Somehow

Running through the mountains
Riding over the streams
Slipping through oceans
It's been a long time for you and me

Some of the years are hard ones
Some of them were kissed
We're on this trip together
And somehow we're not without

God has been our sustainer
He showered grace through droughts
The valleys weren't as low as they could have been
Somehow we're not without

The days you were in bed
Not a book to console you
Hope seemed distant and Fear seemed real
Walking hand in hand and somehow we're not without

Now we're on the other side
Trials sting like cuts
They carve on and make you
Into something you were not.

God has been our sustainer
He showered grace through droughts
The valleys weren't as low as they could have been
Somehow we're not without

copyright 2014 Melissa Taylor

The Power of 15

     Fifteen is a small number. Especially for me. I go for big numbers, numbers like 50 or better yet 100. But life sometimes hands you small numbers. The guitar has been put away for several years now. Not forgotten, for it's still pulled out to sing the occasional fireside song, or used as a kid corralling tool, not to mention the role it sometimes plays as a Soul Soother. Why bother settling in to reflect on what it takes to write a song when there are 100 other things to do? Another wise musician perceived my predicament over the last week and helped me see that rich and valuable things can come from small numbers. In the past, 60,80,100 or even 120+ minutes were needed to write a song. But what could be accomplished if one only took a mere 15 minutes? Perhaps quite a bit. So, my long standing goal in the back of my mind of writing 30 songs in 30 days began to actually look doable!

 I first began to compulsively obsess that quality might be sacrificed if  songs were perpetually written in 15 minutes! That was the crux until I realized that a poorly written song was better than no song at all. Now that I have begun this project, it has become apparent that because of the constraints of having only 15 minutes, all fears are out the window. I don't have to carefully write to perfection - there's no time! I don't have to write with a certain "hook" to make the song flow perfectly- there's no time! I don't have to re-write lyrics over and over so they draw glorious pictures. Nope, just a raw and pure song the first time it flows out onto paper.

It's only day 2 and already I've written more songs than in the last 3 years!

Today:
WILLIAMS GAP

Do you remember those days?
The warm baby on your skin?
A hot walk past the barn.
Do you remember the cherry trees in the yard?

Time was new- Life was young
The sun rose and set like the howling of the wind.
- A bitter with the sweet.

Coffee on the deck.
The sun bursting in.
 Do you remember the days
where country was king?
The kitchen had a life- stories to tell by it's fire
and songs that sang through window sills.

Long runs up and down those roads.
Do you remember the farms and the smell of mud
caked on those bellies of the rambling cows?

Do you remember?
Do you remember?
Do you remember?