Window Dressing

Lyrics: Herin / Music: Herin, Whittle

Show me what I want to see
If it keeps you safe

PART ONE
Tell me what I want to hear
And what keeps you safe
Talk tempts fate
The game is engaged
She plays with fire
Vanity sidesteps around common senses
Shrugging off conscience embracing pride
Twisted scenes bring comfort in delusion
Hide reality from the line of sight
The harvest to intrude
Fight proof
Hollow her words ringing absurd
Lies to save face compounds disgrace
Light filters through the veil exposing guilt
Clutch the straws of logic lost
Hanging on the cross

Ignorance lives in bliss with blinders on
While it shows denial is en vogue
Age-old wisdom's whisper dies from neglect
Our egos to protect

Now that I know
How little we know
About each other
Tracing an image of a portrait
That we wish was true
But the colors run
Faces I see
Tell little about
What to believe
Layers of window dressing
Barely hint at what's beneath
Covered up like paint on rust
Who to trust?
Dress the window
Draw the shade
Light and darkness trade...

PART TWO
If I can still recall
Simplicity seemed like nothing at all
Summertime days to spend without end
Hazy warm faint scent of pine gracing the air
We let our whims take us away
Not to return as Eden drew to a close

Careless deeds strip my faith
Heart on ice I retreat
I wish true were false and fiction real
Bit by bit the mirage fades from view
Never taught finally learned
The corner turned
Wish I may wish I might
Forget illusion's charm

Now that I know
How little we know
About each other
Tracing an image of a portrait
That we wish was true
Fashion covers all we hope to hide
Faces I see
Tell little about
What to believe
Layers of window dressing
Barely hint at what's beneath
Now that I know
How nothing we show
Really matters

Optimistic - pessimistic
Expectation to blame

PART THREE
So much happens that we can't perceive
Safe in a cloak of ignorance
With passing time childish notions finally die
When the pain we endure
Compounds with consciousness
Delusions to protect and survive

Reflecting on what I know I will never know
Curtains drawn concealing the light of truth

---

Remember To Forget

Lyrics: Herin / Music: Herin

Dignity in hand
Trapped inside a vacuum
Hostage in wonderland
I try to run slipping and sliding
Stumbling blindly off the cliff
What if - adrift - I can't get back?
Numb I can't understand what's been done
By the other hand
This is now it's not the same
The anguish calls to stake its claim
Sharp in relief time creeps on by

I try to make my peace
With what is and what might be
Home in another time
Memories persist without rhyme
Sounds trigger thoughts trigger pain
Whispers of doubt still remain
Clinging to regret
I struggle to resist
Scars that won't forgive
Can't I remember to forget?

Paranoia building a wall
Naïve misconceptions
Feeding a future I cannot recall
Chaos as I think and feel
Groping blind for the truths that I conceal
All alone upon my throne
Intentions fail to lift the stone
Wear the badge of resentment proud

I try to make my peace
With what is and what might be
Home in another time
Safe and secure of some things
I could be assured

Walk the slippery slope of the past
I choose to dress up my burden
Call it salvation as it drags me down

I try to make my peace
With what is and what might be
Home in another time
Memories persist without rhyme
Sounds trigger thoughts trigger pain
Whispers of doubt still remain

Shackles rust as I release the past
Free from bitterness
Without looking back I can remember to forget

---

All She Knows

Lyrics: Herin / Music: Herin

All she knows
Is what she's told
Is fact and fantasy
Life in harmony

She stands alone
Shadow on the wall
Gently lit her silhouette
Reflecting tall
She spins to look
On my command
The shutter clicks she blinks
And laughs offhand

I slow the pace
And pause to stop and think
Here is a moment
Where good fortune winks

Eyes that sparkle
And eyes that shine
Hazel eyes smile
As they peer into mine
Canvas blank
The slate is clean
With nothing in between us
Simple and untarnished
She is all she seems

All she knows
Will turn to gold
Colors spill in waves
Off the path she paves

She dreams a place
Chapters in a book
Stories long with heroes strong
How blue the sky would look
Then she stops to see
Who's listening
Seeds of consciousness
Come creeping in

All I know
Here is a moment
Where good fortune winks

Eyes that sparkle
And eyes that shine
Hazel eyes smile
As they peer into mine
Canvas blank
The slate is clean
With nothing in between us
Simple and untarnished
She is all she seems

Someday when she feels the comfort fade
Holding on to this humble place
All she knows
In her hands she holds
With little evidence
Of fading innocence
Eyes that sparkle
And eyes that shine
Hazel eyes smile
As they peer into mine
Canvas blank
The slate is clean
With nothing in between us
Simple and untarnished
She is all she seems

---

Capture The Flag

Lyrics: Herin / Music: Herin

Toe to the chalk line - mark and set
Birthright conformity - a safety net
Lay down this bird held tight in hand
Beg favor from a distant emerald land
Chasing whims again...

Features blur in a casual glance
Pulse and promises notch the blinders tight

Capture the flag
Embrace prosperity
Hanging in the corridors of power
A withering vine of simple things
Waiting to die
Lift the symbol high

Indifferent to the present tense
A sense of purpose sits upon a fence
Sidelines strewn with blind regret
Haunted by voices that cry neglect
Standing in the rain

Wishing might explain...

