Dear Traveler,

As so many already know, major illness has a way of winnowing away the chaff of life to reveal what's truly important.  At the request of several audience members who heard me perform this for the first time last month, here is a spoken word piece I wrote down shortly after being diagnosed.  

Wishing you all many spring blessings!
                 with love - rosemary

ps - Imagine occasional soft punctuation from a bell-toned glockenspiel, and jason's delicately dynamic guitar improv in the background...


call your spirit back

in the pale, hopeful light
after a night devoid of stars
the voice of my dis–ease whispered to me.
it said: listen!

there’s a song everyone’s born with
not the same song, but everybody’s got one
some people pop right out yelling their song
they hear it from the very beginning and they know it’s wrong if
someone tries to shut them up from singing it

other people
it takes them time to find their song
maybe they realize it was there all along
but by then it’s too far gone and they have to call it back
say they’re sorry and promise with clear and starry eyes never
to forget      their song    belongs     to them

some people sing their song but not for long
‘cause some one steals it and deals it for cheap protection or some other warped thing

and it ceases to ring

and when your song’s been taken you’re shaken and you can’t feel
nothing’s real

the world is full of the walking dead
hearts with no songs,     
heads    full    of wants
don’t be one of the haunted

call back your song
it’s too high a price to pay
it’s your voice, it’s your spirit
call it back and DON’T EVER let the darkness near it

it’s yours!    it lives to be shared
it’s a light, it’s a flare for the direst emergencies
it’s a bright shield against life’s dangerous insurgencies
it’s the promise in the sunrise
it’s the realness on the inside  
of you    and of everything.

call your spirit back.
call your spirit back
call your spirit back

and never, please, never,
go outside without it again.