Steve Klinger

ALBUM–Land of Make-Believe

THE CHOICE
By Steve Klinger (c) 2007

On a gray barren coast a child walks alone
and he takes a path down to the sea
There are bricks in the sand where a school used to stand
and he climbs past a dead upturned tree
He sees a shore turned to clay
With the storms that tore through this beautiful bay
and he’s never seen it any other way.

Across the wide world there’s a thin Asian girl
who has never had shoes upon her feet
In the hut she calls home voices whimper and moan
‘cause the flooding’s left them nothing more to eat.
She’s heard of fishes and birds
But to her they’re just pictures and words
old folks recall to get heard.

In the far frozen north of the Nunawut lands
caribou and bear move toward the pole.
Hunters fall through the melting sea ice
and life’s clearly out of control.
Inuit children ask why
stranded seal pups and walrus must die
on sheets of ice that float by.

High on a hill there’s a fortress of steel
that an old oil and gas baron built
Deep inside there’s a family that hides
and I’ve heard that they’re living there still.
They guard his fortune with guns
Under skies he helped pollute by the ton
With no thought for the damage that he’s done.

In the hallways of power all the senators cower
as the riots rage on in the streets
And they can’t understand why the drought-stricken land
lays all the blame at their feet.
But there once was a time
We could have refused to be their partners in crime
My friends, the choice was yours and mine.

NAKED IN THE LIGHT
(c) Steve Klinger 2005

The pain I’m feeling deep inside me
The place I’ve always tried to hide me
The path I’ve taken to abide me
Has led me deeper into night
On the road where I have rambled
Strewn with stones and thick with brambles
I have never tried to gamble
And walk naked in the light

But I see mercy in your eyes
And compassion in your smile
And like a bird from its nest I’ll try
To spread my wings out for a while

I know I’m not much good at playing
Letting go or even saying
Explaining why it is I’m staying
Here in your arms tonight
But like the melodies that bind us
Somewhere inside a song we’ll find us
And hope that nobody will mind us
Dancing naked in the light

What we share is a beating heart
That must come to rest some day
But in our trust is a healing start
To show the world a better way

What we share is a beating heart
That must come to rest some day
But in our trust is a healing start
To show the world a peaceful way.

STATE OF DENIAL
Steve Klinger (c) 2006-2007

In the White House it’s all about
power that’s left to be won
On the media talk shows the catchphrase
is don’t cut and run
Now perpetual war runs on fear
that terrorist action is near
so better the bloodshed’s not here…
after a while
As we all march single file through
our God-bless’d American state of denial

In the Capitol defense spending
is brought to the floor
As senators posture and vent
about ending the war.
But Democrats can’t get a grip
While Republicans march in lock-step
And the only words that they have left
When they vote are “Sig Heil”
to their great delusional king of denial

The hour is late but our own head of state seems confused
In the name of defense
we can torture and spy
an eye for an eye
but he can’t see why
we’d worry ‘bout power abused
In a land where democracy
goes up on trial
in our all-American state of denial.

While the glaciers of Greenland
and polar ice caps melt away
Global warming’s not manmade
the president’s scientists say
The West’s just a little bit dry
So what if the croplands might fry
It’s sure calm in the hurricane’s eye…
at least for a while
Let’s build one more Miracle Mile
In our air-conditioned state of denial.

THE BALLAD OF GALDINO PEREZ
(c) Steve Klinger 2005

Galdino Perez only wanted to gather together
his wife and two children in a better place
So Galdino left work at a meat-packing plant in Ohio
to bring his young family to the United States

Galdino and Marta met the coyote in Tijuana
For 1500 each he’d bring them all to LA
For two hours they climbed through the wooded hills near San Diego
A minivan picked them up on the two-lane

And the rain comes pouring down
And the lights flash all around
And he remembers the sound

Now Galdino lies unshaven in his hospital bed
He pushes the food away, clicks the remote to the TV overhead

They huddled together as the smuggler drove on in silence
Then he ran a check point outside El Cajon
With his lights out the driver sped up into oncoming traffic
They were praying when he hit the pickup head-on

There were ten in the van and five of them dead in the wreckage
Three months pregnant, Marta lay still in the grass
His son and his daughter won’t be with him in Sacramento
He still sees their faces in fragments of glass

And the pain goes round and round
And he can’t move on the ground
And he remembers the sound

Ya Galdino se queda sin afeitar en su cama
No quiere comer; hace clic el mando a distancia

LAND OF MAKE-BELIEVE
By Steve Klinger© 2007

They say we’ve all got food to eat
We’ve got new homes on every street
Thanks to subprime, we qualified just fine
Ain’t that easy credit hard to beat?