Capture the flag
Embrace prosperity
Hanging in the corridors of power
A withering vine of simple things
Waiting - biding time to die
Raise the flag
Standing alone upon a hill
Dust upon a sill

I awake to a silent shout
Misguided past
Spent in endless quest
Time grinding down
Wisdom traded for mistakes that never end
Fences to defend
All while happiness wears a frown
Now the morning bell
Echoes out of step with modern decay

Capture the flag
Embrace prosperity
Hanging in the corridors of power

Capture the flag
Misplaced prosperity
Smothered in a blanket of desire
A withering vine of simple things
Waiting to die
Raise the flag
Half-mast alone upon a hill
Colorless & still

---

Tear-Water Tea

Lyrics: Herin / Music: Herin

My heart whispers
All that reason cannot hear
Tear-water tea consoles me

Melancholy, calm and still
Contemplating things that seem to me unfair
Flowers wilting in a vase
Lines that crease a child's face
Shadows dancing as candles burn in solitude

As droplets fall into the kettle it overflows
Wonder steeps in release
I drink from the cup of wisdom bittersweet
Tear-water tea restores me

Words that wound and love that kills
Can't see the forest
For the trees distract our view
Answers written in a book ignored
Empty boats to captain through the storms
Expectations that beckon through a prison door

The journey pulls my head from the sand
As we weep with the wise
And reject laughter
Crowing from the mouths of fools
Weakened by the strain
Old habits return
Like a hand outstretched
Grasping for the stick unfetched

As droplets fall into the kettle it overflows
Wonder steeps in release
I drink from the cup of wisdom bittersweet
Tear-water tea restores

Simple and pure
Silent recourse
Cleansing remorse reveals
Silver the lining that shines in the tin
At peace with truth

Inspired by "Owl at Home" by Arnold Lobel
Paintings

Lyrics: Herin / Music: Herin

Trapped inside this dark and narrow mind
Far from the outside
If I could stand beside myself
And see what you see
Left alone high upon a shelf
Dust collects on things discarded
I retreat while the world passes by
Scars to justify

Am I a fixture in time and place?
As our old promises fade
Like the paintings we see everyday
That hang in decay
So the familiar feeds neglect
Too plain to perceive

My finger points to my demise
But three point back at me to my surprise
All the same I'm a fixture in time and place
As our old promises fade
Like the paintings we see everyday
That hang in decay
So the familiar feeds neglect
Red and blue pale to black and white

Images live and speak a thousand words
In solitude clouds grace the tranquil sky
Sense the calm sighing in pain

I'm a fixture in time and place
As our old promises fade
Like the paintings we see everyday
That hang in decay
So the familiar feeds neglect
Simply too plain to perceive
Color drains from the scenery
When routine courts apathy

---

Slippers In The Snow

Lyrics: Herin / Music: Herin

Peaceful...
Lay your head to rest
The mountain climbed
The summit reached
A reel of moments plays on rewind
Quiet burden endured
How odd this sense of welcoming
Grateful for release

Hurdle through the night no light
No time to rest or stop on this hasty flight
The day arrives
Wearing slippers in the snow
I see the footprints leading to home

Pages yellow and dry
A calendar suspending time
Memories kindling a cherished spell
As pain dissolves in a trail of tears

---

Spindrift

Lyrics: Herin / Music: Herin

Serve the need
Spin the fable
Disguise the deed
Weaving straw to braids of gold

Splash the whitewash on the screen
Sins of omission fashioned to mislead
Signals mix as hairs poise to split
Tiny loopholes confuse intent
The facts irrelevant
Excuses right the wrong
Cast allusions
And our hazy recollections
Guard the way down
On the slippery slope
Most of the truth fails to show

The shifting blame
Rises up to stake its claim

I wade with my back toward the waves
Shielding my eyes
The spindrift burns like the acid words
Numbing my mind to the justified
Too overwhelming
Can't fight the dumbing down
I sink to the peaceful deep underneath
Free from the plastic crown
Still spinning around

Dress up the routine
Bells, whistles, and neon light
Sedate the will to fight
Distractions to amuse our attention
And our gray convictions
Fan the flames of discontent
And...

I wade with my back toward the waves
Shielding my eyes
The spindrift burns like the acid words
Numbing my mind to the justified
As bitterness begins slowly creeping in

Push and pull us apart
Fingers cross
Death do us part
Simplicity holds no escape
Toss a coin in the air
Spin the plates
Ignorant to consequences
Pay the piper for the dance

I see ego thrust upon the throne
Held high to deify
I see how we choose to believe
Answers that deceive and ease pain
Distant wisdom may prevail someday

Scrape the whitewash from the screen
Tiny loopholes irrelevant
Excuses meaningless
The neon is black
When our recollections
Prevent another lapse
On the slippery slope

I wade with my back toward the waves
Shielding my eyes
The spindrift burns like the acid words
Numbing my mind to the justified
Too overwhelming
Can't fight the dumbing down
I sink to the peaceful deep underneath
Free from the plastic crown
Spinning around

Sow the seeds
Fearless we replay
Themes from timeless ages past
Courting all seven sins
What was and will always be
Protected from ourselves
Spin back around once again