Songs of living, loving, saying good-bye
and the faith and courage to do it all again and again. I think of this as my most spiritual CD.

(scroll down for lyrics and recordings)

Breathe Me Open

Call me forth, breathe me open.
Gently and lovingly
beckon to me.
Sing in my song
until my soul knows
that the song that you sing
and the breath that you breathe
are the spirit of life in me.

Call me forth,
breathe me open.
Gently and lovingly
whisper in me.
Sing in my song
until my soul knows
that the song that we sing
and the breath that we breathe
are the spirit of love in me.

Call me forth,
breathe me open.
Gently and lovingly
kiss me goodbye.
Live in my song,
and sing in my soul,
for the song that I sing
and the breath that I breathe
are nothing more
and nothing less
than God in me.

© 2002 Emily Melcher

I Know How I Live

I know how I live
how I love and let go
how I grieve and rejoice
how I dance lightly and how I fall

How I lay myself down on this good earth
tears flowing into the soil
nourishing seeds I have sown
soon bring a blossoming
and then another loss

I know how I live
how my heart will break
with each opening

I know how to welcome
the loving
and the breaking
Breaking open
Making room
for love

Breaking open
Making room
for love again

© 2001 Emily Melcher

Wash Over Me

There are things I won’t believe,
There are things I will not do,
There are things I will not take into my soul.
Deeds that are unkind,
Words that are untrue,
I’ll let them just wash over me and leave me whole.

Deeds that are unkind,
Words that are untrue,
I’ll let them just wash over me and leave me whole,

Wash right over me and leave me whole.

© 2000 Emily Melcher

Hearts Expanding

Every once in a while, you understand my questions
Every once in a while, something softens in your eyes
Every once in a while, I feel the father in you
as he holds the child within me while she cries
Every once in a while, I see a flash of anger
or the healing tears of sadness in your eyes
Every once in a while I rock a child gently
knowing in those moments just how hard he tries

One moment we are laughing children, playful as the rain
But then the sadness hits us and it seems we can’t refrain
from hurting both ourselves and each other in our pain
Each of us longing to feel loved again

Every once in a while, I look up from my sorrow
and I see that you have been here all along
Every once in a while, I dare to glimpse tomorrow
and I picture this love growing free and strong
Every once in a while, you break your isolation
and you find you have a home where you belong
Every once in a while, you dare to trust this loving
you’ve been longing for and searching for your whole life long

In those moments we are loving partners, water running clear
But then doubts rise up within us and we find ourselves in fear
though it’s difficult to reach out, we’ve learned to persevere
Each of us trying to help love to reappear

Every once in a while, we sense we’re growing stronger
as we reach across the chasm that divides us
Now that once in a while seems to last a little longer
with the loving that our reaching out provides us
And the loving leads to deeper understanding
every time we choose to share and not to hide
As we open up, we feel our hearts expanding
and our love and our faith growing deep and wide

In those moments we are gentle healers, water flowing free
and we’re honest and we’re open and we’re loving tenderly
And the loving leads to deeper understanding
every time we choose to share and not to hide
As we open up, we feel our hearts expanding
and our love and our faith growing deep and wide

© 2001 Emily Melcher

Maybe There’s Hope For Faith

All the world over, for thousands of years
faith has helped people to live with their fears.
But faith has been damaged by bloodshed and tears
in every land, through all the years.
I know of children whose minister raped them,
battered bodies and souls as they cowered in shame.
One of those kids used a bullet to silence
the fear that he might be to blame
for what he endured in God’s name.

But ministers, too, offer refuge to children
and safety from all of the harm that they face;
A listening ear or a word of compassion,
or shelter or food, or a loving embrace.
Maybe their gifts are God’s grace.

Maybe there’s hope for faith after all
in churches where children are raised to stand tall,
and nurtured and guided with out shame or fear.
Children are cherished here.
Maybe there’s hope for faith.
But women are threatened and beaten and killed
for seeking abortions or showing their skin.
God’s mighty avengers believe they serve justice
even when killing their kin
to punish what they see as sin.