They say there’s danger at our door
More terror heading for our shores
So let’s beef up Homeland Security
And send your kids off to that war

Each day we choose more cell phones and TVs
Each day we lose more civil liberties
Living in our land of make-believe
Living in our land of make-believe

They say illegals are to blame
Let’s build a wall and keep them tame
We’ll be just fine, let those crops rot on the vine
Let’s keep the USA a white man’s game

This is the land of get rich quick
You could be next, just don’t get sick
Hope you don’t mind if we need to tap your line
Let’s send Congress home, got George and Dick

Each day we choose more cell phones and TVs
Each day we lose more civil liberties
Living in our land of make-believe
Living in our land of make-believe

Each day we choose more cell phones and TVs
Each day we lose more civil liberties
Living in our land of make-believe
Living in our land of make-believe
Living in our land of make-believe.

PIECES OF KITTY
© 2006 Steve Klinger

Kitty our sister
was taken so suddenly
Before we could miss her
She’d already left to be free

Kitty brought kindness
wherever she went
Healing and helping
With loving intent

A friend of the earth
A child of the sun
A voice of compassion
For the voiceless ones

When it seemed there was nothing
more in this life she could give
Kitty gave up her organs
So that others might

We’ll be finding her now
in the seeds and the soil and the wings
in the little hearts beating
in all of God’s innocent things

Pieces of Kitty
will sing when we meet
Carrying banners
for peace in the street

We’ll find fragments in fragrances
droplets in dew
keepsakes in memories
our whole lives through

Now pieces of Kitty
Will moisten our crops with the rain
Visit our dreams with her blessings
Again and again

Way out in the stars
With spirits that dance in the night
We’ll see pieces of Kitty
In mischievous beams of moonlight

We’ll be mindful now
of expressing our hearts
knowing we carry
her facets and parts

She’ll be waiting for us
On the spiritual side
Tell us how silly
We were to have cried

When the world learns to love
And to trust without fear of the pain
Then our pieces of Kitty
Will all come together again.

LOOKING BACK
By Steve Klinger © 2007

Looking back at the paths I went down
I never took the steepest trail
I turned away from unbroken ground
Marched to a voice that said don’t fail
I never climbed along that wild windy ledge
Tried not to sail a stormy sea
I never looked for change or lived on the edge
But change came looking for me

My early years were driven by fears
That left me hiding in the weeds
The hardest part was shifting my gears
Turning my words into deeds
I built a tower and I locked up my heart
I laid a trap against the pain
But I fooled no one but myself from the start
For no loss is still no gain

Once thing that comes with the turning of time
As the face in the mirror fades to gray
Try as you might to write an easy rhyme
The truth keeps getting in the way
Oh yes you can keep your solitary watch
You can keep the world at bay
Or you can reach out and find a human touch
See what change will bring your way

Oh yes you can keep your solitary watch
You can keep the world at bay
Or you can reach out and find a human touch
See what change will bring your way
See what change will bring your way.

THE CHANGE THAT LIVES WITHIN US
By Steve Klinger © 2007

Trash piling up, leaves coming down
Rain falls in drumbeats on the ground
But we refuse to hear the sound
In our addicted lost and found

There’s no more progress to be made
Or global shell games to be played
Soon there’ll be blood upon the blade
Soon the piper must be paid

It’s time to gather by the fire
It’s time to go beyond desire
Let the change that lives within us
Take us higher
Let the change that lives within us
Take us higher
Mmm mmm
Mmm mmm
Let the change that lives within us
Take us higher

There’s water rising on the shore
The least protected suffer more
The thought police are keeping score
Of all who question endless war

We brought this darkness on, my friends
Consumed our way to empire’s end
The train wreck’s just around the bend
Only ourselves left to defend

It’s time to sail upon the sea
It’s time to live as family
Let the change that lives within us
Set us free
Let the change that lives within us
Set us free
Mmm mmm
Mmm mmm
Let the change that lives within us
Set us free
Let the change that lives within us
Set us free.

A TIME TO SAY GOODBYE
(c) 2007 Steve Klinger

There’s a time for waking in this world
reaching out for human bonds
the wonder of a child who learns
the joys of growing fond

There’s a time for standing on our own
taking risks and being strong
the hard-earned tears of conquered fears
in each unique life’s song

There’s a time for giving back a hand
to those who paved our way
while teaching our emerging band
to seize a future day

But like the color fading in
the light before our eyes
from the splash of passing clouds
in a wild vermilion sky

There comes a time for letting all
our caged attachments fly
a step we all must dance in turn
a time to say goodbye.

Sometimes there’s just no au revoir
We never know the reason why
It’s all a part of who we are
and I do believe that it’s all right to cry
when the time has come to say goodbye.

Our paths converge or even merge
for one part of our lives
the joy and purpose that we share
is such a sweet surprise

A hug, a glance, a squeeze of hands
a sudden, secret smile
a comfort we may take for granted
after quite a while

Like the season bursting gold and scarlet
in the valley trees
Like the hint of winter lurking in
a cold crisp mountain breeze

The second hand’s a moving
and it only turns clockwise
so we’d better do our living
before it’s time to say goodbye.

Sometimes there’s just no au revoir
We never know the reason why
It’s all a part of who we are
and I do believe that it’s all right to cry
when the time has come to say goodbye.

THE SACRIFICE OF NEW ORLEANS
By Steve Klinger (c) 2005

The Crescent City at the river’s bend
Lay six feet below the sea
But the pumps and levees would keep her safe
They asked us to believe
A laidback mix of culture and race
And jazz music in the air
A soulful and seductive place
If you ignored the poverty there
Oh but time was running short
For the city of New Orleans

For decades the wetlands were washing away
And sinking into the shelf
The concrete-lined channels redirected the silt
All the way out to the gulf
The bayous and the barrier isles
Were dredged for oil shipping lanes
Soon there’d be no marshes left
To slow the hurricanes
Most said disaster lay ahead
For the city of New Orleans

The storm that crossed the Florida coast
gained strength in the warm gulf seas
The warnings went up as she churned and she brewed
and the wind whipped through the trees
The evacuations had begun
Long before she hit Breton Sound
But they knew the poor just had no way
To get to higher ground
Thousands dreaded the dawn
That broke over New Orleans

Oh she got caught in a devil’s bargain
Abandoned to her fate
Stranded alive in a hurricane tide
By then it was too late
For the city of New Orleans

Katrina turned east and demolished the coast
It seemed the Big Easy was spared
But later that night when two levees broke
The authorities weren’t prepared
One by one, the streets filled up
While the Feds turned a deaf ear
People climbed up on top of their roofs
Crying out in fear
And so it came to pass,
The flooding of New Orleans

The governor begged for federal troops
While evacuees filled the dome
There’d be no help from the National Guard
Ten thousand miles from home
The FEMA crew didn’t have a clue
As the hours turned into days
The violence of a desperate few
And the buildings set ablaze
Were added to the list of blame
For the ruin of New Orleans.

The politicians and their wives
Pledged to send relief
Then went right back to their country club lives
Bemoaning the horror and grief
They’ll rebuild the homes of the rich again
But the world will long take heed
How a government turned its back on the poor
And the black in their time of need
Let the heroes and survivors tell
Of the sacrifice of New Orleans.

Oh she got caught in a devil’s bargain
Abandoned to her fate
Stranded alive in a hurricane tide
By then it was too late
For the city of New Orleans
For the city of New Orleans.
SCAPEGOAT SONGS
By Steve Klinger © 2008

Her feet step slowly through the brush
She tells her thirsty child to hush
The water tank’s all holes and rust
Shell casings lie there in the dust

We rise up sleeping from our beds
We walk with blinders on our heads
Forgetting all the prophets said
We’re singing scapegoat songs instead

Doesn’t anybody see?
Doesn’t anybody care?
Am I just shouting back at me?
Isn’t anybody there?
The seedling withers with the tree
In soil that only grows despair

We blame the poorest ones around
We pin the weakest to the ground
Say as we drive them out of town
It’s not because their skin is brown

We say when will they understand
They broke the high laws of this land
Their huddled masses must be banned
Our borders trump their empty hand

Doesn’t anybody see?
Doesn’t anybody care?
Am I just shouting back at me?
Isn’t anybody there?
It’s not invaders running free
But who we are that needs repair.