top of page
MIKE WARD_coverSMALL_edited.png

TIME

Little hand’s on the five…big hand’s on the ten 

Face we learn to recognize…to be where, by when 

It can improve some wine…heal many wounds 

It can fly by so fast…and be gone far too soon 

CHORUS: The pendulum swings ticking time, oh time 

Catches up sooner or later with no rewind 

Before it’s up it can wear us down 

If we knew where to look could there be more to be found? 

Carbon to diamonds…particles to pearls 

Seeds into sequoias…astral dust into worlds 

Measures of life…unwritten histories 

The marching on…of seconds and centuries 

CHORUS: The hourglass sands sifting time, oh time 

Catches up sooner or later body and mind 

Before it’s up it can wear us down 

If we knew where to look could there be more to be found? 

Early to bed…early to rise 

Forging ahead…falling behind 

Can we stop the clock…re-start the ride 

Take back the stolen…and keep a little on our side 

CHORUS: The sun chasing shadows across time, oh time 

Catches up sooner or later to yours and mine 

Before it’s up it can wear us down 

If we knew where to look could there be more to be found? 

If we knew where to look could there be more to be found? 

If we knew where to look could there be more to be found? 

LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY

Want to tell my story 

Don’t know where to begin 

Want to change my future 

And the shape that I am in 

The doubt and fear that grips me 

I beg for its release 

To gather my shortcomings 

Oh and make them history 

CHORUS: Oh Let love lead the way 

I follow though my feet may stray 

Through hurt and pain, loss and gain 

Let our love… lead the way…lead the way 

Open on the table 

My heart and soul exposed 

Weakness may have led me here 

Now your strength has taken hold 

You can piece me back together 

Even if I’m missing parts 

Wrap your love around me 

Oh, til sunrise breaks the dark 

CHORUS: Oh Let love lead the way 

I follow til all my debts are paid 

Through prayer and pain, loss and gain 

Let our love lead the way… lead the way…

lead the way… lead the way 

Oh, Let love lead the way 

I follow on the path we’ve laid 

Through hurt and pain, loss and gain…let our love… 

Through broken hearts and false starts …let our love 

Through prayer and pain, loss and gain 

Let our love lead the way 

IT SHOULD BE ME

Was it in a bottle or a much deeper dive? 

Sleepin’ it off, keepin’ barely alive 

Lies I told you, lies I told myself 

Hopelessly lost, resistant to help 

Stolen credit cards, stolen trust 

All for a couple grams worth of empty rush 

Glance in the mirror scars hide the guilt 

Spurned every warning, burned every bridge I ever built 

CHORUS: I walk each day with a stone in my shoe 

A reminder of the pain I had put you through 

I think of each time I let you down 

It should be me…six feet in the ground 

It should be me…six feet in the ground 

My darkness spread like an oil spill 

Demons took me in of my own free will 

Yeah it should be me, gone far too soon 

It should be you, sipping wine under the moon 

CHORUS 

BRIDGE: Where do I hide… 

when there’s no tears left to cry 

You brought me here unconditionally 

Sacrificed, fed and clothed me 

I’m still here, not sure why or for how long 

I’ll try to make it right, undo some of my wrong 

CHORUS 

ALL WE HAVE ARE WORDS

No hugs or high fives. No hand taking a hand. 

Only what we say with our eyes across this silent span. 

In times of tragedy, we said“there are no words”. 

Now it’s all we have to comfort and reassure. 

CHORUS: All we have are words, clichés and simple prayers 

All we have are words, ours and theirs 

To make our feelings heard, All we have are words 

No fingers through hair. No slaps on the back. 

Wiping away the tears. Tickling toes or riding horsey-back. 

Through windows and doors. In joy and grief 

Of mine and yours it’s testing all we believe. 