And then there are people supporting all women,
believing that each must make her own choice
and seek her own truth and be true to her wisdom,
and speak from her own precious voice.
Perhaps lift it up to rejoice.

Maybe there’s hope for faith after all
In churches where women and men can stand tall,
and raise up our voices, each one sounding clear,
a place where we listen and hear.
Maybe there’s hope for faith.
And yet, God is invoked to justify hatred
of heretic, Muslim or Jew, infidel.
Countries are ravaged and people are tortured
and driven from homes where they dwell.
Whole nations are banished to hell.

Still, others build homes and bring people together,
building bridges of metal and hope to repair
the damage that’s caused when hatred is nurtured,
the souls that cry out in despair.
Maybe they build as a prayer.

Maybe there’s hope for faith after all
In churches where people are free to stand tall.
Where all paths are open, all doors are flung wide,
both faithful and doubter inside.
Maybe there’s hope for faith.

I have enough faith to hope.

© 2001 Emily Melcher

I Will Give Birth Dancing

In the quiet stillness I can feel
the mother in me rising
full and whole,
soft and ripe,
warm and welcoming.

So drape me in robes
of purple and gold
and I will sing and I’ll dance and I’ll moan.
And I will born dancing,
and I will give birth dancing.

And I will feel the sun and rain upon my body
like blessings that caress me,
gifts that I give.
And I’ll embrace this power
that is flowing strong within me.
With my roots growing deep into the soil
I will live.

For I am the earth,
and I am of the earth.
Singing and dancing I am born
and give birth.

Oh, I am the earth,
and I am of the earth.
Singing and dancing I am born
and give birth.

Yes, I am the earth,
and I am of the earth.
Singing and dancing I am born
and give birth.

Singing and dancing I am born,
Singing and dancing I am born,
Singing and dancing I am born.

I am woman,
I am lover,
I am daughter,
I am mother,
And as I am born,
I’ll give birth to another.
And she will be born dancing.
I will give birth dancing.

I am woman,
I am lover,
I am daughter,
I am mother,
And I will give birth dancing,
I will give birth dancing,
I will give birth dancing,
I will give birth dancing.

© 2001 Emily Melcher

Hold Your Children

Written September 24, 2001, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the U.S.

A mother holds her children
Rocks them as they weep
Shines the light of love into their spirits as they sleep
Plants the tiny seeds for the harvest they will reap.
Oh, mother, hold your children.

And weep for us now, mother.
Weep for the pain we have caused one another.
Weep for us now, mother.

A father holds his children
Listens when they cry
Offers loving guidance to their tearful question “why?”
Nourishes the dreams by which they learn to fly.
Oh, father, hold your children.

And cry for us now, father.
Cry for our failure to dream and to bother.
Cry for us now, father.

Mother, hold your children.
Father, hold your children.

© 2001 Emily Melcher

Into This Canyon

If you gave everything I ask for,
told me you love me,
told me you’ll grieve when I go,
told me you’ve rarely been touched so deeply,
told me to trust what I know,

I’d still be
perched on this precipice,
trying to find my way around it,
trying to find a way to stay.

If I believed in my own knowing,
felt I was ready,
knew that my foothold was strong,
If I could trust this path of growing
we’ve walked together so long,

I’d still be
perched on this precipice,
trying to find my way around it,
trying to find a way to stay.

Maybe I can hold this ground forever,
clinging to the hope that I will never have to leave.
Or maybe I can fall headlong into this canyon
and grieve.

Let myself fall into my sorrow,
tell you I’ll miss you,
tell you it hurts me to leave,
tell you I’ve rarely been touched so deeply,
tell you I’m grateful
and grieve,

tell you I love you
and grieve,
tell you goodbye
and leave.

© 2002 Emily Melcher

The Bee and the Flower

When I came to you in my darkest hour
I was broken and lost, unaware of my power.
When the student is ready, the teacher appears,
and bees come buzzing to a blossoming flower.

