All Words and Images created by Brother Timothy

01. Simple Voice 
from Brother Timothy's CD: Our Lost and Wild Daughter

I'm going to raise my simple voice in the name of love
I'm going to raise my simple voice i the name of love
It don't matter if I sound like a crow or a dove
I'm going to raise my simple voice i the name of love

I'm gonna sing out my truth through joy and tears
I'm gonna sing out my truth through joy and tears
Like a chain cutter it comes to bless for years and years
I'm gonna sing out my truth through joy and tears

OOOOOO

I'm going to dance with this life for all my days
I'm going to dance with this life for all my days
from the rain clouds to sunshine, from the breast unto the grave
I'm going to dance with this life for all my days

OOOOOO

We gonna raise our simple voice in the name of peace
We gonna raise our simple voice in the name of peace
There ain't nothing that sounds more beautiful than this mix of joy and grief
We gonna raise our simple voice in the name of peace

OOOOOO

02. Dead End Angels
(from Brother Timothy's CD: Our Lost and Wild Daughter)

I pulled off the road and I’m sitting down by the water
Next to the great river and its mystery
The stars they’re shining down…
Through this cathedral of dark trees

I’m going back a thousand years to when I was younger
I wanted dominion over sacred life
I ate your bread I drank your wine I heard your thunder
Then I raised and swallowed the knife

These days I look pretty good in a suit
These days I know what I’m going to say before I’m even asked
And the mask that I put on long ago… 
when I get close to you I can feel it rattle

Dead End Angels
carry me through
to life beginning
life beginning new

Or the time I never had a chance I just heard rumbling
the time I never had a chance I just heard a loud noise
I tried to get up and run
I tried to get to my girl I tried to get to my boys…

Dead End Angels
carry me through
to life beginning
life beginning new

Once I saw a deer jump a fifteen foot fence, I swear it.
Once I saw a hundred birds on the mountainside
All at once they they rose into the blue sky
Changing shapes and rising... changing shapes surprising... changing shapes…

To life beginning
Life beginning newDead End Angels
carry me through
to life beginning
life beginning new
This song is sung out into darkness
These words are scribbled down by the hand  of our lost and wild daughter
Her voice is stretched out long in longing
Her feet down in this cool river’s water

Maybe you look like a panther
Maybe you look like a dove
Maybe you’re blue and golden maybe you come from below maybe you come from above 
Maybe you’re in these hands. Maybe you are that near.
Maybe I should put these heavy buckets down
And start to work right here

Dead End Angels
carry us through
to life beginning
life beginning new.

03. Dry Season
(from Brother Timothy's CD: Our Lost and Wild Daughter)


The dry season has come
the dry season has come
this earth is parched and numb
the dry season has come

Longing stirs the drowsy soul
longing stirs the drowsy soul
sings down into this earthen bowl
longing stirs the drowsy soul

To remember that green time
remember that green time
how flowers on the trellis did climb
oh remember that green time

The water is on its way
the water is on its way
well it may not come today
but the water is on its way

A spring quenching and sweet
a gushing spring quenching and sweet
coming up right there at our feet
a gushing spring quenching and sweet

04. No Lie
(from Brother Timothy's CD: Our Lost and Wild Daughter)
No lie can live forever
Truth crushed down to earth will rise again

Before this victory is won
we shall overcome
some of us will be misunderstood
but don'y worry about us
we shall overcome

Before this victory is won
we shall overcome
some of us will lose our jobs
but don't worry about us
we shall overcome

No lie can live forever
Truth crushed down to earth will rise again

Before this victory is won
we shall overcome
some of us will be thrown in jail
but don't worry about us
we shall overcome

before this victory is won
we shall overcome
some of us might face physical death
but don't worry about us
we shall overcome
because if death is the price
to free the children
well then don't worry about us
we shall overcome
nothing would be more
nothing would be more
redemptive
nothing would be more
nothing would be more
redemptive

No lie can live forever
Truth crushed down to earth will rise again

The arc of the moral universe...is long
but it bends towards Justice
I can feel it bend towards Justice
Can't you feel it bend towards Justice

With the astonishing Robert Robinson. Robert sang with Brother Timothy on much of his CD Our Lost and Wild Daughter

05. Mountain Top
(from Brother Timothy's CD: Our Lost and Wild Daughter)
These are the exact final words that Dr. King spoke on April 3rd, 1968.  used with permission.