CHORUS: All we have are words, clichés and simple prayers 

All we have are words, ours and theirs 

To make our feelings heard, All we have are words 

BREAK: Can’t breathe a single one or even eat some 

Be at a loss for any or be a man of few or many 

Take them out of your mouth 

Mince them or mark them 

The ones exchanged or passed or uttered as our last 

CHORUS: All we have are words, clichés and simple prayers 

All we have are words, ours and theirs 

To make our feelings heard, All we have are words 

BACK AGAIN

CHORUS: Look into the photographs 

All the pieces of our past 

Look at all the time we spent 

All the days that came and went 

Look into the eyes we share 

Crooked teeth and greased back hair 

Our faces shone so brightly then 

Why can’t we can’t get those days back again…back again

 

Who were we to ask for more? 

What was the change we were hoping for? 

And what did we really have to say? 

Was the world gonna listen to us anyway? 

CHORUS:

Polaroids. Black and white snap shots 

Who made it through and who did not? 

Where did it all go? Did we get anywhere? 

Or are we still stuck between here and there? 

BREAK: Frozen stares. A few angry glares 

It was a time of innocence 

Silly grins. Yeah, a few shenanigans, long gone ever since 

CHORUS:

A LOT OF WORK

You’re in every line and every stanza 

Kind of like a love bonanza 

A kissing hugging extravaganza 

I could fill verse after verse 

Both forward and reverse 

For better or for worse 

Across these 40 years 

And all these changing gears 

Life filled with joy and tears… 

CHORUS: Our love takes a lot work 

Takes a lot of work, we like the perks 

A Love like ours takes a lot work 

16 thousand 21 days 

Since we met each other’s gaze 

You set my heart ablaze 

Still never time enough 

When push comes to shove 

To show the depth of my love 

I live for your touch and your glance 

But apologize in advance 

For the crazy way I dance… 

CHORUS

 

Sometimes I keep you out too late 

Somedays I don’t communicate 

On occasion I hesitate 

Yeah but if I had more 

I’d want to give you even more 

Good thing nobody’s keeping score 

When we met my life was a mess 

I’m so glad that you said yes 

I am most certainly blessed 

CHORUS: Our love takes a lot work 

Takes a lot of work, we like the perks 

A love like ours takes a lot work 

Takes a lot of work, dinner and dessert 

A love like ours takes a lot work 

Takes a lot of work, takes a lot of work 

A love like ours takes a lot work

LETTING GO

How did you manage to even laugh? 

Cook a dinner, sing a song, teach a class? 

With no protective armor or leaden shield 

On this unfamiliar, family battlefield 

Day after Christmas, sixty five 

Mustang full of boys on a little joy ride 

If you could travel back in time you’d never let him leave 

Spent seventy years learning how a mother grieves 

CHORUS: Letting go getting past 

No one told you how long this would last 

An uphill battle, the fall back down 

He was your hidden scar til the day you went home 

The hole left in your heart til the day you went home 

As I lay my hands on your tired feet 

I’m reminded at some point we’re all set free 

From this aching pain life accumulates 

and the knowledge you have that no one escapes 

CHORUS 

BREAK: You were our rock. Where did you find the will? 

Defined by the details of that night so still 

A family gets what a family needs, held together 

by a string of rosary beads 

CHORUS 

BROKEN

Had broken teeth and broken strings 

Had no more song left to sing 

On the road since seventy six 

Playing mostly for drinks and tips 

Drove a beat up old blue chevy van 

Slept in the back on some bags of sand 

From El Paso up to Estes Park 

He took his time making his musical mark 

CHORUS: And you could hear him sing…

I can’t turn water into wine 

turn left when I shoulda turned right,

I could turn the other cheek 

Turn myself in for being weak, get the hell out of my own head 

And make my peace, where I make my bed 

…where I make my bed 

An awkward man never got close to anyone 

Lyrics told the tale of a life on the run 

Fell for Rita who deserved much more 

Than a tired old truck stop troubadour 

Who sang Willie, Waylon and some Buck Owens 

When the going got tough that’s when he got goin’ 

Never forget the words to any song 

Couldn’t remember what street he lived on 

CHORUS 

Two packs a day, cheap case of beer 

He was running out of minutes, hours and years 

Found him face down his lips were frozen blue 

It was his final show at the Red Horseshoe 

CHORUS 

WRESTLING WITH GHOSTS

Well he wakes up at night on the floor next to his bed 

With a cut on his arm, and lump on his head 

Blanket is wrapped and tangled around his neck 

You can hear him yelling, “Boy, I’ll fight you instead” 

