17 Minute

17 Minute

flowing river don’t mean much to me

nor wind from the north rattling the leaves

only steam and whistle and wheels that shake the joint

metal on metal on to the vanishing point

train pass by every 17 minute

each one got one of my old loves in it

oh I’m gonna miss that train

sweet jellyroll and whiskey in the jar

I rolled for the nine I got snake-eyes in my own backyard

but I’m alright with how she got free

my watch keeps good time and my knife keeps me shining company

train pass by…

train blow a whistle like baby’s loving

sweet in the leaving as it is in the coming

oh I’m gonna miss that…

stars fall from a quiver in the sky

by a pond I shiver splashed by the sound of goodbye

but everything is diamond everything is coal

‘round a blues bend there’s a bluegrass banjo roll

train pass by…

Points of Light

A Little Silence

I don’t care anymore

you can say what you like

you’re old enough to know better

I know what I like

I like a little silence

I like a little space

between your voice

and your remembered face

you know the sky turns grey

when you think of yesterday

so bring me the sun I don’t mind

bring me the sun I don’t want to go blindly

there’s a hint of westcoast wnter

in a late september rain

falls like names and faces

we will never see again

I like a little silence

I like a little space

between the visions that have gone

and the ones that I still chase

you know the sky…

couples can live forever on brackish water

mutual affliction

bread that will not rise

they show me that’s not what I am after

I search the wings of southbound birds

in a new love’s eyes

there’s dust between the pages

that’s what all form becomes

grave spirits dance like fools

to the beat of rusty drums

I like a little silence

I like a little space

but between the sky and skin and stars

I hope I always stay amazed

you know the sky…

1990

silence spoken here

Air of Spring

With a nickel in the pocket

With a tune on the tongue

You can go down walking

Run away flying

to where the stars are hung

With the left boot on the left foot

The right worn on the right

You can plant your steps

like seeds, from the kiss

Of morning ‘til the dawn of night

When the shadows fall and the old ghosts

call you up to give your tears

When your hands are empty

Your dreams are bare

Cold whistles whistle there

You gotta take the past from off your back

Pack up the days to come

Where the sun is blonde

The sky’s blue eyes

There’s music dancin’ on the tongue

Y’see I’ve watched my friends all turn

like leaves in the autumn breeze

And I’ve watched the lovers

fade like rainbow colours

When that arc dries and leaves

But I pull my cap onto my head

and I turn my head around

And break from the sad

deserted days

For where the air of spring in found

Now my blood is a mountain bird

I feel it rise and soar away

And my feet are winged

All the world is mine

As I walk a soft kiss of wind and say":

There’s nothing that won’t drift your way, no

Nothing the days won’t bring

And you can say I’m crazy

You can say I’m lost

but better, blame the air of spring

Yeah, you can say I’m crazy

You can say I’m lost

but better, blame the air of spring

1981

The Green Album

Be Leavin'

there’s tears in your eyes

you say they’re tears of sorrow

but past their glistening grief

pure water cascades towards the morrow

there’s someone on your mind

he don’t look much like I do

could it be someone I was

when love was green and new

now you say: I’ll be leavin’

before I’ll be beleavin’

