1. |
Annabel Mains
04:23
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I will always think of you Annabel Mains
As the girl with no veil and the longest of trains
You were blushing that day as you stepped to my son,
Took his hand and made promises never to run
And I wished that my Noland had been there to see
How Tom stood as proud and as tall as a tree
How the boy who, all fight, drew his line in the sand
Wore his wedding vows tight, held your hand as a man
Oh the stories you inherit, Anna Templeton Mains
Heirlooms in a hope chest with un-washable stains
Let me tell you a long tale in a letter or ten
When you come we will visit as old friends
My appointment last week gave me one more October
My house has enlisted each room to remember
Tom, little Tom, with a baseball and mitt
My Noland, a moustache, younger and fit
As I write this now fear wraps my heart like a tether
I feel that I need all my family together
My sickness might soften the anger between them
And loss could now finally end their Antietam
Listen, Anna, please
To the ramblings of a mother
There are stories you will hear that I’ve never told another
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2. |
Noland Mains
04:14
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Take care of your mother, Son. I swore I’d give her better
Noland worked each day of high-school,
worked the nights his mother cried
When the first light lit the gravestone,
Noland held Evangeline
When our eyes met at the diner,
He was older than the crowd
Noland stuck around for Evie,
He had done his father proud.
Take care of your mother, Son. Take care of your sister, Son
The hard work has just begun, and the day-dreaming’s over
From your work you must never run, bend your back till the day is done
I leave you now at the bottom rung, I swore I’d give her better
We married early in the summer,
a yellow garland in my hair
Evangeline came as the witness,
no other family in the chairs
He held my elbow like an anchor,
his voice the only thing I heard
Now I know that while my heart sang,
he could hear his father’s words
Take care of your mother, Son. Take care of your sister, Son
The hard work has just begun, and the day-dreaming’s over
From your work you must never run, bend your back till the day is done
I leave you now at the bottom rung, I swore I’d give her better
He never left the store.
Forty years and then some more
Tom got mad and ran away
When men are supposed to stay
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3. |
Gad Harvey
04:45
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Down by the wharf on a boat in the water
Lives a man with a spiteful face
Some say the devil for his soul made a barter
And left him a blight on the race
But his name’s Gad Harvey
He’s just an old man with a grudge
He sings “Evangeline, Evangeline,
Oh my long lost grace, Evangeline”
Back in the day when old Gad was a dandy
He fell in love with Noland’s sister
His love was a fire and his poems smelled of brandy
And one night on the wharf he kissed her
“Hands off, Gad Harvey”
Noland rolled him in the mud
He said, “Evangeline, Evangeline,
Harvey’s a disgrace, Evangeline.”
Now he rents fishing boats for 25 dollars
To the tourists every year
When he comes to town you can hear him holler
“Noland Mains better not be here!”
Children run from Harvey
He’s an angry old cuss with a grudge
He sings, “Evangeline, Evangeline
My long lost grace, Evangeline.”
When Tom was junior he would fish by the water
And Harvey, he would bait him,
But the son of that Noland didn’t side with his father
By the summer it was kin against kin
Tom called his Auntie
He brought up the old grudge
He said, “Evangeline, Evangeline
You’re still Harvey’s grace, Evangeline”
So she met him on the wharf in the sweetest yellow dress
Old Harvey he had showered
When Evie took his hand, life was kind in her caress
He knew he’d always been a coward
He had no kind thing to offer
She took the train to Santa Fe.
He sings, “Evangeline, Evangeline
My long lost grace, Evangeline.”
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4. |
Eddie Ramirez III
03:24
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His name is Eddie Ramirez from the Sea of Cortez
On the day he met Sarah, he stood still and never left
You can find him at sunrise whistling songs to his trees
Composing las mañanitas to his plants by the sea
He sings, “Sarah, bella Sarah, baila Sarah”
In a far land he found beauty, soil and roots
His mother named him Eduardo on the sea of Cortez
Kissed his cheek when at 14, into North and night he fled
With his eyes deep as midnight and his voice rich with song
He took Sarah out dancing, held her gently, held her long
He sang, “Sarah, bella Sarah, baila, Sarah”
In a far land he found beauty, soil and roots
On a night hot with summer he will walk in the sand
He prays south with his heart wide, he holds tight to her hand
He sings, “Sarah, bella Sarah, baila Sarah”
In a far land he found beauty, soil and roots
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5. |
Elizabeth Mains
04:35
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In the best room of her bright mind, catalogued by size and shape
She has treasured tales of flowers, knows each family of grape
In the starlight on the front porch, when her silent day is done
Bethy whispers little secrets, timid tales across her tongue
Across her tongue
Little words, little heard, little Beth (2x)
Watch her brown eyes in the morning, with her hand upon the door
She is deep breath, calculation, quiet glances to the floor
Watch her dig in, lift her head high, lift her silence like a shield
In those moments, how I love her, how I hurt for beauty sealed
For beauty sealed
I’m afraid that she’ll run deeper into silence,
when I leave before the spring
Will she lose herself in flowers? Will they sing?