Then sometimes he swears a dog sits in his room 

Breathing right on his face, in the light of the moon 

Or he’s battling rats, from under his sheets 

Keeps him awake, fills his darkest dreams 

CHORUS: He ain’t’ ready to leave. He ain’t’ ready to go 

He’s just wrestling… he’s just wresting with ghosts… 

wrestling with ghosts 

He puts dinner on the table for my mom and him 

She doesn’t answer when he calls out again and again 

He makes a report, when policemen show 

We have to remind him she died ten years ago 

CHORUS 

BRIDGE: Nightmares so real they tore at his pounding heart 

He told me dealing with loss, that’s the hardest part 

Haunted by death of two kids and a wife 

He found comfort in letters and cards later in his life 

Well at ninety five his body finally gave in 

Went to be with my mom, and the rest of his kin 

His stories still live, in the back of our minds 

We’ll hear them again on the other side 

CHORUS: Still he wasn’t ready to leave. He wasn’t ready to go 

But he’s done wrestling….done wrestling …. 

No, he wasn’t ready to leave. He wasn’t ready to go 

But he’s done wrestling….he’s done wrestling ….with ghosts… 

wrestling with ghosts 

QUIET HERE TODAY

Fraying fabric in the wind 

Inhale, exhale then again 

Chirping from the wires and trees 

Breaking out in purples and greens 

Creaks of aging wooden floors 

Carpeted footsteps in corridors 

Silence breaks a siren calls 

Echo on these old deaf walls 

CHORUS: Sure is quiet here today 

It’s quiet here today 

No work and no play 

It’s quiet here today…Sure is quiet here today 

The muffled pounding of progress 

Gloved and masked as we pass 

Stare into deserted stores 

Lapping waves on lonely shores 

A ghost town is now revealed 

Isolated, while we heal 

Steam rises from every rooftop 

The sun arrives with no time clock 

CHORUS: Sure is quiet here today 

It’s quiet here today 

At home we’re gonna stay 

Sure is quiet here today 

Sure is quiet here today 

It’s quiet here today 

No work and no play 

Sure is quiet here today 

Sure is quiet here today 

It’s quiet here today 

We bow our heads and pray 

Sure is quiet here today. It’s quiet here today

NOT TODAY

She stood on the corner in the dirty melting snow 

Said every day above is better than one below 

She wore a tan fur coat and an almost silk black skirt 

Who would argue with the wisdom of her words 

Every day we learn more about who we really are 

The sharpness of each cut. The dullness of each scar 

Her eyes tell a story that we can’t really know 

Every day above is better than one below 

CHORUS: We go our way…we go our way…

we go about our day… sometimes we look the other way…

but not today, not today 

Digging ourselves out of an avalanche 

Every day we breathe is better than one we can’t 

And every day of firsts is better than our last 

Of finding a future we’re not looking past 

CHORUS 

Life is a burden every day we lift 

The slamming of each door the pounding of each fist 

The simple reason we pick our head up off the pillow 

Every day above is better than one below 

CHORUS X2 

LET THEM BE LOVED

Let them be loved. Let them be held 

Let them have feelings so completely felt 

To be shown kindness. Have shoulders to lean upon 

Let them find comfort today and beyond 

CHORUS: Let them be loved…Let them be loved… 

Ohh let them be loved 

Let them keep secrets …deeply held beliefs 

To ride on the wind and tame the seas 

Let them open up another one’s eyes 

Let them be the sunlight in someone else’s sky 

CHORUS

BREAK: Let their pain be our pain 

Their doubts wash away 

Their burdens be lifted 

And their voice be true and never sway 

Let them learn lessons to let others in 

To know when they get knocked down, 

They can get back up again 

Let them be heroes. To see the unseen 

Let them help others to dream their dreams 

CHORUS: Let them be loved…Let them be loved… 

Ohh let them be loved  Let them be loved…Let them be loved…Ohh let them be loved 

© 2022 by Mike Ward created with Wix.com

bottom of page