that you’ll ever change

you loved this walking dust

gave it wings of flight

wrapped days in ribbons of touch

strummed the night skies banjo bright

I should have said: how do I love thee

let me lose my way

let me klay down by your seasons

after I kneel thanks and pray

now you say…

it always starts with wings

soar a common heaven

always pulled to earth by all

that can’t be promised or forgiven

why faces grow so hard

nobody ever knows

why out of a sweet leaf song

a grey stump forest grows

now you say…

a few years down the road

I may wander past this time

and see your face within

and hope you’re doing fine

but now the window’s rimed

with filigree frozen dreams

and shiver is my spine

don’t want to say what I really mean

lord turn my head around

keep the dust from falling

I see her face in cloud

sad silver bells are tolling

1990

silence spoken here

Beauty Has Been Hid

sail a splendid melody

was a time I did

on waters that flowed smooth and free

o but beauty has been hid

where’s the gold-leaf page the ancient chart

to mark where down she slid

I told her I’d give up my breath

to find where beauty has been hid

a couple copper coins are all I hold

I place them on sleeping lids

I bid her come in from the cold

but beauty has been hid

the inkwell of a stormy sky

a blouse the breeze undid

the heart that even now would try

o but beauty has been hid

unrecorded — video of early version here

Bed of Nails

he got a face like a catchers mitt

pitch a little mother’s love at that

she gets by without a trace of wit

who’s on first when no one’s up to bat

she sells cheap pills by the schoolyard

on Sundays from a back yard shed

he sails up and down a ragged shore sure

his drowned child’s not really dead

it’s so pleasant on my bed of nails

staring up at points of light

try not to move don’t think about too much

falling stars and fireflies tell you it’s alright

she got the stripped elm body of a boy

wild child with wind in flaming hair

he got a flask of silver by his heart

all the joy and love tin-man needs are there

he got strips of duct-tape stuck to his head

they help him hear the voices when they call

she got a mirror mirror on the wall

seems nothing’s fair at all

it’s so pleasant…

aqueducts and order legions on the hill

coliseum nights and other blasts

all fall down like jack and jill

tragic tale and a kamikaze cast

it’s so pleasant…

Points of Light

Been a Long Day

been a long day

from a blistered dream into a blue sky alone

high-noon cicadas

buzzed about my baby and how I’m on my own

I set her adrift

she got the strong oars I got trajectory of the sinking stone

and the mud is thick

no one gonna haul me up and warm these bones

some of them have new men

some of them are born again

with the dark and the autumn coming on

one thing’s sure: none of them are coming back again

been a long day

asking the earth not to be so greedy

leaves will fade

after all my carelessness could someone still need me

I’ve wasted time

more time than many even get to spend

all along the line

I plant white lilies and ask when the losses will end

some of them…

been a long day

it’s a little later so I feel a lot more like myself now

half-moon is pale

even the stars are settled behind the cloud

and a little jazz 

papers the walls of the rooms downstairs

and a little breeze

says there’s room for me in the wind out there

some of them have new men

some of them need to be born again

with the dark…

Points of Light

Clear as the Air

Last winter you loved me, invited me in

When the cold was a hard and angry spinner of winds

And I was a lonely singer of songs

Spinnin’ tales of lost love’s angels

every night ‘til the night was gone

Now it’d be easy to say I never doubted our dream

I often sing for the sound, forget what I mean

But the dream while it lasted was clear as the air

Now it’s over and past, we’re free as the air

Blonde hair was sea-froth and cloud in the sky

Your legs flashed like razors

your scarlet skirt slit to the thigh

And a harsh wind was stilled when I stepped in your room

Turned warm and sweet the moment

you pulled me into your arms

Now it’d be easy to say…

What started with white sheets and oceans of time

Streetlight and starlight pouring

through the window like wine

Now turns with the drumbeat of seasons again

To distances and silences, another

harsh winter wind

And it’d be easy to say…

1982

The Green Album

Crow Dark Wind

crow come flying through the cold grey dawn

arrow aimed at the heart of the sun

I watch it cut a path through the pines

sign of spirit that says move on

crow come flying through the cold grey dawn

dark the maze of day to day

look for light to lead the way

got to walk it got to walk it to the end

heart’s the north star you got to defend

dark the maze of day to day

wind bring changes come from miles away

howl of wolf and the hillside blaze

I feel it I hear it on my skin

what will be meets what has been

wind bring changes come from miles away

in the crow

in the crow dark

in the crow dark wind

crow dark wind

Dawn Song

There’s wakin’ in the windows

There’s mornin’ in the bells

There’s dreamin’ in your eyelids

as sleep still holds you under her spell

There’s a callin’ in the sunrise

And memories lace the air

And there’s a movin’ in my highboots

and a lilac laced in the braid of your hair

I’d fallen with the lovelorn

Found loneliness holding me down

But my sadness quickly melted away

the first night you took me, held me all around

The nighttime quickly travelled

And dawnlight started to sing

As the sky began to open its eyelids

bringin’ the first rays of our first days pouring in

Now there’s a wakin’…

You opened with your body

I opened with my mind

And we passed and drank the love between us

as we passed and drank the time

Now the skies are clear and the winds blow free

And I gotta be movin’ on

But the feelings living within me

and I’ll see you again before long

Cause there’s a wakin…

1978

rec “Green Album”

Declare Your Love

in the murdered rain in the graveyard hour

as a huddled rock beside the radiant flower

declare your love

in the fields of snow where the battle’s fought

and the red red rose where the soldier dropped

declare your love

on the streets of plague by the carts of death

the church bells black use your dying breath

declare your love

declare your love to the burning flame

declare your love to the passing train

declare your love on the blade of Cain

declare your love

in the beggar’s rags in the regal cloak

in the battered town where the bombs explode

declare your love

in the midnight hour with the strength of ten

when your strength is gone then even then

declare your love

by the waters deep under ash-white stars

tiny speck of soul little scrap of heart

declare your love

declare your love for the rites of spring

declare your love like a mad blind king

declare your love for anything

declare your love

on the humble eve by the simple stream

upon a fallen leaf as you float to sea

declare your love

on the harp & lyre to the Holy King

on the whisky glass toast the drunken spring

declare your love

on the mountaintop where the word is Om

the snow falls soft on a man alone

declare your love

prepare for love with a suit & tie

prepare for love with your skirt hiked high

prepare for love with what’s true inside

prepare for love

on the day of the saint with the tunic soaked through

blood and tears and the faint drum tattoo

declare your love

on the day of the saint if the sun be dull

declare your love if it shines at all

declare your love

in never more and once again

in everyday and forever amen

declare your love

(including extra verses not in version that appears on ‘A Startle of Wings’)

