Company For Me
*Sometimes it can be implied
With impressions
That if you are not discrete
You may meet
The wrath of critique
*Keeping your friends close
With an eye on the foe even closer
Keeps us familiar
With what it is that’s so similar
**The one exception being
You’re not part of these phony formalities
Here with delicious tea and cookies
Is your company for me
***I’ll watch your back while you have mine
Knowing your smile means we’ll be fine
Staying relatively on the same page
Then no intervention separates
The epiphany we seek
Sees nothing here for us to keep
It goes against all the grain
Before our instinct says anything
The conversations here span
To new depths of understanding
Not of the company we keep
But rather what to eat and drink
**
Trusting my gut impression
The hardest is when we’re too head strong
We don’t have to play the hand we’re dealt
Our heart can change it all by sizing things up
‘Cause when you live each moment of the day
You might see it another way
Check off the list of short changing yourself
That forgot what it was you once felt
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© Words & Music by James Campeau
Hot ‘n Bothered
*Interesting what makes people tic
Acting out automatic habits
Our conditioning has defined limits
That succinctly separates us
*Conscious choice is an oxymoron
Speaking of morons, we could go on
*Beleaguered by our own beliefs
Causing friction when to get some wheels (palms) greased
**In the flurry of the ire
The fire burns hot ‘n bothered
Binge too much on indulging IQs
Wanders astray from the real EQ
Dare to share everything about you
What can be said discerns all to be true
Not wanting to communicate
Slams the door right in the face
For open ears that want to listen to
Something worthwhile in gratitude
***So, don’t be in such a hurry
Reel it in and don’t rile it up
In the flurry of the ire
The fire burns hot ‘n bothered
Yeah give a damn and take a stand
Don’t get dizzy if you’re in a tizzy
When words fluster or disturb
Muster yourself from being hot ‘n bothered
It’s a pitfall that makes matters worse
Languish too long it brings a world of hurt
Defer to the EQ the saving grace for me & you
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© Words & Music by James Campeau
Where We’re Standing
This land once held the high ground
In a little town that’s now gone crazy
When never sure who you’re talking to
You shield your soul but how the cold
Starts getting to you
The salt of the earth has run out
The good old know how is at the brink of extinction
The rationale has been turned and twisted
Burned and lifted slowly sifted
Through our hands
*But still surviving not least is empathy
Believing as I see surrounding
Is this forest in front of you and me
That’s neither contrary nor contrasting
**From where we’re standing
Came with our first and last steps
To where we’re standing
This little town once stood the higher ground
It was never swayed by fear or intimidation
Once the ideal of open mind exchange
Is now closed and controlled ‘till further notice
Deals went down in smoke filled back rooms
The best laid plans happened by men
Have fallen short and failed since then in blind pursuit
*
**
At the town’s edge is this perspective
Spoken of as a threshold
For a portal slightly open to pass through
Now at last I see without contrasting
Is the forest from the trees
**
© Words & Music by James Campeau
Sometime Around Eventually
From the get go
Something you should know
Someday it will show
Seeing this as the beginning
From the get go
We’re never alone
Even the lonely shadow
Is never without some company
So many ways could have gone wrong
But those times don’t stick around too long
When given a little squeeze of intimacy
Brings us around eventually
Sometime Around Eventually
We’re colors of calico
The idea that we’re here to grow
We each serve as a channel
As part of our generic code
From the get go
When no road or zip code
Could tell us anything to explain
Where we are or why we’re here
Likened to an episode
As part of a larger sequence
Happening without intent
Gives us reason for the advent
With unlimited contours
Boundless in parameters
We’re alright and not all wrong
As we carry on together the blossoming unfolds
Sometime Around Eventually
© Words & Music by James Campeau
Give up what holds you down
Out of its element
Is the elephant in the room
And it is so slow to be
Removed anytime soon
The question of how high is up
Depends on who you talk to
Within the entire seismic shift
That encompasses this planet
Momentum moves in
Mysterious ways
Yet the peril of the prize is only
Good as your word survives
We can’t stay away from what comes full circle
Even in the night when it’s all quiet
What wrestles with the rest easy
Are the dream’s ways and means committee
*Give up what holds you down
Even though it’s nowhere to be found
We won’t remember wanting to forget
The greater good’s not being understood
Feeling as if I never left
Even though I’ve never been here
Seems like just yesterday
Seeing the sign for the comeback trail
Giving a shout out about it
Now means more than nothing to me
Which was a weird dichotomy
That always preferred to disagree
*
© Words & Music by James Campeau
Tossing and turning
No worries of dizziness
Who knows if it’s serious
What seems ridiculous
Questions a sound basis
But there’s no need to be overly concerned
If you see me tossing and turning
Probable cause is with promise and flaw
But a moment’s peace
Relents all the searching
It’s safe to say there’s no
Shortage of heroes
