1. |
The Poet Tree
01:02
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Some moments are for remembering
And some are for revealing
Like layers of paint peeling from the weight of really feeling
Seeing the world beyond the glass ceiling
The trick is…knowing where you are
So where are you…and which moment are you in?
I’m not talking about ordinary change
I’m talking about transformation…incredible sensations
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2. |
Believer
03:06
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Illuminating shades of redemption and glory
Crossing borders is part of the story
Raising our voice instead of a cause
Rally the troops we’re making love not war
I’m a believer (a believer)
I believe her (I believe her)
I’m a bright light in a dark night
I’m a lover but I can fight
When you need somebody to hold you tight
Oh Lord I believe I can hold you tonight
Walk a mile down memory lane
With the Reverend King and JFK
Brothers from other mothers in another time
Dreams echo in our hearts and minds
It’s a slap dash, half ass, gasp at fame
The nightmare of the American dream
Caught up in the race and the big dog circus
Spending our days chasing tails in circles
To all the haters, hesitators and procrastinators
Putting off today what we can never change later
If you’re not going to lead man get out of the way
You can have the past leave the future to me
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3. |
Our Story
00:45
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People are starting to click…you know
Like when the lights come on with the flick of a switch
It’s that point of connection when we see the common ground
And share the affection between people of all places, races and colours
Where we see the loss of one voice is the loss for us all
That’s the journey of discovery that starts to make sense of this world
And we choose our identity not to see brothers and sisters
Like they’re the enemy
Cause there is only one story…our story
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4. |
Lay it on the Line
03:02
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5. |
Responsibility
00:55
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You’re talking about laying it on the line
Well, let me break something down for you here
Responsibility…re-spon-sibility
How do you respond to your responsibility
Do you implode under the weight of responsibility
Do you run…
Is it fight, flight or freeze time
What do you do…cause you could always do as you please
But remember…responsibility is a ghost
That’s going to catch up with you in the middle of the night
Wake you from your pleasant little dreams on your soft, cushy pillow
And just make you have a good look…into your own soul
Responsibility is not an enemy
It is your friend and you need to sit down with it
Have coffee with it…get real with it
It’s just responsibility
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6. |
Let There Be
02:56
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Let there be light thrown like a rope
To those stuck in a rut when there’s no way but up
When you’re caught in a crowd left hurting alone
Deep in your heart the cut reaches the bone
Let there be light when the night’s falling down
When you would if you could but you can’t so you don’t no
When the fists start to fly and the ones who could help
Only close their eyes…got to let there be
Let there be light love 3x
Enough to hold
Each of us wrongs the ones we could bless
When we choose to ignore their cries for help
Think of all you could do all you could find
If you let your light shine for those lost in the night
When hope is ghost so thin at the most
It passes through like a thief in your house
You got to let there be
When you’re down and out when you’re all alone
Gonna find you there now gonna let my let guide you out
Gonna let there be light love
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7. |
We Need More Poetry
01:44
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We need more poetry…so flow it to me
The rhythms and the rhymes
The reason behind a poetic existence
Unafraid to look the devil in the eye
And strike more than a posture or pose of resistance
We need more poetry
To run the gauntlet of this cultural creation
Of alienation and the slow painful starvation
Of anything resembling something original
We need more poetry
Cause it’s time for miracles
So lay your healing hands on deaf ears that they might hear
The backbeat moving deep in the groove
As the used, abused and scarred sing the blues
We need more poetry
For cowards made bold and brazen
Have allowed our secrets to darken and deepen
Until they slip out into the open
Fault lines have become front lines
As we mine the dark colours of the rainbow
We need more poetry
Here at the pinnacle of our irrational civilization
We need more poetry
To expose the blessings and the curse
Of the human condition
That those who are first fear the least the most
Quietly killing in the name of sustainable growth
And the pious priests preach their gospel
Where all sins committed in the name of the bottom line
Will be forgiven
We need more poetry…that’s what we gotta be
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8. |
Get Up & Start Over
03:23
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When the mountains ahead seem too high
When your path and purpose leaving you asking why
When you’ve tried so many times
