1. |
Cool Breeze
03:17
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Cool Breeze
Holly Kirsten
Aug 2019
Slammed shut, stuck in a rut
I try to pull through but my line’s been cut
What am I supposed to do?
Stand still, losing my will
Trying to push this weight uphill
What am I supposed to do?
I need a cool breeze, a cool breeze
I need a deep blue sea
I need the sunshine to surround me
I need the tall trees, the tall trees
I need serenity
I need the scene that brings my peace
Stop lights, lefts and rights
My wings are clipped and I can’t take flight
What am I supposed to do?
Up, down, and turned around
Running in circles and losing ground
What am I supposed to do?
CH
Doesn’t matter what’s been going on
You can help me find my way
I find comfort, and I feel strong
You make my bad day go away
She is the cool breeze, the cool breeze
She is the deep blue sea
She is the sunshine that surrounds me
She is the tall trees, the tall trees
She is serenity
She is the scene that brings my peace
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2. |
Desperate Measures
04:17
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Desperate Measures
Holly Kirsten
August 2019
I’ve made a lot of promises I couldn’t keep
I’ve paid a lot of money, lost a bit more sleep
I walked away with nothing from the battleground
I may have lost a fortune, but my heart has been found
My friends keep telling me these wounds will heal
I will press on until I seal this deal
Desperate times call for desperate measures
I’ve done some things that I regret
But someday I’ll be back on my feet again
In all life’s pain and all life’s pleasures
There’ve been some faces I’d rather forget
But someday I’ll be back on my feet again
I’ve lived in boxes and I’ve lived with bones
I’ve cried all night ‘cause I just wanna go home
Parted ways with friends I never meant to lose
But I’ve found a freedom in the path that I choose
Please don’t send your prayers for me
I’ve spent a lifetime on my own knees
I’m making changes in what I see, what I see
To help free others who were caged like me
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3. |
Slippery Slope
04:23
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Slippery Slope
Holly Kirsten
September 2019
You descend down the slippery slope
Tired hands, no steady belay ropes
At times you see the rocky path below
But still you trust your feet to find the way to go
The frayed edge of the atlas
The way is not clear
Scrutinize and use your intuition
As you encounter sojourners who share your point of view
You’ll innately know what to do
Even when you free fall
Grasping for something safe
Enjoy the journey without fear
There is nothing down here to fear
As you descend the slippery slope
And you reclaim and name a better hope
It’s not that you uncover unending bliss
But simple peace in saying yes to what is
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4. |
Marzipan
03:12
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Marzipan
Holly Kirsten
Sept 2019
Marzipan,
You became a second string
To trains and cars and many other things
But you were such a sacred thing to me
Marzipan,
Your fur and fluff have long been passed over
But here you are, still
And you’re taking all my covers
Oooh, will you share your secrets?
Marzipan,
Can I extract the snuggles
And the kisses from your ears
Can I have just one moment from his second year?
Oooh, will you share your secrets?
Can I have just one whiff?
Can i have just one giggle?
Can I have just one kiss?
Can I have just one wiggle?
Can I have just one goodnight kiss?
Can I have just one?
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5. |
Starlings
04:45
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Starlings
November 2019
Holly Kirsten
Last light of day retreats
Sky of monochrome
The mist moves in sheets
That swaddle the earth
Hiding by the hearth, we find
Quiet on the streets
Starlings take to sky
In vast configurations
What do we call those birds, mom--
the name for a flock of birds?
Starlings dive and float in synchrony
Calling sky their home
A cloud of mystery
that enraptures me
Wanting not for hearth or time
Simply meeting needs
Traveling as one holy exultation
What do we call those birds, mom--
the name for the flock of birds?
We saw starlings together one time
A moment that is frozen in my mind
They wove together in an intricate dance
Should I call you to ask you again?
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6. |
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White Knuckle Double Down
Holly Kirsten
October 2019
You can strip me of my dignity
Just like you strip the sheets from this bed
You can tie me down and make me cry
But you ain’t never gonna get to my head
This is the white knuckle double down, boys, yeah
This is the white knuckle double down, boys.
You may disregard the things I say
But I’m gonna speak my truth, anyway
You can lay me low and paralyze
But I will gather strength and I will rise
This is the white knuckle double down, boys, yeah
This is the white knuckle double down, boys.
SOLO
This is the white knuckle double down, boys, yeah
This is the white knuckle double down, boys.
You ain’t seen the last of me, no
I may not come back sweetly
You can’t have a hold on me, no
I’ll find a way to break free
You can take my strength and leave me still
But I ain’t gonna lose my will
Cause there’s a fire deep inside
And I’m finding it hard, I’m finding it hard to hide it
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7. |
Take It Back
04:27
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Take It Back
Holly Kirsten
copyright 2018
Down in the miry marshes with loblolly pines
choking heat stirs the bullfrogs and cicadas to sing
my tea-stained waves lap the crowded coastline
cloaking bathing beauties and waterfowl wings
The moon briefly made my boundary relent
but I will take it back
Take it back, take it back, take it back
Far away, I covertly assemble near the arctic blaze
a continent erodes, while time shaves sheets of ice
here, frightened farmsteads fold by swollen roadways
old timers ponder shifting plates and lightning strikes
Somewhere a factory filters dregs into my stream
but I will take it back
Take it back, take it back, take it back
I must rise and swell, an imminent, ill-fated view
offered no alternative, stripped, overtaken, abused
I once hoped for harmony, to share the line with you
Like fingers lovingly entwined, our bonds of nature fused
Before humans took holiday on my splendid shores
or fisherman foraged my banks for their cupboards
ancient sand beds stretched, keeping other scores
revealing relics of the land that I once covered
My lines receded once, I made room for you
but I will take it back
Take it back, take it back, take it back
A din of desperation I would gladly refute,
but as of now, I cannot take it back.
