured out my liquor Into the desert sand I guess I have to tell you now I made it home at last No way I could surrender To my evil Shadow past Now I am with Alma Inside the Looking Glass Whether there or here, we’re very near Where Dust turns to Dust and Fire turns to Ash I guess that's all I have to say And so goodbye for now I think I must be on my way As the Sun is going down Alma says to say Farewell An Echo down the Wishing Well And after all our Living Hell We can hear our Wedding Bell Maya rides on a White Horse Forever on the Beach On golden sand, to make a stand And to practice what you preach Still my understanding Is a little out of rage When I come in for a landing I come to learn, you come to teach The Starshine and the Sunrise Are Lighting up again I see the Moon inside your eyes My sweet Forever Friends Goodbye for now, sweetheart darlings I will see you at the end Who knows where the river goes When it sweeps around the bend Goodnight my Sweet, Goodbye, Goodbye I'll sing for you a Lullaby When it's time to say good night And softly, we turn out the light We pray now as we lay our heads Lace and leather, featherbeds Fields of Heather, states of Grace The loving smile on your face My girls are funny and intense This is not an accident The Life and Times of Nights misspent No mortal means to pay the rent Now, at last it comes the time To drop down to the bottom line Knock knock knock on Heaven's Door To the Golden Shores of Evermore *********