This lovely song has a beautiful and long history.  The words were written as a poem by a North Carolina Minister, Henry Richard McFedyen, in 1925.  Then in the 1950's, a man named David Johnson paired the poem with the melody of a tune called Prospect, which was originally published in The Sacred Harp in 1828.  Mr. Johnson also changed the original word "fowl" to "bird". Thank you Mr. Johnson! And then, in the 21st Century, I made up a dance to go with the song. I love the way music works, that three centuries of collaboration could happen in that way.  I do not know who took that amazing photo of the snowy owl, but I post it with deep gratitude.
I have attached the dance instructions below the lyrics. 
 

The Lone Wild Bird
text by Henry Richard Mc Fadyen in 1925
melody - "Prospect" by Graham 
melody first published in The Sacred Harp 1828 
 
The lone wild bird in lofty flight
Is still with thee, nor leaves thy sight
And I am thine, I rest in thee
Great Spirit come and rest in me
 
The ends of earth are in thy hand
The sea's dark deep, and far off land
And I am thine, I rest in thee
Great Spirit come and rest in me

I wrote this song in a joyful moment after many months of healing.  It's a long story, which perhaps I will post at some point.  But the way I got well was through slowing way down and meditating a lot.  In that process I learned that connecting with gravity in a deep way, relaxing the body, and watching the breath is a doorway to awareness of the deep peace, joy and love at our core.  This song was a celebration of that peace which is always available when we turn our awareness in the direction, as Adyashanti says, of "that which is not thought". 

Got Enough Socks
© K Hannan 2003
Got enough socks, got enough shoes
Got enough reasons to sing the blues
What I need, you can't buy in a store
Found a little nothing on a back road
And I want a little bit more

Nothin' on my mind, no fear in my heart
Nothin' to finish, and nothin' to start
When I get nowhere, no reason to leave
I'll just sit down there, on the grass and breathe

Got enough shirts, got enough hats
Got enough info-mercials, and enough talk radio facts
What I need, any fool would choose
Found a little nothin' at midnight now
I got nothin' to lose

Nothin' to say, nothin' to prove
I got nothin' in the way of a real slow groove
When I get a lot of nothing saved up gonna share it with you
Gonna throw a party, and give y'all
Nothin' to do
 

Although spring has not yet sprung fully in the PIedmont of North Carolina, we are feeling it starting with jonquils and forsythia and tulips and flowering trees and some little tiny leaves peeking out.  All this excitement has gotten me singing this song, about the truth of who we are.  

In the spring of 2003 I discovered, in a deep meditation, my own heart.  As I walked around in the world, I saw that the same heart is at the core of everyone and everything.   When the next Christmas season rolled around, I saw the Christmas story in a new way.  The baby Jesus brought love into the world, the same way every child does, because the divine heart of Jesus is the same divine heart we all share.   I wrote this song to express the joy of that One heart in every child, and in every grownup too, and in every tree, river, rock, earthworm.  The baby in the photo above is my sister Meg, and I am the toddler checking her out in amazement.  Where did this creature come from?  Meg was born in summertime, June 7th, 1951.

The picture above is of the very first Human to Human Circle Dance and Sing outdoor meetup, in Downtown Durham. Although we did not sing the song below, the lyrics to which are a poem by Rumi, I feel this song captures the spirit of what it was like.  People we had not met joined us in song and dance, and it was a truly joyful experience to, as Rumi says, "move outside the tangle of our minds" together. Our next meetup will probably be the last Saturday in October.  If you'd like to be on the mailing list for Human to Human meetup notifications, please visit www.humantohumancircledanceandsing.weebly.com 

A friend wrote to me this week and asked for this song, for a Queen of Heaven celebration she was doing for Beltane.  So I'm posting it here with wishes to everyone for a beautiful Beltane season of green and passion and reclaimed feminine power.  The Maria in this song is an embodied Goddess.  She is passionate, sensual, an activist, a lover.  She is Tara, Kali, Oshun, Venus, Mary. She is you and me.  She is all women  around the world, speaking out, standing up, and creating with the natural compassion and understanding that comes from being mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, aunts. She is also men of course, and children,  and every rock, tree, river and earthworm.. May we all trust, live and create from the limitless freedom within each of our hearts.  Blessed Be. 

This song came through many years ago while I was lying on a huge rock next to the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, crying my heart out over a relationship that was transforming.  A beautiful oak tree was growing out of the rock, and as the song was born my sorrowful feelings washed through with the sound of the river, and I was left feeling whole, and at peace with the way things were.  

Of the songs I've written in my lifetime, this is the one that has truly entered the folk stream. People sing this song in Vermont, Maine, Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Florida, and possibly places in between. It has travelled to places I have not been, and met people I have not met.    Having grown up singing traditional songs, I love that this song has a life of it's own, and I hope that it will be one of many songs honoring Earth and honoring the Mother  that will continue to thrive in our country.  

I wrote this song many years ago, and we usually sing it in Bodies, Voices & Spirit Chorus  just one night of the year. After seeing daffodils and trout lillies blooming on Tuesday, I knew this is the week to sing it! One thing I love about this song is that people tend to want to dance while they're singing it. Imagine a room full of the Faerie people flitting about, and you'll see what I saw the past couple of nights as the Choristas celebrated this moment out of time.