Did Not Reach

morning, I’m so happy

to be air and liquid fire

it’s not much to count on

so many go down in the black water spiral

I dreamed I was drowning

there was light upon the beach

her heart was that lantern

it was just beyond my reach

I reached but I did not reach

damn all the flowers

beauty doesn’t last

paper boat in the gutter

and the river’s flowing fast

small purple crocus

shivering in the heat

world out of focus

dangerous hammer in the heartbeat

I reached but I did not reach

it’s too late to talk

smile of a girl is gone

it’s too late to talk

she will never hear her song

and all we ever is anger

and all we ever say of greed

should steal away ashamed

at all the times we never heard her say ‘I’m in need’

strum on the banjo

beat upon the drum

shout out to the new light

‘I love everyone’

there’s storms on the ocean

In the heavens too

storm in the heart

of everyone that she knew

she knew but she never knew

1999

Didja Feel It

summer’s lush and summer’s warm

some are safe and out of hands of harm

summer’s rich and summer’s blind

putting faith in colour the sober eye won’t find

didja feel it in the shimmering green

I was drunk of tongue and dazzled I was a poetry machine

didja feel it in the the melting sun

I was soft and off balance over someone

love’s a cliff and it’s a vertigo spin

it’ll drop you like a thought into a land of whispering wings

some fall like light some fall like dew

some fall like stone one’s love is not enough for two

didja…

I remember what my heart was singing of

how I longed to speak your name to the ones I love

I remember it felt so sudden true

how come I’ve forgotten how to talk to you

didja…

Do You Love (Is That Enough)

mary mary come to the phone

your boy’s calling you collect

mirages and dunes ephemeral blooms

thinks there’s only echoes left

I got his voice his hands and his smile

where’s the rest of that good man gone

been walking the valley of the shadowy mile

since I saw the soul slip from his skin

now everyone reminds me of someone else

do you love?

do you love?

everyone reminds me of someone else

and if you love is that enough?

fingers stagger towards a melody line

got no thumb for the green

it’s a man of straw doused in sour wine

fears he may forget what the sparrows mean

now everyone…

morning morning set the table again

been taking my tea in the dark

no sugar no cream just one bad dream

goes on beyond the clock’s sharp bark                                  

now everyone…

unrecorded

video version: here

words and music ©2019 Noah Zacharin

(click here to hear…)

Done Gone Gone

I wake with words I might have said

stale upon my tongue

before I can reach the bottle

I taste every one

other words I might have kept inside

call me deacon at the dawn

the sun shines bright and I can’t hide

it’s a good thing you done gone gone

it’s a good thing you done gone

I never minded my life alone

I breathe easy in the dark

you came careening in overdrive

at a man contented in park

I should have seen it coming

you quickly made yourself queen to my pawn

your smile it was a hollow thing

it’s a good thing…

cause we were head and tail

hare and snail

farm and jail

rock and sail

we might both be flesh and bone

one’s precious gem 

one is sinking stone

pull back 

bullseye

baby’s gone

a time or two I told my life

life, let’s just pack it in

I was saved by the vision of my mother’s face

or the sound of a guitar string

often still I shiver

you might be back a little further on

all’s well that keeps going (keep going)

it’s a good thing you done gone gone

it’s a good thing you done gone

it’s a good thing you done

it’s a good thing

you’re gone

Points of Light 

Down in the Valley

down in the valley where hard luck does call

where I went to watch Icarus fall

where the trees are bent

like dreams as the dreamer gets older

I went without fear of love

took a single eyeful of tears

a handful of ghosts

a heartful of someone said never

down in the valley the valley so low

all you hear is that bitter wind blow

down in the mystery of why should I wake

I could not move between sheets and the shaking

there was no sky

nothing larger than life leaking through the window

and to all who were not there

I spoke using second-hand air

and words that could count the stars

burned in the stars’ cold fire

down in the valley…

down in the forest of skeleton trees

birds are the singing leaves

down in the night of lightning on lake

went two-wheeled throttle full on the take

down in the knowledge of new lost friend

what breaks what we thought would bend

down in the valley where hard luck does fall

where I went to hear Icarus call

in fear for his wings

as they failed

and the valley drew nearer

1989

Drinkin' Hard Tonight

I been drinkin’ hard tonight

it’s nothing new for me

my head turns like a distant star

so far that you can’t see

since you left me

I been drownin’ all my bitter thoughts of you

and I only got one question

is there anything else I can do

does he send you any letters

does he call you on the phone

does he tell you all those pretty little lies

I never told you when you were mine

since you left me…

I been lookin’ to find a lover

I been lookin’ to find a friend

been lookin’ to find a lover

and a love that will not end

since you left me…

1982