Lyrics: Tom Beal
Music: Grant Cooper
A Song of Longing, Though
Drops of rain falling from clouds
Each sings its song of beginning.
Their songs, clear and simple,
Are soon embellished
With the ancient songs of the wind.
Some, falling on forest land
Lie glistening on leaves of pine and oak,
And learn the songs of the trees.
They drip to the ground
And from all that is there,
Learn new songs of life and of death.
Gathering together in streams and rivers,
They sing of all that they have learned.
And journey to the sea,
Where their voices join
With all that were before.
On all of earth they fall
And learn the songs of being.
But the songs of those
That fall on lovers
Are the most treasured of the Sea.
I sit on the shore listening
To tales sung by the Sea.
Hearing a melody close to my own,
I know it is from rain that touched you.
As waves crash on great rocks,
I hear a song of sadness and longing,
And ask the Sea to tell me why.
With all its great songs,
Gathered by the timeless rain,
The Sea cannot see you,
Or touch you, or hold you.
And that is why it sings
A song of hopelessness.
When we are apart
Are of love and joy with you.
A song of longing, though, threads through,
The same as sung by the Sea.
Yet mine is not hopeless, for some day
I will be with you again
And our songs will take shape, and form,
And be made real.
These songs we will sing
As long as we live.
And after our death,
Our songs will still sound,
For I have taught them to the Sea.
Tom Beal β Oregon, Summer, 1987