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6. |
Mrs. Julienne
04:56
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You’ll never meet another Mrs. Julienne,
been my neighbor now these 30 years
All alone with memory and her nightcap,
she’s toasted life through many tears
She prays
Father, Holy Father
Grant this humble woman bread
Your forgiveness, Holy Father
Gives new living for the dead
If it wouldn’t be a bother
Give my days to Dorothy instead
Holy Father, Holy Father,
Amen
Mrs. Julienne, she knows her sadness,
wears it on her shoulders like a shawl
When she needed most and prayers rang silent,
she wore grief and wore it tall
Mrs. Julienne has eyes like faucets,
shining wet with grief or tears of glee
For as deep as her own roots of loss go,
so high now is the joy of that same tree
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7. |
Sarah Ramirez
03:44
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I was eight years old when Sarah pushed me down
Said I wasn’t to hold hands with the cute class clown
He was hers you see, they were already married
He had kissed her cheek behind the old dairy
She won the fistfight that had to follow
But the boy was forgotten, animosity swallowed
Her Macarena is an awkward sight
But she will sway and sing with all her might
She is a brick when trouble comes around
Except when tremors whisper underground
If she ever needs a thing, needs a hand herself
I won’t be there, with my love, to help
She came over last night without invitation
Brought an oven charred muffin of her own creation
And we laughed at the ancient humor of it all
And we cried for what’s to follow the fall
She has never let me stay afraid
Or give up untested a plan I’ve made
Let her tell you the story of her Eddie
Watch her eyes in the telling when she’s ready
She won’t talk about me or the weeping
How she help up my head to be sick without sleeping
If she ever needs a thing, needs a hand herself
Could you be there, if you’re there, to help?
I would tell her she is brave
I would tell her she is soft
She is both you see, unselfconsciously
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8. |
Thomas Mains
04:35
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High empathy since he was three
His greatest strength, and his downfall
The little frog, the under-dog
Tom felt the weight of their destiny
He was a lad when he met Gad
Tom felt his grief and his anger
I didn’t see – Beth faded in me
Before I knew it, Civil War
He heard an old heart, old wound, and hate
He took an old heart, old wound, and hate
Come back, Tom
Come back, Tom
I don’t have long to wait
“You are to blame,” was Tommy’s claim
His father ruined a man’s life
“Say you were wrong” yelled my Tom
And then came the accusation
“You act like God, you are a fraud,
You can’t control a single second
Your child could die, and I won’t lie
It would serve you right for meddling.”
Come back, Tom
Come back, Tom
I don’t have long to wait
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9. |
Last Letter
03:02
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Anna hear me
Know the stories
Tom is wide as all these tales
As deep as grief to Mrs. Julienne
As rich as soil in Eddie’s hands
His pride is given
An inheritance
His strength a legacy from his Dad
As hot in anger as old man Harvey
As quick to run as Evangeline
When you come here, if you come here, you will see it, you will see it (2x)
I’ve seen Noland in the last nights
In the room he never touched
Holding Tom’s things, wiping wet cheeks
Lost in memories long ago
When you come here, if you come here, you will see it, you will see it (2x)
I can’t believe I’m going to miss it
Beth and Tom and Noland here
Be my eyes to drink it in please
Speak the words I’ve longed to say
I have known for several days now
I won’t make it through the year
But we all are walking waning
Only stronger in our sight
When you come here, if you come here, you will see it, you will see it (2x)
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10. |
Love Letter
04:01
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I chose you hardly thinking, now I choose you everyday
You are easy moonlit laughter, faithful constant in the day
In our youth you made me happy, in these years you’ve kept me strong
In your arms I find my way home, I have known where I belong
Don’t despair love, don’t despair
We’ve had more love
Than we’ve had air
Taste it, feel it, hold it dear
Love is stronger than fear
I remember our first quarrel, we were shocked at what we saw
How our love could cool to hailstorm, how the tempest left us raw
Thirty years this consolation, undeserved it calms the sting
You forgive me times a thousand, you keep giving me my ring
Don’t despair love, don’t despair
We’ve had more love
Than we’ve had air
Taste it, feel it, hold it dear
Love is stronger than fear
When you read this, I’ll be sleeping, Anna kept this till today
If my prayers have become faces, Tom has come goodbyes to say
He’s the one who left you Noland, but your pride has barred the door
Can the sermon reach the preacher? Forgive him, forgive him more
I’ll be near, Love, I’ll be near
We’ve had more love than we’ve had fear
Taste it, feel it, hold it dear
Love will always be near
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11. |
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Dorothy Meredith Mains
Your voice in my heart still remains
In your son and daughter your eyes see the world
And your house I will try to rebuild
I’m a timid young thing inside
And when they argue my voice, it hides
After twelve angry years Tom won’t look at his Dad
And his only embrace was for Gad
Bethy’s words are now seeds planted shallow
Waiting rain in a soil no longer fallow
She climbed on my lap and whispered a joke
And the porch swing trembled with hope
You should know that Evangeline prays
And her prayers ring with happier days
When your service was done Gad found her by the wharf
And his tears washed his face and the years were not long
and he knelt in his hope and he kissed her sweet hand
and their pardon rolled in like the shore
Put your pen down
Cross the sea now
We will not forget
Love will win yet
Dorothy Meredith Mains
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Dear Herman Lincoln, Nebraska
Dear Herman is Crystal Davy and Melissa Taylor. We are sisters. An autopsy after our deaths will reveal that our backbones are forged with mountain rock. Our hearts' last beat was the oompha of mariachi music. And our tendons are actually quotations from Jane Austen ... more
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