So I learned to hear by watching you listen,
I learned to see through your steady gaze.
Somewhere deep in my soul, I found the measure
of my work and my life and my love and my days.

I’ve learned to dance on the edges of my growing,
to rest for a while in the safety of my knowing
that this life is a breath, constantly flowing,
and this love is a light, steadily glowing.
I am bathed in its warmth through the coming and the going
of our time.

Now I am with myself, I’m not by myself,
I am standing in my own power.
When the student is ready, the teacher appears,
and bees come buzzing to a blossoming flower.

So I remembered love through letting you show me.
I learned to trust in your steady ways.
Way down deep in my soul, I know the pleasure
of my work and my life and my love and my days.

I’ve learned to dance on the edges of my growing,
to rest for a while in the safety of my knowing
that this life is a breath, constantly flowing,
and this love is a light, steadily glowing.
Bathed in its warmth, I am coming through the going
of our time.

Now I am with myself, I’m not by myself,
I am standing in my own power.
When the student is ready, the teacher appears,
Now I am the bee, and I am the flower.

With myself, I’m not by myself,
I am standing in my own power.
When the student is ready, the teacher appears,
Life is the bee, and I am the flower.

Oh, bees, come buzzing to this blossoming flower!

© 2002 Emily Melcher

Love’s Midwife
(for Mary Ann Macklin)

There’s nothing wrong with holding on in this moment
Just as long as I can also let it go when I must
It seems to me if I am ever to learn to trust,
I must learn to rest for a moment in love.

You told me:
Walk, don’t run, Let it unfold
There is nothing that you need to prove
What’s begun is yours to hold
You’ll know when it’s time to move.

When I cried you moved in closer
And I didn’t have to hide
With your arm around my shoulder
I could touch the pain inside

You said:
“I know it hurts! Of course it hurts!
You’re right where you need to be!”
Then you told me I’d given you just what you wanted
in letting you be there with me.

You told me:
Walk, don’t run; Let it unfold
There is nothing that you need to prove
What’s begun is yours to hold
You’ll know when it’s time to move.

When I stand on the brink of my feelings,
on the edge of my joy or my pain,
when I start to act out in confusion,
when I need to find home again,
I find myself posing your question,
and it makes everything come clear
What would I do if I acted from love and not fear?
What would I do if I acted from love and not fear?
What would I do if I acted from love not fear?

© 2002 Emily Melcher

You Will Find Your Way

You still believe that I’ve dismantled your defenses,
but I’ve seen you take the bricks down one by one,
asking, “Can you still love me?”
and “Would you please hold me?”
learning not to hide and not to run.

I’ve seen you longing for more than just survival,
wondering how it feels to thrive
reaching out to let my love
caress those tender places
where your sadness helps you know that you’re alive.

I have faith enough for both of us for now
I have seen a blossom burst forth from a bud
Felt the hardness in a heart grow soft in love,
and I believe that you will find your way somehow.

I have heard you weeping in your sleep.
Heard you cry out in fear in the night
I believe that something opens deep inside us when we dream
so I resist my urge to wake you from your fight.

And yet I’m with you, just as you’ve been with me
Loving me as I’ve learned to thrive
Keeping watch beside me
As I wrestled with my demons
Rejoicing with me when I came alive

So I have faith enough for both of us for now
I have seen a blossom burst forth from a bud
Felt the hardness in a heart grow soft in love,
and I believe that you will find your way somehow.

There are places we each must walk alone
There are lessons for which there is no guide
But I will love you as you travel on the journey that is yours
As you come to know the strength you have inside

I will be with you, just as you’ve been with me,
Loving you, as you learn to grow
Trusting and believing in you
Even when you falter
Rejoicing in all you come to know

I have faith enough for both of us for now
I have seen a blossom burst forth from a bud
Felt the hardness in a heart grow soft in love,
and I believe that you will find your way somehow.
You still believe that I’ve dismantled your defenses:
I believe that you are finding your way.

