1. |
She Hunts Ghosts
03:37
|
|||
She hunts ghosts
through sheer will
strong and poised
with piercing skill.
As they strike
she rides high
and the only sound
is her battlecry.
Wounded now
she cleans her sword
and wipes her flesh
of the pain endured.
Then she rides
to her post
And waits for signs
of another ghost.
|
||||
2. |
She Follows Me
02:28
|
|||
She follows me
the self-appointed guardian of my desecration
feeding off old wounds and hoping that they’ll fester
so I’ll finally learn my lesson this time.
“I keep telling you,” she says,
running close behind,
her breath bearing down on the edges of my shadow
as she says what she always says.
“Nobody wants to hear your story,
your awkward cries for attention
that bounce off the walls of this self-centered box you’ve made.
What makes you think that you’re worthy of love
of respect, or even self-affirming confidence?
You don’t share enough, but you share way too much
and your thoughts are too stupid to matter in a world that doesn’t care about you anyway.
You’re obviously not doing a good job at anything
and nobody cares what you do anyway.
You need way too much
and you don’t give enough
How unfortunate that your talent falls short
of the price people pay for admission into this world.
Because even your desire for acceptance
is a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.”
I keep walking anyway.
I keep walking anyway.
|
||||
3. |
In Dark Corners
03:33
|
|||
She’s not a coward
and because of that,
she was beaten with cold stares,
with vacuous laughter and barren eyes
until she hid away.
She finally submitted to
what the world
seemed to want from her
to hide in dark corners
and wait in chains
for someone to serve.
And make herself scarce.
And anything that makes her feel human makes her feel ashamed,
because no one should ever know that she breathes and eats and loves.
And no one should ever know how much she wants to be loved.
|
||||
4. |
Mother Hen
02:43
|
|||
The mother hen,
she stands her ground
when the others sleep
and would be drowned,
with vigilance and wisdom for
what lies ahead,
what came before.
Somebody needs to be charged with their care. If not her, then who?
She fusses over everything
to keep them all from floundering.
She’s never known a safer boat
than what she built herself to float.
Somebody needs to be charged with their care. If not her, then who?
With anxious fists,
she shepherds them,
their guardian, their mother hen,
because someone has to make it through
to till the ground they never knew.
|
||||
5. |
||||
She hums like a steady drum
crashing on the shore.
She sings like a tidal wave
drowned out and ignored.
She’s a storm
a mirage
of ebb and flow
soaked in lore.
And she drums like a
barren fog
searching for a core.
She rows over riverbeds
looking for an oar
and erodes with the ebb and flow
of currents once at war.
She’s been sculpted
with words
she can’t express
or ignore.
She’s the drum
frozen still
like a mist
that you pour.
|
||||
6. |
And So She Dances On
02:52
|
|||
In the light
and through the night
she dances by the fire,
her fortitude the choir that keeps the
music long,
the fire strong.
It’s not that she can’t see
the things the world can be.
Others see
her dancing without cause
and it makes them stop to pause and wonder
why she sings.
What does it bring?
The music never lasts.
What sadness joy forecasts.
And so they douse out the light.
Fires die
but flames ignite
and even though she’s drenched
her song she won’t forget and so she
dances on
and sings her song,
her joy a primal cry,
the fire in her eye.
And when the
fire burns,
the flames ignite.
And so she dances on,
her fortitude the song that keeps the
music bright,
the fire light.
It’s not that she can’t see
the things the world can be.
|
||||
7. |
She Holds People Close
03:16
|
|||
She wanted to be seen,
but so did everyone else.
She needed to be held,
but that’s what everyone else needed, too.
She got lost in her mind,
stuck in her own shattered grief,
because she was too scared
to ask for the things that she needed, too.
Did it even matter that she felt things,
if everyone else felt them, too?
Now, she clutches the shards
of a broken mirror,
and she tries to keep them close
to remember how fragile we are.
How strange to feel so much connection
in isolation, so much love for the things that were shattered.
Now all she wants is to hold people close.
All she wants is to hold people close.
All she needs is to hold people close.
|
||||
8. |
She Bares Her Teeth
03:10
|
|||
She crawls into
her dark and empty den
and hides inside
her solitude again.
She licks her wounds
and growls at you in fear.
She’ll bare her teeth
at anyone who dares comes near.
She stalks herself
and pounces on her prey
whenever anyone
tries asking what she wants to say.
She licks her wounds
and growls at you in fear and then
she bares her teeth
at anyone who sees her here.
She crawls into
her dark and empty den again,
her cries for help
echoing off the walls that she
pretends aren’t there.
But when she bares her teeth
she’s in her lair.
Then she wonders why nobody cares.
|
||||
9. |
Let Her Flood Me
03:35
|
|||
She’s not fit to be seen
And no one’s ever looked at her
She won’t even show herself fully to me
I feel pieces of her
Rising up to my chest
Seeping into my eyes
She's a ghost making herself known
How can I let myself look at her
Her missing limbs still dripping blood
that courses through my veins
And threatens to flood me
How I want her to flood me
Who will see me if she floods me?
Who will look at me?
Who will I be when she floods me?
Who will look for me?
|
Heather Sommerlad Guilford, Vermont
Heather Sommerlad is a writer, musician, and educator in Guilford, Vermont. Her background in classical music, coupled with her Mexican heritage, is the foundation upon which these inventive compositions break from traditional song form.
Streaming and Download help
If you like Heather Sommerlad, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp