Farther, Farther Sail

We live on an island
Afraid of its sea
People move in circles
And talking in TV
Some nights I think the moonlight
Is whispering to me:
Oh, brave soul, farther sail
Farther, farther sail


We live on an island
In the second world peace
Wars have much smaller now
We can fit them on a screen
Some nights I think the winter winds are
Whispering to me:
Oh, brave soul, farther sail
Farther, farther sail


We live on an island
Afraid of its sea
Cross that sea we made cages
To prove we are free
Some nights I'm hearing voices
Whispering to me:
Oh, brave soul, farther sail
Farther, farther sail

~ Brendan Bonsack & Celine Yap

Dandelion Roots

well the sky has shed its skin now
for a new and shiny moon
and the leaves all leave like butterflies
that never had cocoons

and I hear my freckles are fading
and the angels that put ‘em there
and my sins now are only flowers
tumbling down from my hair

but my dandelion roots are soft and strong
and this morning when you sang for me that song
I believed for once I really do belong
and I’ll fly away, oh glory I’ll fly away

well the path unfolds in measures
like this song that never ends
and I stand a stone in the cobbles
and sing it out loud again

and the wind along is with me
it bends me soft and low
and its breath is sifting me apart
and there calls another home

Did they build the roads
For finding things
Or for us to lose ourselves?

and my dandelion roots are soft and strong
and this morning when I sing for you this song
I believe for once I really do belong
and I’ll fly away, oh glory I’ll fly away

and my dandelion roots are soft and strong
and this morning when I sing for you this song
I believe for once I really do belong
and I’ll fly away, oh glory I’ll fly away

~ Brendan Bonsack & Angie LaPaglia

A Letter from my Grandchildren (with Celine Yap)

It must have been strange when you were young
We've seen the pictures and we've read about it
For the sake of some sludge in the ground
All the bombs and the guns
And the clouds rained with blood
Were you scared, Grandma?

What was it like in those days?
We try and try to comprehend
For the sake of the color of someone's skin
The walls and the wire and the churches on fire
Were you there, Grandma?

Children of my children
I am the lucky one
To have found you in a better world
Than I have come from
But, children, keep asking questions
For there never was a day
When history wasn't trying to make
The same mistakes

We've read about The Great Decline
Where you saw forests fall and oceans rise
And angry old men in their towers high
Buy and burn, and burn and buy all a man could buy
Till he ran out of time

It must have been sad in his time
For the sake of a face pressed into coins
For the sake of some imaginary lines in the sea
There washed onto shores all those lost girls and boys
Not much younger than we

Children of my children
I never felt so strong
Than to know you ask this of me
Of a world we've not passed on
But, children, keep asking questions
For I never knew a day
When history wasn't trying to make
The same mistakes

~ Brendan Bonsack

Happy Prince

Oh, why do you cry my Happy Prince,
Why do you cry like the rain?
Your eyes are of sapphire your robes are of gold,
Oh, why do you cry like the rain?

I’ll tell you why my dear little friend,
Why my sapphire eyes cry like rain.
I stand here and watch the city grow cold
And I feel their hunger and pain.

Oh, how can I help you my happy Prince,
How can I stop all this rain?
I’ll stay for one night though I can’t stand this cold,
And I’ll help you stop all this rain.

He said take all the gold from my robes dear friend,
Oh, leave nothing behind.
For the poor starving writer and little matchstick girl.
Oh, take my blue sapphire eyes.

And as the snow fell on the city that night,
Those poor they wept in surprise,
At the little golden leaves that dropped at their feet,
And the stones that were sapphire eyes.

Oh, I cannot leave you now Happy Prince,
I cannot leave you behind.
Blind you are now without blue sapphire eyes,
I cannot leave you behind.

And early next morning that Happy Prince,
The city seemed not to see.
He was a tattered grey stone with a bird at his feet,
But his eyes no more cried like rain.
No they never again cried like rain.

And they never did part,
That bird and stone heart.

~ Celine Yap