Play “Dream Walker” by Corline As Is
I sat next to Rhoda in the Red Rocks Amphitheater, beaming at the woman playing piano center stage. I couldn’t stop grinning at her, clenching my fists, and bouncing in my seat like a fan girl.
Cora opened the show with a song I’d never heard before. It was ethereal; so unlike the pub songs and show tunes I was used to hearing her play. I wondered if she’d written it specifically for this concert.
“Dream Walker"
Nights are longing, blistered daze
Step on clouds amongst the haze.
Whispers, shadows all erased
Speak so soft. I hear your name.
Dream walker, dream stalker
Throughout time, why don’t you stop here
Dream walker where did you go?
help me, show
memory I don’t know
Stars like gaps I see them sway
Dancing, Shifting, drifting away.
I felt the moon, but she won’t stay.
A melody, a sweet refrain
Look beyond the emerald door
I swear you were there before
Dream walker, dream stalker
Throughout time, why don’t you stop here
Dream walker where did you go?
help me, show
memory I don’t know
I hear your riddles; they never fade.
Every word an endless cascade.
Your footsteps repeat this refrain.
The echo of the dream remains.
Dream walker, dream stalker
Throughout time, why don’t you stop here
Dream walker where did you go?
help me, show
memory I don’t know
Admittedly, the song felt like something she was singing straight to my heart, and it transported me somewhere else for awhile. My body was in Red Rocks, by my spirit? Well, I wasn’t quite sure where it was, but I reminded myself to stay focused on the concert and the woman performing so I would remember everything about it.
Seven songs in, I was surprised when the tone shifted and Cora begged the audience, “Please be gracious while we record a holiday song. I doubt you’re in the mood for Christmas in September, but this place is too special to pass up the opportunity to record a bit of holiday humor. So bear with me and the band as we bring you something to laugh about come winter.”
The jingle bells started then, and my eyebrows rose when I recognized the chords she played.
“Oh my god!” I exclaimed to Rhoda. “This is another one of my comedy songs!”
I rocked with laughter as Cora and her backup singers crooned, “I’m in the mood for somethin’ dirty with spice. . . . It’s a slay ride, baby!” When the last note rang out, I was one of thousands who jumped to our feet in applause, and Cora’s eyes found mine, both of us grinning about the hilarious, smutty holiday romp we’d written.
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The last song of the evening made every hair on my body rise.
Play “The Final Scene” by Coraline As Is
“The Final Scene"
Inside the day, beyond the night
Follow my star; ignite your light.
Do it for love; do it for life.
Be not afraid; there’s no more strife.
Step to your left and then reach right.
You’ll weave with stars like candle light.
You'll weave with stars the final scene.
No one can stop or come between.
This moment screams through times unseen.
Your life and love, they join the streams.
The smell of ashes on your lips.
I taste the darkness in your kiss.
The old is gone; the new world comes.
Heed it now, rhythm of a drum.
Step to your left and then reach right.
You’ll weave with stars like candle light.
You'll weave with stars the final scene.
No one can stop or come between.
This moment screams through times unseen.
Your life and love, they join the streams.
The call, the want, endless desire;
Those hearts that sing, they light the fire.
The people wail and scream again,
Their echoes heard and spoke your name.
You'll weave with stars the final scene.
No one can stop or come between.
This moment screams through times unseen.
Your life and love, they join the streams.
You’ll weave with stars
the final scene.
HC had said my poetry and dreams had the scent of foretelling, but I was starting to think Cora's held an even stronger aroma. “Dream Walker” and “The Final Scene” were songs I’d never heard, and both were otherworldly, demanding I sit up and pay attention. But what they were pointing to alluded me, just like everything else.
We had chess pieces on the board, but I couldn’t make sense of the strategy.
We bustled out of the amphitheater when the show was over, collected Cora, and headed to dinner before crashing into bed. Despite my nerves over the trip the next day, I had no trouble sleeping, but it was Cora who woke startled from dreams that night.
“Sorry, Sam,” she whispered. “Gotta write this down, NOW.”
I let myself drift, hearing the scratching of her pen and reciting my lines internally like a prayer, What was I just dreaming? When I wake, I remember my dreams with ease.
“Okay, Sam, wanna hear it?” Cora whispered.
I nodded, so she read from her diary.
Everything was emerald green light, and it surrounded me. It felt almost misty, but it was only light, not wet. It glowed so pretty, and I wanted to stay in it because I felt so happy. Then I felt a gold light right in the center of my body, and at the same time, outside of me was a gold sphere of light that seemed almost solid. I started to walk to it, but it zoomed straight into me.
It didn’t feel like anything, but it became part of me. Or— maybe it already was a part of me? I felt so happy, like it was my favorite song I’d always known but had forgotten. It seemed like it was in my teeth or part of my tongue and wanted out, so I opened my mouth. Then the whole area exploded with song so powerful I’d never heard anything like it.
It was like the very firmament was song, but I hadn’t known I’d been standing on ground. I was the song, and the song was the world, and nothing could stop such beauty from existing.
I woke up filled with longing and hope and felt like I’d been somewhere I've forgotten and just remembered.
“Somewhere you’ve forgotten and just remembered?” I asked softly, pulling her to me. She nodded against my heart. “Somewhere, Cora?”
She sang softly, “Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high. There’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby. . . .”
We both drifted back to sleep, not waking again until the alarm told us it was time to get up and fly far, far away.
I was the song, and the song was the world, and nothing could stop such beauty from existing.
