The lyrics from my current album, White Rock Lake, can be found the audio section of this website.
These are the lyrics from my third album, Just This Moment. All lyrics copyright 2107 Stephen Houpt unless otherwise indicated.
Debbie and Carrie (This is an instrumental, no lyrics.)
As the Sun Sets (from a poem by 8th century Chinese poet Pei Ti)
As the sun sets, the wind stirs among the pine trees
On our way home, already a thin layer of dew is on the grass
The luminescence of the clouds seeps into the tracks of our footprints
The halcyon haze of the mountains brushes against our clothes
Blues at Dusk (a blues instrumental, no lyrics)
The Zendo Crickets (lyrics copyright 2017 Todd Jeffries)
It was a time when drums rolled through the streets
Spewing ashes
When burnt up hobo dreams everywhere caught fire
Sending small sparks like bits of broken glass among the rubble
Reflection clear as a starry night
And quiet as the zendo crickets
The flickering faces of shadowy friends
In the circle of light
All the fires went out at daybreak
The hoboes took the boards to build shacks
And live in them
They were gone
And now only emptiness remains
Grandmother's Estate Sale
They're selling everything:
Her house and her overgrown lot
An old black car
Round at the corners
Badly in need of repair
Appliances dishes paintings and frames
Books chairs the dresses she wore
A box of brown photographs
Now fading like the
Slow drain of
Possessions and
Presence and place
Yes that box of old photographs
Pictures of a family I can barely recall
Her tide went out
like the fall of fruit
or autumn leaves
She died on the beat
of the music
like changing seasons
A turn of the wheel
and she was gone
But still we cried
Last Leaves of the Ginkgo Tree
The last golden leaves
Of the ginkgo tree
Flutter like fans
Against the grey sky
And my last breath is
Breathed while
The last chord is struck
And the golden notes hang
In the cold clear air
Alone in Shifting Shadows
Sitting alone in shifting shadows,
Listening, looking
Across the stream:
Blue spruce grows among
Old twisted roots and stones.
Just this moment
And my breathing,
Water swirls and flows
And doesn't return,
Roll on!
Autumn Longing (lyrics adapted from a poem by 8th century Chinese poet Wang Wei)
Flying birds depart in endless procession
Rolling hills again blaze in autumn
Up and down I walk along Huazi Ridge
Enshrouded in sadness, melancholy
Longing for younger days
When will this feeling end?
The Gathering Shadows (lyrics adapted from a poem by 11th century Chinese poetess Li Ching Chao)
All alone, I stand
Motionless at my window,
I watch the gathering shadows.
Fine rain sifts through the wu-t'ung trees,
And drips, drop by drop through the dusk.
I have seen the wild geese overhead,
And I have searched the cold
And sought the clear and
Found no peace,
Only agony, pain, and sorrow.
What can I do now?
How can I fight off this world?
Forty Days and Forty Nights (lyrics copyright Bernard Roth, not printed here)
These are the lyrics from my second CD, Sweet Green Mystery. All lyrics copyright 2016 Stephen Houpt unless otherwise indicated.
Sweet Green Mystery
Piece of paradise
Your sweet green scent
Arouses the ancient longing
Calls me home
Where is my shining palace
The trees that breathe
The clouds that feel
Sweet green mystery
Send me a light
Reality, you sleeping snake
Stretch your diamonds
Make the straight line curve
The Introvert Blues
Did you ever feel left out
When you were in a crowd
Did you ever want to talk
But thought you'd be too loud
You want to say something
But there's no way to get it in
And you just sit there
And let them spin and spin
Then welcome to my world
You're an introvert like me
The talkers go on talking
And you want to climb a tree
Sorrow of Departure (Lyrics adapted from a poem by Li Ching Chao, Chinese poetess of the Sung Dynasty)
Red lotus incense fades
Autumn comes again
Gently I open my silk dress
And float alone on the orchid boat
Who can take a letter beyond the clouds?
