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When the First Leaves Fall
Words & Music by Steve Gillette
(C) Copyright 2000, Compass Rose
Music, BMI
There is a
moment, when the dark spell of winter
Is
broken by the promise of the spring
When we walk the mile woods in
the first hours of the morning
And arrive with all the world awakening.
And I am nurtured by your
presence, root and branch and blossom
And the soft rain shining in
your hair
And when the first leaves
fall,
No matter where you are, I
want to be there.
There is a moment, in the
high green summer
When the
long, sweet days give way to shadow.
Where we lay together, beside
the open window
And watch the fireflies like
stars upon the meadow.
There's an unspoken wisdom in
the motion of the trees,
Eternity stirring in the air
And when the first leaves
fall,
No matter where you are, I
want to be there.
I want to be the one you turn
to when the frost is on the fence posts
And the cold traveler moon
stands alone.
When all that remains of the
warm rains of summer
Is the mist on the millpond below.
Yours is the yearning that
gives meaning to my own
In the silence when the wish
becomes a prayer.
And when the first leaves
fall,
No matter where you are, I
want to be there.
If I could only say one
thing, this song is what I would say. It
says just about everything that I would like you to know. The rest of this work is just a longer, more
elaborate explanation.
Poets have always squirmed at
the request to explain their poems, and it's true that if it's not in the poem,
no amount of explanation can save the attempt.
On the other hand, most songwriters I know love to talk about
songwriting, and love to bring the reader's (the listener's) attention to the
finer points of their accomplished craft.
In these pages I hope you
will learn what brought us to this point, and what we've learned from the
journey. It's only a small piece of the
greater puzzle, but it's my hope that it will resonate with the reader. If the lyric above gives a hint of my
personal philosophy on love and the ultimate issues, the pages that follow will
expand on those themes.
In all of this there is no
message more central than that anyone who wants to can do what we have
done. It comes down to a willingness to
show up and do what's needed. I wish I
could claim that I have done that in the most productive and straightforward
way, but in these pages the reader will learn that what there is of that long
sought for clarity has come quite late in the process.
As young people we are
propelled by emotions, dreams, illusions and fears, not to mention hormones,
and to some extent we are easily manipulated.
Finding a way to follow the bliss presents us with an odyssey. We may have to let go of some of the things
we desire in order to gain the greater prize.
I'm fond of saying I quit the music business to become a
songwriter. Glib as that may seem, it
is easier to do meaningful work outside of the black hole of big-time show
business.
I'm also fond of saying,
perversely (and rhetorically, of course) "If you're so smart, how come you're
rich?" It takes courage to decline comfort and the illusion of security in
favor of a more vital way of being.
Cindy and I have inched toward a simpler, more modest expectation of our
footprints in the world. We feel at home
in
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To
view our live concert from the
Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center
Visit
the Kennedy Center archives
If you don't already have RealPlayer
you can download it for free from Real.com
Please send any correspondence or requests for
information to:
Compass Rose Music
Direct your e-mail messages to:
Steve Gillette, gillette.steve@comcast.net
or to:
Cindy Mangsen, cindymangsen@comcast.net
Come back for more information, lots more Folk Music
resources on the Internet,
our concert schedule, and of course, the jokes.
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