listening to orff

let us give the players thanks
they've made noble seeming
and the singers in their ranks
in the lights are gleaming

we've sat here so many times
listening to their playing
strings and horns and drums and chimes
we know what they are saying

all the days we work to know
just where we are going
but these folk know how to show
and are proud in the showing

all our lives we've wanted song
to tell us our passions
now we learn that we were wrong
and are on short rations

let the ones who take our cash
know that we are grounded
we're not hasty and not rash
our fears are well-founded

now we watch the singers rise
in a single movement
their song reaches to the skies
needing no improvement

the bassoonist chants along
he should get a single rose
while we listen to the song
a lone cellist blows her nose

we've been taken from our place
by this magic playing
minds are whirling in deep space
while our heads are greying

let's be sure of what we do
all our thoughts are tending
to give us a single view
of how life is bending

now we come to shout our praise
the concert is over
but we'll know for all our days
fortune is a rover

a moment of acceptance

if we just change our point of view
we'll see a different sort of light
all that is dull will then seem new

i've walked barefoot in morning dew
and wondered how it seems so bright
if we just change our point of view

good chances seem to come to few
our spirits though have taken flight
all that is dull will then seem new

we have some chance of coming through
and making sure that things are right
if we just change our point of view

above our heads the sky's still blue
we'll do our best to end all blight
all that is dull will then seem new

our hope is to receive what's due
to our own hearts and face the night
if we just change our point of view
all that is dull will then seem new

staying the moment

each angle chosen
does not only change the view
it alters feeling

let us call the sky
more than a blue coverlet
it is our temple

love is a knowing
each of us takes the other
into our being

under this vast blue
sun dancing only for us
we find our true home

we make it true or else

we aren't aware of what's been hurt
by all the changes that we've made
our minds can't see the sad parade
we treat them all with manner curt
there'll be no chance to shout or blurt
the truth that a spade is still a spade
they'll feel the touch of boot or blade
and lie there weeping in the dirt
all healthy folk look on the place
where winners stand and take the prize
we know they've got what they deserve
only the swift can win the race
only the great have fearless eyes
the rest may only scrape and serve

the voice of power

what news arrives we will not hear
our minds are closed as are our hearts
we hold our wealth and trade most dear
what news arrives we will not hear

no limits should we heed or bear
we're proof against the sharpest darts
what news arrives we will not hear
our minds are closed as are our hearts