In litmus tests of wit
In non- legit argument
As unfinished business pays no overtime
When you’re there just to show up and be in line
The real cost of goods you’ll never find
As standard practice has no credence of being kind
I might land one lucky guess
In the light of this perspective
Any idea could be more or less
Still tossing and turning me at best
Restless moves find no sleep
Tossing and turning reels aimlessly
Until tacit answers come reprieving
The tenure of tossing and turning
In the face of what
Keeps stirring things up
No longer disrupts
Any piece of me
© Words & Music by James Campeau
Few & Far Between
What makes me believe, you are
Few and far between
Every time we meet
I’m like floating in a dream
Eclipsing the world I see
That revolves just around me
You are, few and far between
Your credibility is unassuming
You are few and far between
Giving willingly
You’re few and far between
Listening to what I’m hearing
Leaves me less likely caught in thought
With so many now found empty
Moves me akin to the few and far between
This is reassuring
Most notably is good reasoning
With the best of blessings
Smiling is knowing
That it’s you in the few and far between
That has no periphery
Of a space for interfering
What’s good as gone
Is forgiven and now long forgotten
The rarity of finding you
Has me appreciating, the few and far between
Embracing willingly
Your warmth is perceived
Bringing harmony
For the few and far between
Diverse is this universe of ours
There you are in quietude so few and far between
There you are few and far between
© Words & Music by James Campeau
What Still Is
A déjà vu comes to you
The reminder of wishful adventure
When just a kid the whole town did change into
A magical place watching wagons roll in
Big tops unfurled then grew heightened
Remembering the dream with plans to leave with them
But then your druthers listened to others
When the tents rolled up exposing your cover
As time moved away unknown passion remained
With ageless contemplation
While contending with different destiny
Is unwise un-compromised
With limited understanding
Interferes with each other’s experience
What still is, is part of you
Married now you seem so happy
You’re an inspiration of what can be
No regret loop of how life has shaped you
Your forgiveness has brought you to
The peace we all seek
How things work out in unpredictable ways
Your fulfillment shows
The love in everything you do each day
Now many years later the wagons roll in again
A déjà vu revisits you of that time when
Your druthers listened to others
And the memory now is exposing your cover
Without thinking twice we thought it would be nice
To see the show but didn’t know
How the unfurled dream could make you weep
As your druthers sweep you off your feet
Oh what still is, is part of you, Oh what still is continues
Back then it was your druthers
That were left in the dust listening to others
But now with empty wonder of this aperture
That left you grappling with destiny unsure
Understanding now what’s best for others
Is to know what is yours and what is theirs
What still is, is part of you
A déjà vu comes to you the reminder of wishful adventure
When just a kid, the whole town did change into a magical place
Watching wagons roll in
© Words & Music by James Campeau
Drawing lines in the sand
If I can’t sleep tonight I will be okay
Quick winks will catch me up refreshing my day
By then you can bet some fortunes will flourish
With no written warnings as we get nourished
By the time the dawn gets here
The dream’s diminished
From a remote recollection
Of unfinished business
*Drawing lines in the sand
With ultimatums of demand
The stalwart will be left standing
With no reprieve for their actions
Drawing lines in the sand
Doing something to understand
We’ll be a statistic that’s for sure
Worthy of remembering
I’ve got a new symptom of a new syndrome
If I can’t breathe now I’ll soon get over it
With a new pseudo name
Of more medication appropriate
Reviving me back to reality
Nothing is like a new lease on life
Even at twice the price
That will last me as long as I stay plugged in
To the system
*
**Drawing lines in the sand
with still something yet to understand
We’ll be a statistic that’s for sure
Worthy of remembering
Of accounting
For all those engraved names
Each with a number
To the corresponding slumber
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© Words & Music by James Campeau
As Hope Would Have It
I built this boat to deny any hope
Of the wanderlust living here
This old town falls on fertile ground
For those who stick around
But the nagging hope of desiring more
Will lead far from this shore
There’s no looking back or reacting to the fact
In accordance with the dream
As the hope would have it now
As the hope would have it found
What the dream doesn’t see right here in front of me
Are my friends and family
With the change of fate in destiny
No familiar face I will see
So what joy is there in opportunity
When these close ties are lost to me
If I would accept what is no matter where I am
Then this boat won’t leave this wayside bend
As the hope would have it found
As the hope would have it now
In front of me stand family and friends
Like a fabric held as sewn threads
The horizon will be met with a leap of faith
As I believe in this dream
And to sail this boat that will deny any hope
Of a wanderlust living here
As this dream has me in the palm of its hand
This boat won’t lay by the wayside bend
As the hope would have it now
As the hope would have it found
© Words & Music by James Campeau