Breathe In Breathe Out

I just returned last night from the Mrs. Texas United States pageant. I really had a great weekend, and although I did not win, I would not change anything I did. Robert said that I was extremely elegant and beautiful. Ryan kept looking at my ad page...it said "to Ryan, I love you!" He was proud he was in the program and that I mentioned him in my intro. Ryan said "Mommy, I am sorry you didn't win....I would have voted for you!" I told him that being his Mom made me a winner every day.

I was disappointed last night, but Robert told me that I was one of the few that actually followed through with doing exciting things in life. He said that people always say "I'd like to do that" but that I actually do the big things. When you risk big, sometimes you lose big....but higher stakes also mean higher payoffs.

today I am tired, but my soul is ready to risk.

Breathe in breathe out...move on.

Breathe In, Breathe Out
copyright 2008 LeighAnn Heil

After the fall is over
And the night has gone away
The morning will bring you
A clearer vision, and a brand new day if you just

Breathe in, breathe out
Take a little time, and let your feelings out
Cast all your cares, to the evening wind and
Just breathe out, then breathe in….

Wearing your heart on your sleeve,
Has to be hard all on your own,
You’ve got your worries
You can talk to me, I’m in no hurry …at all

Like the winter snows melting
And the rivers running like rain
Living with your soul wide open
Finding the strength to begin again…if you just

I have heard it said
A journey begins with a step
I see yours beginning
With just a single breath….

Breathe in, breathe out
Take a little time, and let your feelings out
Cast all your cares, to the evening wind and
Just breathe out, then breathe in, again.

Ocean Child

Picture of my Ryan guy...

















Sirens' Song at Erinshire At The Gap music festival



It has been a busy week. I am Mrs. Abilene United States, and the Mrs. Texas pageant is this weekend. In addition to all the pageant prep, Sirens' Song had a gig this weekend. We recorded in the studio Friday and Sunday. Fun, but exhausting. We finished vocals this weekend on many songs, which is nice.

I am also working with the SPD foundation, trying to get info from them for press releases, sending photos and working on the song for the foundation. Whew...sometimes I wonder how I fit everything in..Ryan still must be taught, cared for, and soothed.

Ryan and I ran some errands this afternoon, he was singing, loudly, with the recordings we made over the weekend. He said "Mom, I like your songs!" It was so great..in the midst of chaos, the child soothed the mom. He really does give me so much peace in so many ways.

The first song we listened to was this one, Ocean Child. I took the first part of this song from a poem in the 1700's. The times have changed, but beautiful poetry, and music, stays the same.

Ocean Child
copyright 2008 LeighAnn Heil
The waves are white and red the morn,
In the noisy hour, when I was born
And the whale it whistled, the porpoise rolled,..
And dolphins bared there backs of gold

And never was heard such an outcry wild
As welcomed to life, the ocean child.

The sea, the sea, the open sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free...
Without a mark, without a bound
It runneth the earth's wild regions round...

Out where the winds are strong and wild
There comes to life, the ocean child.

I'm on the sea, I'm on the sea!
I am where I would ever be
With blue above, and blue below....
and silence wherever I go...

When every mad wave drowns the moon,
Or whistles aloft, its tempest tune..
If a storm should come and wake the deep...
On wings of foam, I'll ride and sleep...

Unbounded sea, strong and wild...
Will welcome me still, the ocean child
The ocean child.

listen to OCEAN CHILD at http://sirenssing.com/hostbaby/merge?stage=music&substage=6

To The Sea

Tonight Tolkiens' Lord of the Rings movie is on TV. Hilary and I went to see all three movies at the theatre, but they are so good I normally watch them again. The only thing missing in the movies, besides some of the story they could not pack into 3 hours...is the music, the poetry. So much of what makes the story is the poetry. Most are long, troubadour style, telling a story. I love those old poems. They make any story richer, and remind of us a day when there were not unlimited text messages. When language was king and stories were written in rhyme. When books were rare and not easy to access.

I love writing story songs. They are so fun to write. You must be brief, beautiful and descriptive. You must allude but not reveal. You must let your listener think for themselves.

This is a beautiful song referring to the elves and their longing for the sea. The sea for them meant the afterlife, so the song takes on a very wistful, mystical mood. Not really knowing what to expect, they only know where they are going.