Only the wild geese come back
But we are far apart
And I have grown learned in sorrow
Nothing can make it dissolve
One moment
It is on my brow
The next, it weighs on my heart
Mystical Sludge and the Used Car Blues
a worried friend
of a worried man
paced wildly
round the hall
mystical sludge
the great grease
clogged his
third eye ball
not even the Om man
with face to the wall
or all the mahatmas
tall great and small
could help him
(though they called
and called)
the Om machine
groaned and grinned
a mystical grin
but still the old junk heap stalled
Swinging on Cherry Trees
Yes there were those times
When it wasn't too cold
And it wasn't too hot
When we laughed and sat
In the gentle breeze
Of the porch
And swinging on cherry trees
Was sure fun
Just Like Looking at a Tree
It is the time of redbuds
A huge old willow lies in the creek
It's long green strands
Flowing with the current
Something sad and noble
In its fading painful growth
Brown and yellow leaves
A warm fall day. Dry limestone
Creek bed to a clear stream.
Long waist length
Waves of hair
Shining golden brown
In the sunlight
It was just like
Looking at a tree
A Few More Kicks in the Heart
Why come back puppy-like
For a few more kicks
In the heart
The trees and bees
Never cared
The sun came out
And the wind
Played in my hair
Fat and thin
Grin
On this magic spin
Floating through air
The bones and stones
And big green leaves
All laid together
And played in the rain
Rotted in the sun
Died and grew
And all the time
They knew
They knew
Sitting Here
Sitting here
Listening
I feel sad
My little daughter
Will soon be gone
I've known for some while
We've discussed it so much
Her sweet head
Still resting on my shoulder,
I know truly
The meaning of care
Among the Skulls and Mango Vines
I touched the tip of a hummingbird
And lifted a finger over the trees
Mango vines grew up among all the old skulls
And a man prayed on his knees
Oh the tavern was dusty late Sunday night
Many a man's brain lay on the floor
But the trees in the room were still all right
None of them went out the door
An old man's beard still hung on the coat rack
Long and white and thick
And new green leaves were laid in a stack
By some old brown hand that looked sick
"Yes death is life, life is death,"
Wailed the old man out back
And he played on a flute a most beautiful note
And put it right back in his pack
Seeing Li Po in a Dream (Lyrics adapted from a poem by Tang Dynasty Chinese poet Tu Fu)
From the poisonous damps
You had sent me not one sign
Until you came to me last night in a dream
Sliding through the green
You disappeared
Yet out of the midmost mesh of your snare
How could you lift your wings?
There were waters to cross
If you fell, there were dragons down below
I woke, and the low moon's glimmer on the wall
Seemed to be your face
The Trees and the View
Easter mornings are coming more often
The maple tree is resurrected too
While pear blossoms rise softly to heaven,
A man gazes at the trees and the view
Far down a long lane
Sun is shining on an ancient orchard
Cherry blossoms,
A cool spring breeze,
A man in the sun
Spinning Away
Spinning away like maple seeds
Over mountainous terrain
Stars floating around
It's easy to see
How they saw Orion
Big shells to put over your ears
For stereo sea sleeping
The sun gently lavishing
Its golden glow
I realized it's the openness I've missed
It's the loving I've missed
And not the girl herself
The Sacred Flower Cone
The blossoms are in full swing
And the moon has risen
There's no way out of paradise
In my hand I hold
The sacred flower cone
Of the magic yellow feather tree
These are the lyrics to the songs in my first CD, Hey Neighbor. All lyrics copyright 2015 Stephen Houpt unless otherwise indicated.
New Mexico Skies
I headed out for New Mexico skies
Waters cold and the mountains high
Deep blue
Bright stars
Aspens shimmering in the wind
Alpine meadow where the stream begins
Hard rain
Dark clouds
Indian walk through pinyon pine
Shards of pottery from ancient times
Wide plain
Free soul
I headed out for New Mexico skies
Parting at the Yellow Crane Terrace (lyrics by Li Po)
You have left me behind, old friend, at the Yellow Crane Terrace,
On your way to Yangzhou in the misty month of flowers;
Your sail, a single shadow, becomes one with the blue sky,
Till I see only the river, flowing away.
Full Moon (lyrics by Tu Fu)
Isolate and full, the moon
Floats over the house by the river.
Below the gate cold water rushes away.
The bright gold spilled on the river is never stilled.
The brilliance of my quilt is greater than precious silk.
The circle without blemish,
The empty mountains without sound,
The moon hangs in the wide, vacant sky.