And nothing seems to stick
When the plans you’ve been planning never go as you predict
When the storm never seems to pass
And the dance you’re dancing seems too fast
Give up and give in or get up and start over again and again
Look up
Give up and give in or get up and start over again and again
Hold on
Give up and give in or get up and start over again and again
Keep faith
Give up and give in or get up and start over again and again
Move on…can you hear me
Move on set your sights on peace
You’re going to get there one day
When the words and songs finally flow
In the music that you play
When your lucky stars all line up
And the clouds begin to clear
When your battles are won finally at last
And happiness is here
Hold on…keep faith
You stayed the course…now celebrate
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9. |
We Are the New
01:10
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You know…if the power for sharing OUR truth
Writing OUR story
Painting OUR picture
Belongs to someone else…
Then we truly are helpless and hopeless without them
And that’s not freedom
That’s not a people empowered
That’s called being a victim
Bad enough that our history is haunted
By the ghosts of a bygone age
When opportunity was won by class, gender and race
And when I say gender…
I’m not talking about boys and girls
I’m talking about people who live inside, outside & all around
Those gender labels…everybody into the boat
But that is not the case today
Because we are not voiceless
Left high and dry without chances or choices
Yesterday…that might have been the way
But not today
We are the new we are the now
We are today and we are the future and our history too
All three things wrapped up in one…me and you
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10. |
Wherever You Are
03:22
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Step out from centre
Direction begets direction
Broken trails
Found ways
Step out…step out
Wherever you are
Whenever you fall
Trust your heart will guide you
Know you’re not alone
Wherever you are
Whenever you call
Trust the light that guides you
To lead you through this world
East is not without west
South is not without north
Always round up and down
Look out from inside
Reside…everywhere
Step out from centre
Venture forward
Toward centre self
Return * retreat * react * come out
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11. |
Hope & Imagination
01:15
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Yeah sure…the Prime Minister is sinister
And religion is a prison
And corporations are a plague on both our houses
But we have got to stop
Waiting for someone somewhere
Who somehow in some magical way
Is going to ride a white horse into save the day
We can’t all be princesses
Some of us have to be warriors
You know what we say around here
Hope and imagination have always been joined at the hips
They’re two sides to the only coin
With any currency left in this bankrupt world
To turn our slow slide down
Into a long climb back around
You know…where there’s a will there’s always a way
And these days
The choices that need to be made
Need voices to be raised
And cards to be played
Cause let’s face it…
You got to be all in when you’re betting on a life worth living
It’s time we step up ride our own white horses
And save our own day
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12. |
Brokenhearted
03:29
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I was just 10 years old when I met an old man at a corner store
Said come sit awhile son I’ve something to tell you
Love can be a powerful thing
She can heal the sick or make a deaf man sing
But love can leave you cold and brokenhearted
I should know cause I sold my soul
She was the only thing I ever wanted to hold
But she slipped through my fingers like fools gold in the morning
And left me brokenhearted
Broke, broke…broke my heart
I said old man I can feel your pain believe it or not I’ve felt the same
I may be 10 but I’ve been brokenhearted
Being a child is a powerful thing
You can dream up worlds and teach them all to sing
But when you open your eyes you can’t describe the feeling
I may be young only just a child
Even my momma says my spirit’s wild
When I try to give in leaves me feeling like a sinner
He took a drag on his cigarette and with smoke ring halos above his head
And a voice like a gravel road said son I believe you
Pulled out his worn guitar and we sang the blues until the sun climbed higher
Before we went and faced another day brokenhearted
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13. |
How You Been?
01:18
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I fell in the fall
And sprang into spring
How you been
You know the seasons
Go round and round
One you’re up the next your down
Taking the time to learn to heal
Going round the medicine wheel
Summer saw me coming
And winter winds…they still sting
How you been?
But I’m alive
Like electricity
Lit up and buzzing happy little bee
But that’s me…how you been?
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Rik Leaf
Rik Leaf has toured Canada writing, recording and performing songs with students for over 10 years. Rik uses his background in music, TV & Film to produce multi media projects that highlight the creative process. Rik is the Creative Director for, Tribe of One, a national collective of indigenous artists. ... more
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