To The Sea
copyright 2008 LeighAnn Heil
Based on 'Lord of the Rings' by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sweep the sky from the sun's first dawning
Hear the cry in a winter morning
Catch the echo from the long lochs walls
And feel the chill of those lonely calls..

To the Sea! To the Sea! the white gulls crying...
The wind it is blowing and the white foam flying
West! West, away! the round sun is falling
Gray ship, gray ship, do you hear them calling...

For our days are ending, and our years are failing...
I will pass wide water, Lonely sailing....

The road goes ever on and on..
Now far ahead the road has gone
Out from the door where it began
Let others follow it who can

To the Sea! To the Sea! the white gulls crying...
The wind it is blowing and the white foam flying
West! West, away! the round sun is falling
Gray ship, gray ship, do you hear them calling...

For our days are ending, and our years are failing...
I will pass wide water, Lonely sailing....

Still round the corner there may wait..
A new road or a secret gate
though often I have passed them by...
A day will come at last when I ....

Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the moon, east of the sun
In that far land beneath the trees
The starlight on the western seas.....

and long are the waves on the lost shore falling
sweet are the voices of the lost isle calling....

To the Sea! To the Sea! the white gulls crying...
The wind it is blowing and the white foam flying
West! West, away! the round sun is falling
Gray ship, gray ship, do you hear them calling...

For our days are ending, and our years are failing...
I will pass wide water, Lonely sailing....

Compass

My husband, Robert, is going on a business trip tomorrow, for a week. He travels more now than he used to, which he actually likes. I have always been very comfortable on my own, so Ryan and I hang out while Robert is gone. But there are those times in the week that I think how lucky we are that it is only a week away, not months or years. And of course I miss him and am very glad to have him home again when he returns.

Last year we sent copies of our cd's to the American soldiers in Iraq. I often thought about how it must be to be the family left behind, never knowing what was going to happen to your husband or wife.

Love really does pull us together, even when we are apart we can find our bearings and the direction of home. The imagery of a compass fits perfectly into the space between ourself and the one we love.

Compass
copyright 2008 Hilary Walton and LeighAnn Heil
Don't cry my love, as I prepare to go
For the love that I give no other will know.
Though our bodies feel distance, our souls move as one
And to you I'll return when my journey is done...

My compass down this long dusty road
A beacon that leads me to the home that I know
Our love will not break though the distance be long
For you are in my spirit, my heart, and my song.

Silently, now I will be on my way
But know in your heart that I will never stray
Your steadfast spirit links me to you
One soul one heart, made of the two

While I am away, you will be here with me
For our souls span the distance as I sail the wide sea.
Be strong, my love, for your strength keeps me true
And to you I'll return when my journey is through...

My compass down this long dusty road
A beacon that leads me to the home that I know
Our love will not break though the distance be long
For you are in my spirit, my heart, and my song.

listen to COMPASS at
http://sirenssing.com/hostbaby/merge?stage=music&substage=1

Monarch

I had someone ask me once why I was writing music. I had to take a step back and really think. Why? For a while I was stumped. The answer is that someone, sometime, suggested it and believed that I could. After that, I believed it myself.

This morning we were working on math, which my son, Ryan really struggles with. He was doing well, and had a surprised look on his face as he finished every problem correctly. I thought about those times when he tried and failed to do the problems, and the times when I insisted that he try again. The times when he wanted to say 'I can't', but said 'I can' instead.

Watching the light dawn inside a little mind is a powerful thing. Much like a caterpillar must feel when emerging from the cocoon. A new day is here
Rise with the Monarchs.

Monarch
copyright 2008
Come and take my hand
Run through the forest with me
Feel the wind rushing through the trees
Running to the sea

From where I stand
We could finally be
Light as the air, free as a bird
Spirits of the Sea

We are riding over the water
We are burning into the night
We are flying up like the monarchs
Rising in the eastern sky

Come and take my hand
Climb the mountains with me
Listen to the water flowing
Flowing to the sea

Rivers of crystal blue
Oceans of flowers in bloom
Nights so clear, and so cold
Under the winter moon

Come and take my hand
Swim the ocean with me
Dive deep, into my heart
Deeper than the sea....

We are riding over the water
We are burning into the night
We are flying up like the monarchs
Rising in the eastern sky

listen to MONARCH at http://sirenssing.com/hostbaby/merge?stage=music&substage=3