Take it back, take it back, take it back
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8. |
Burn Me Down
03:46
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Burn Me Down Slow
Words and Music by Holly Kirsten
February 2020
Burn me down slow
You’re a white hot coal
Melt sinew and skin
‘Til you let yourself in
Burn me down slow
This unholy tension
Brand your intention
If I utter your name
Will you lap me in flames
This unholy tension
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9. |
Enough
04:16
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Enough
Lyrics by David Milot and Holly Kirsten
Music by Holly Kirsten
Shackled by the shards of broken dreams
Inner voices hearken distant screams
Trapped within the thoughts that seem so real
Fear and pain are all that I now feel
Years recounting layered scars of shame
Have trained my soul to quickly take the blame
I stand before her eager for her praise
Self-doubt rules my acts in many ways
You are enough, she says
You are enough for me
You are enough, she says
You are enough for you
Through the storm I’ve reached the other side
Safe now, I still tremble, run and hide
Pondering my way beyond this cage
I seek the source of hopelessness and rage
In my grief, she gently takes my hand
She offers me the safest place to land
I move near, believing love will heal
Truth through darkness will a light reveal
You are enough, she says
You are enough for me
You are enough, she says
You are enough for you
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10. |
Captive
04:08
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Captive
April 2020
Holly Kirsten
Far away in a secluded place
High above the people loving face to face
He held her there under lock and key
Frightened at a moment’s notice she might flee
He told her secrets laced with praise
Promise if she left, it’d end his days
It’s not that she did not feel love;
she wondered why he had to keep her high above, saying:
You cannot own another soul
Or keep a lover captive
Meanwhile below the people danced and played
Keeping with the promises they had made
To build and please, give love so true
Never knowing some were held with strings and glue
Sometimes he would come down to see
The riches of a life lived where a soul is free
He’d return home to find her there
Raging at the scent of others in his hair, he said:
You cannot own another soul
Or keep a lover captive
Hold onto lovers with a loose grip
One day, suspended in their castle high
She and he looked in the other’s eyes
Longing for joy and openness
They searched for ways to reinforce each other’s bliss
Their love renewed blew chains away
They flew from their high turrets into open space
They landed firm within the bonds below
Comfort, truth, and loyalty the seeds they sow
You cannot own another soul
Or keep a lover captive
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11. |
Cross That Bridge
03:42
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Cross that Bridge
Holly Kirsten
April 2020
There’s bones in the graveyard
There’s villain in my head
This dark path makes me breathe hard
Little eyes are beamin’ red
What if we don’t make it?
What if we can’t take it anymore?
The screech of a barn owl
Hair is standing up on end
Stench and it’s so fowl
with fear I cannot comprehend
What if we don’t make it?
What if we can’t take it anymore?
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,
My momma always said
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,
Don’t let it get to your head
What did I just stumble over--
Will there be more of that ahead?
Something just brushed against my pants leg
I wish that I were home in bed!
What if we don’t make it?
What if we can’t take it anymore?
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,
My momma always said
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,
Don’t let it get to your head
We cannot add more minutes
We cannot add more life
Let’s not replace what’s in it
With agony and strife
You gotta keep on walkin',
You gotta sing like you mean it.
You gotta keep on walkin',
You gotta sing like you mean it.
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,
My momma always said
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,
Don’t let it get to your head
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12. |
Solitude
03:48
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13. |
Wine Glass
03:39
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Wine Glass
Holly Kirsten
October 2019
Wine glass,
Covered in particles
Placed in a line,
And you’ve lost your sparkle
Adorned with a tiny glass
Whimsical penguin
Longing for someone
To stop and drink you in
Years of dust, a mask of indifference
But I see your infinite longing
No brush of fingertips
No print of painted lips
No shudder of joy from a hand on the stem
You just stay right here
No one who lingers over dinner on the stove
No ring of laughter to reverberate your soul
No lazy afternoon in the front porch’s sun
No renewed delight when a long day is done
No brush of fingertips
No print of painted lips
No shudder of joy from a hand on the stem
No brush of fingertips
No print of painted lips
You’d pour yourself over to be with them
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14. |
Go
03:55
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Go
Holly Kirsten
October 12, 2017
I made a mental picture of you and stowed it away
How the tattered cover makes me smile
I can’t keep myself from opening the pages
I must climb back in and stay there for a while
You survey the widening sky as you knowingly play
Nearing time to rise, take wing and fly
Your heart calls you far beyond these branches
I will lift you as your wingtips span the miles
So go, you’ll make me proud anywhere you are
So go, and know your family is here for you,
So go
If ever you are quieted and lonely
If ever sadness falls upon your eyes
Please rest in the knowledge you are worthy
We are with you and we love you all the time
So go, you’ll make me proud anywhere you are
So go, and know your family is here for you,
So go, I know you’ll make the world a better place
So go, and know your family is here for you,
So go.
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Holly Kirsten Virginia Beach, Virginia
I have been singing, creating new songs, and playing stringed instruments for as long as I can remember. I love sharing
music with others and have played with several local bands in the Hampton Roads region.
I also produce my own music. All the songs that you hear are, with the exception of a few special appearances, my own creation.
... more
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