This song came at the right time for me. I needed to relax.
Somewhere in the past week someone called to my mind the story of the burning bush, where God says to Moses, “take off your shoes, you are on holy ground.” And for the first time in my life that idea hit me in a whole different way. Take off your shoes, sit a spell, take it easy. Holy ground is hallowed ground, is sacred space, is an invitation to just be.
Also in the past week I heard someone say, “I’ll give him the piece of my mind!” and the slipup of “the” instead of “a” halfway wrote this song.
Take off your shoes, this is holy ground You can relax, stay awhile, stick around I’ll give you the peace of my mind
Let down your guard, I’m just here with you Nothing to sell, nothing you need to prove I’ll give you the peace of my mind
Breathe in, breathe out That’s about the gist of it Breathe in breathe out Live
Breathe in, breathe out That’s about the gist of it Breathe in breathe out Live
I fell in love with an old acquaintance last year, and when I glanced at the #songaweek2023 prompt for this week (week 37), I knew I had to write my September song THIS week. It happened to be a photo prompt, and it happened to be this photo:
Twenty-five years ago my new husband Nathan took me to the Black Hills of South Dakota, rented me a pair of climbing shoes and a harness, tied me to a rope, and asked me to climb the rock in front of me. I tried, because I knew he loved it, but after maybe twenty or thirty feet, my heart pounding, adrenaline overwhelming me, I asked to come down.
I tried climbing again a time or two over the years as my kids grew up learning and loving to climb (especially my daughter Luthien who has now exceeded her dad in skill level), but I just couldn’t feel the appeal.
Until the end of last summer, when Luthien begged me to just go to the gym with her once before she headed off to college, and I reluctantly agreed. That afternoon, I fell hard – in love, not on the floor. I can still remember the moment, halfway up the wall, when I called down to her, “Ooh, I think I finally get why people like this!”
Over the fall and winter I dragged my happy husband to the gym multiple times per week, or went alone if and when he couldn’t join me – in pursuit of harder route grades, building muscle and skill. I took ibuprofen before bed many nights as my middle-aged body adjusted to this new world order I was imposing on it.
Next month I will turn 48 and maybe I will conquer a 5.11+ in this next year of my life. I wonder what else I have yet to try (for the first time or again) and fall in love with?
Recording this song was especially fun because Luthien happened to be home from college this weekend and sang along with me!
I never knew that I loved you Until I left the ground Yours was the face I thought I knew But I know nothing now
I’m new at this I’m so brand new
I’m learning how to hold you and I’m always ready to fall You push me through I think I can You drive me up the wall
I’m reaching out I’m so far gone
Here at the beating heart of my heart Everything turns to stone
Let there be light and let me see It coming through the cracks Breathe in the moment, find my feet Give you all I have
I’m almost there I’m so nowhere I’m here with you I’m so now here
I’ve found a wealth of song lyrics in my summer reading, specifically The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. So my August song is made from yet another Bilbo Baggins invention (who in turn is a J.R.R. Tolkien invention).
Upon the hearth the fire is red, Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet, Still round the corner we may meet A sudden tree or standing stone That none have seen but we alone. Tree and flower and leaf and grass, Let them pass! Let them pass! Hill and water under sky, Pass them by! Pass them by!
Still round the corner there may wait A new road or a secret gate, And though we pass them by today, Tomorrow we may come this way And take the hidden paths that run Towards the Moon or to the Sun. Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe, Let them go! Let them go! Sand and stone and pool and dell, Fare you well! Fare you well!
Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge of night, Until the stars are all alight. Then world behind and home ahead, We’ll wander back to home and bed. Mist and twilight, cloud and shade, Away shall fade! Away shall fade! Fire and lamp, and meat and bread, And then to bed! And then to bed!
Another last-day-of-the-month posting of my monthly song! This means my summer is keeping me busy with lots of fun and very little time home alone to write or record. But I got the song written last week and recorded today in some snatched moments.
You might recognize some of the influences in this song. One, repeated smoky days here in Minnesota from Canadian wildfires. On one of these days I was struck with how I could actually stare at the orange sun through the smoke with no ill effects on my eyes – and that’s a second influence – that U2 song. Three, the flooding in New England and specifically the destruction to downtown Montpelier, Vermont – we had just visited a friend there last summer, beautiful little city – and this summer, in my friend’s words, the town is totaled. Four, my love of gardening, one of the things I’ve been happily busy with this summer.
Even if this is all there ever is I’m happy to be here now This present moment so generous And a big bright world all around
Stay alive with me Take your time to breathe Think your big ideas Then toss them out like seeds and see what they become
Storms raging and the floods rise higher We’re afraid of what’s to come World burning and the smoke spreads wider Now we can all stare at the sun
Stay alive with me Take your time to breathe Think your big ideas Then toss them out like seeds and see what they become
Heart and hand and soul and skin are we Dust of stars beyond our reach Flowers of the field, dry dancing bones Broken brilliant wondrous ones
Day keeps dawning and the night grows darker We wake and sleep and dream and live Memories soften and hope grows harder We never know it like it is
Stay alive with me Take your time to breathe Think your big ideas Then toss them out like seeds and see what they become
June is nearly gone but once again I’m getting my monthly song posted in time! Wish I had more time to do a better recording of this one but my summer is full of distractions, interruptions and plenty of fun that gives me little time to spare for recording.
Reading, though – I’ve been enjoying rereading The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and this is the first but may not be the last of the songs I’ve come across in the books that I set to music. Bilbo speaks these words towards the very end of The Hobbit, as he is returning home to the Shire.
Roads go ever ever on, Over rock and under tree, By caves where never sun has shone, By streams that never find the sea; Over snow by winter sown, And through the merry flowers of June, Over grass and over stone, And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on Under cloud and under star, Yet feet that wandering have gone Turn at last to home afar. Eyes that fire and sword have seen And horror in the halls of stone Look at last on meadows green And trees and hills they long have known.
Julia Bloom 