A poem by Hafiz translated by Daniel Ladinsky which inspired my lyrics:

For No Reason

And for no reason I start skipping just like a child
and for no reason
I turn into a leaf that’s carried so high above
I kiss the sun’s mouth and dissolve
and a thousand birds but for no reason pass cups of wine
and their wild songbooks are all around
for every reason in existence
I start to laugh and love eternally
dancing and dissolving in the truth that I am
I turn into a leaf that’s dancing
and for no reason run to kiss our delightful friend
and I dissolve in the truth I am

These next two songs have lyrics inspired by the poetry of Rumi
translated by Shahram Shiva and Coleman Barks

Let Fire Burn Me

Oh love, liberate me
let fire burn me from inside
fill me with your passion
release me from our separate worlds
they are two
cast away the things that
keep me from you
if I fix my heart
on anyone other than you let me burn
from that flame inside of me
burn in me to cast away
the things that keep me from you
take from me all what I do
and what I want and need
if I set my mind and heart on
anyone but you
let the fire inside burn in me to
cast away the things that
keep me from you

Inside

When I heard my first love song
I started to search for you
I never knew how blind that was
you’re with me now I see
we always have been
inside each other’s soul
no need to find you

When I heard my first love song
I looked around for you I never knew
How blind that was you’ve always
been inside of me

Lovers never finally meet each other
they are in each other all along
won’t be searching
you have always been in me

Owl Woman was a shaman from Arizona who lived in the late 1800s-1900s.
She sang songs that came to her from her spirit guides.  My lyrics were inspired
by her song: How Shall I Begin my Song? translated by Frances Densmore

Owl Woman

My song how to begin
In blue nights that are settling
my heart will go out
to me darkness comes rattling

In the great night my heart goes out
brown owls come home
they are calling
they are dancing
in the blue light of the dark night
till the dawn comes for me

Black Butte is far
below me was the dawn
I could see the daylight
it was coming back for me
Morning star is up
I cross these mountains
to the light of the sea
they are calling me to this place

I also discovered Mahsati Ganjavi, a Sufi woman from the 12th century, born in Azerbaijan.
She wrote a poem called The Pathway Finally Opened in Persian Farsi,
translated by David and Sabrineh Fideler. I created these lyrics derived from the essence
of this poem for the melody of my tune Elements from my album Still Waters.

The Pathway

When my heart came outside
to rule within the world of love
My life was unbound
from truth and doubt
I find myself on this pathway
seeing that I was to blame
And freed from inside,
the road turned wide
On this single path
I discovered my true self
Finding that the doubt
was inside me all along

On this path I was to blame
Found the problem to be me
when I went beyond myself
the road I finally could see

This is a song I wrote for my wife Caryn as a gift on her birthday.
The lyrics are in Greek with translation by me.

Anases

You are my sun, come
let me drink in your light
and see your sweet gaze
and feel your soft secret skin
Let me live in your earth
buried in your soil

Give me your mouth
and hold my hands
So I can feel you
Inside my breaths and
inside my sounds when I return
it’s there I’ll find you

Go back to the sea
from where we came
turn into a drop of water
you were on the shore
your wave carried me to you
I emerged in your embrace

Light, let me see you
My sun, my sun

My composition Till We Meet Again was recorded and included in a compilation CD called Live at the Montreux Music Festival, 1989 by B&W Music.  Afterwards I wrote lyrics from a poem by Kojiju, a Japanese Buddhist nun from the 12th century.

Merely To Know

Merely to know the flawless moon
dwells pure and clear
inside the human heart
Is finding that the darkened night
will vanish
under clearing skies

The above are mystic poems that have been translated into English.  I have taken these translated poems and created lyrics for my original music.