I don't know what will happen now
we've got some difficult days ahead
but it really doesn't matter with me now
because I've been to the mountain top

I would like to live a long life
but I'm not concerned with that now
I just want to do God's will
because I've been to the mountain top

and I've looked
I've looked out over
and I've seen the promised land
I have been to the mountain top
I have seen the promised land

I may not get there with you
but I want you to know tonight
that we as a people will get through
We'll get through to the promised land

and I've looked
I've looked out over
and I've seen the promised land...
Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord
and I'm not fearing any man
because I've seen the promised land
I have been to the mountain top
I have seen the promised land

Garden- 
brother timothy 2010


Gonna make a little garden Gonna feed our family
  Gonna make a little garden Won’t you work there with me
  Gonna make a little garden We’ll get our hands dirty
  Gonna make a little garden Gonna feed our family

Willo-Wah-oo

Gonna chop some firewood I know a big dead tree
  Gonna chop some firewood Won’t you work there with me
  Gonna chop some firewood We’ll get our hands dirty
  Gonna chop some firewood I know a big deadtree

Willo-Wah-oo

We know how to do this No we’re not going back there
  We know how to do this We are a future prayer
  We know how to do this And if a giant falls down
  We know how to do this We’re not afraid of that sound

Willo-Wah-oo

10. Your Name Has Been Called
from Brother Timothy's CD: Our Lost and Wild Daughter

 
Your name has been called
From someplace outside these walls
A voice patient and strong
Says you were born to belong
Who would ever believe 
The vast and boundless dreams
As you slept in the great hall
Your name has been called

 
Cloudy eye and feeble limb
Your teacher has grown dim
Now you’re tangled up inside
Voices from the past collide
So when you hear your name
You react just the same
You stay inside these walls
Though your name has been called

 
There’s more than one chance
There’s more than one chance
There’s more than one chance
There’s more than one chance

 
The bird is prepared to fly
Though it’s never seen the sky
The old man still has the strength
To pull up the window pane
As you open up your wings
The world can hear you sing
You’ve passed through these temple walls
For your name has been called

06. Everybody’s Chains Came Off 
from Brother Timothy's CD: Our Lost and Wild Daughter

 
  We sang out loud at midnight
We prayed out loud from our prison

   Everybody’s chains came off
All the prison doors swung open
Everybody’s chains came off
All the prison doors swung open

 
We marched from Selma to Montgomery
We laid down our life in Memphis

 Everybody’s chains came off
All the prison doors swung open
Everybody’s chains came off
All the prison doors swung open

 Even the shy one in the corner, even the mean one in the dark
Even the one twisted with hatred, even the one with angry marks
Even the one who broke the rules, even the crazy one with hair
Even the wealthy thieves, the liars, even the ones who don’t seem to care

 
It feels so good to be free again
It feels so good to be free again
It feels so good to be free again
It feels so good to be free again

 Everybody’s chains came off
All the prison doors swung open
Everybody’s chains came off
All the prison doors swung open

two young men skipping stones. Lake Superior, Minnesota

08. Light So Blue
from Brother Timothy's CD: Our Lost and Wild Daughter


I like walking in the woods
my son's name is Zebulon
and he likes walking in the woods

I like looking at the stars
we like looking at the stars
once our eyes adjust
to this light so blue

For no reason we woke up
before the sun rose one day
as we lay awake there talking
I saw the beauty in your face

Once I bought a cobalt vase
for the one I love
through the stems and through the water
there moved a light so blue

And these cedars they smell like a goddess
these waves they haunt my melody
these smooth stones...
these smooth stones...
I carry them along with me...

They say the ice picks them up from the bottom
and drops them upon the beach
when I was young I threw plenty
out there as far as I could reach
and every once in a while
my dad would hand me one and he would smile
and I'd unload without thinking
about that stone sinking
into the light so blue

the peony rocks

Sit Down
(the hidden track on Our Lost and Wild Daughter,
the beckoning voice of contemplative prayer)

Sit down. Stop your feet from moving. 
Sit down. Stop your hands from doing. 
Sit down. Stop your mouth from speaking. 
Sit down. Stop your mind from racing.


for I want you to listen.

Come in. All your life you've been running. 
Close the door, 'cause outside it's just humming.
Sit down. Let go of expectation. 
Let go. Let your life fall open.

for I want you to listen.

You say there are things that keep you from drawing closer…
1000 things that keep you from going free… 
But there is nothing I can see,
there is nothing between you and me.