Pine cones drop in the garden,
Senna trees bloom in the field.
The same clear glory repeats itself,
Regardless of how I feel.
Floating in Gold
It was a fall day: dark and leafless
And I searched among the last bits of gold
Floating over a dark brown forest
There was no crooked grin tall man
Wanting to have a good time
And I searched among the feathers of pigeons
Hoping to find the rhyme
My head grew heavy
My feet wouldn't move
I crawled over pavement
I got in a groove
Faster and faster
The grass hurried by
Till I found a tall tree
Gold leaves lying by
And I climbed and climbed and floated in gold
Near the dark leafless sky
Vernon
He'd been sitting in that choir chair
for more than fifty years,
Wednesdays and Sundays seemingly without end,
filling the chancel with his deep rumbling voice,
the earthy wisdom of his prayers.
When I saw him the week before he died,
he looked bad,
his eyelids rimmed with red,
his movements creaky,
like the doors
on a million mile Olds '88.
But when I looked past all that
into the clarity of his eyes,
I saw that it was all still there:
the guts he had repeatedly shown, enduring the pain,
the encouragement he had given me
as I sat beside him through the years,
the rough edges of his wit,
the little movements of his soft, weathered hands.
A Man Entranced
Pear blossoms float on a
Small blue stream
A dark green wood
A thousand sunbeams
A man entranced by
Spherical sound
Stuck in the mud
Feet on the ground
A pine grove sings
On the hill up ahead
A disgusting mess clutters
The old shed
"I never wanted to end up here
All alone,
If I could clean up a bit,
Throw out the old bones."
He saw an indigo bunting
Fly through the air
Forgot who he was
Or at least didn't care
Beer Glass
I saw an old man cry
the other night
on the Antiques Road Show
when he found out
how much his old
beer glass
was worth,
and I couldn't help wondering
what had brought him to this point,
why his voice had cracked
so tenderly
and his face had shriveled
like the face of a mother
who'd just given birth.
A Poem for Willis
Slanting sunlight lit the attic's old beams and planks
With a yellow brown glow
She thought of Willis; he always walked this time of day
Something about the afternoon light of fall
The rich glow on tree trunks, the deep blue clear air
Something about fall and poetry
Beautiful but intensely sad
Leaves, some green, some brown,
Hanging or lying in piles
All lit with beams of golden light
Willis, out walking, feeling the earth
Writing with the movement of his breath
Seeing the interplay of shadows on the ground
Dimensions flowing with the air
She looked through the attic window
At the apple trees outside
Those apples sure look red
Maybe pick one for Willis
That big red one up there,
When he returns home whisper in his ear
This is a poem for you my dear
Seeking You (lyrics by Tu Fu)
Spring in the mountains,
I come alone seeking you.
The streams are all icy.
There's snow on the trail.
At sunset I reach your grove
In the stony mountain pass.
You want nothing.
You have learned to be gentle
As the mountain deer you have tamed.
The way back forgotten, hidden
Away, I become like you,
An empty boat, floating, adrift.
A Relationship Sandwich
In the beginning
I did nothing
To win you
In quick moments
We drew near,
Loved,
Grew distant,
And parted
In the end
I did nothing
To lose you
It was almost
Like eating a
Relationship sandwich
It tasted great
At the beginning
I got full about
Halfway through
And at the end
It was gone
Deep Blue Moment
Arms entwined,
We walked with you
To the Yellow Crane House.
Soft and strong,
In the deep blue moment
Our voices rose.
Tears like beautiful bells
Hung suspended in your eyes;
In the clear air
They rang the truth of your leaving.
You left, we sat,
Trying not to cry,
But crying.
It didn't have to be said:
"It's moments like this
that make life rich."
Deep in the Mountain Wilderness (lyrics by Wang Wei)
Deep in the mountain wilderness
Where nobody ever comes
Only once in a great while
Something like the sound of a far off voice.
The low rays of the sun
Slip through the dark forest,
Gleam again on the shadowy moss.
Me Alone
Walking through a long green field
The sounds of wind in trees
Thinking of a long lost love
And getting on my knees
I didn't want to be alone
I tried with all my might
And now that wind's blown on my face
And birds flown from the night
I'm sick, I'm sad
My baby's gone
The wind, the green
And me - alone