© Emily Melcher 2002

Supple Spirits

There’s an opening,
a strengthening,
a softening
in choosing to know who we are,
When we stop running,
and hiding,
and reaching for comfort
and listen instead to our hearts.

There’s an opening,
a strengthening,
a softening
in choosing to lay down the fight,
knowing that pain flows through us
in the darkest night,
as surely as joy flows through us
in the morning light.

There’s an opening,
a strengthening,
a softening
in facing our pain and our fear,
When we stop seeking
distractions
from hurt and discomfort,
and let all our feelings flow clear.

There’s an opening,
a strengthening,
a softening
in choosing to lay down the fight,
knowing that pain flows through us
in the darkest night,
as surely as joy flows through us
in the morning light.

There’s an opening,
a strengthening,
a softening
in dancing our joy and our bliss,
When we hold lightly,
believing
that life’s ever-changing,
and all that we have now is this.

There’s an opening,
a strengthening,
a softening
in choosing to lay down the fight,
knowing that pain flows through us
in the darkest night,
as surely as joy flows through us
in the morning light.

© Emily Melcher 2002

Many Arms

There are many arms to hold you,
let us hold you now.
There are many ears to listen,
many hearts that know.
There are shoulders strong enough
to carry you now.
Let it go,
oh, let it go.

© 2002 Emily Melcher

Out Beyond Questions

Lunch with Dad,
oh, what a day,
how shall I dare
to speak out and say
that I still have questions
burning inside me:
Do you still love me?
And is there room in your life for me?

I tell myself no one can rob me
of gifts that I freely give,
And so these questions
burning inside me
tell me there’s something
that I need to take back to live

Lunch with Dad,
oh, what a day,
how shall I dare
to speak out and say

that out beyond questions,
far beyond answers,
deep in my soul I know:
Words can not free me,
I don’t need this lunch,
Don’t need your promise of undying love.
I must open my heart,
Open my hand,
And let you go
so I can know
the love beyond questions,
the silence that offers release.
Deep in my heart
all my questions dissolve into peace
in the love that lies beyond answers,
the silence that offers release.
Deep in my heart there’s a place that I know
where my questions dissolve into peace.

Deep in my heart there’s a place I can go
where my questions dissolve into peace.

© 2003 Emily Melcher

On and On in Grace

…on and on and on and on,
Love goes on and on and on and on…

Wherever I go, I will recognize love
‘Cause I’ve known it here in your embrace,
And wherever love shows, and wherever love flows,
Love brings grace.

I do not leave you easily,
but I leave you knowing this:
We do not do justice to the love in our trust
when we hold it in.

There is someone else who needs you,
there is someone else you need.
In this way, love goes on and on.
There are others out there needing
what I need to give,
and your love flows to them through my song.

So wherever I go, I’ll be singing the love
that I learned to know in your embrace.
For wherever love shows, and wherever love flows
Love brings grace.

While I do not leave you easily,
I leave you knowing this:
We do not do justice to the love in our trust
when we hold it in.

There is someone else who needs you,
there is someone else you need.
In this way, love goes on and on.
There are others out there needing
what I need to give,
and in sharing this love, we grow strong.

And so when I am gone, you’ll be passing along
the love we have shared our embrace.
For wherever love shows, and wherever love flows
Love brings grace.

And wherever I go, I’ll be sharing the love
that has held us all in its embrace.
For wherever love shows, and wherever love flows
it goes on and on and on and on,
Love goes on and on and on and on,
Love goes on and on and on and on in grace.

© 2003 Emily Melcher

Your Gifts

May you know the joy of work that feeds your heart and mind,
may you bring your gifts to bear on all you do.
And as you do the work you love,
I hope that you will find
that gratitude and love will come to you.
Gratitude for all the things you do,
and love, may it grow strong in you.

©  2001 Emily Melcher