On The Other Shore
Bobby BeauSoleil
(written 2011; revised 2020)
A song for the dead, those precious souls I have known in life
who left this world ahead of me, and especially in honor of Gary Allen Hinman.
My dear brother, lost so long ago
I search for you in dream
A vastness so high, far and wide
and deep as eternity
… deep as eternity
Your silent gaze pierces into me
yet you can’t see what I’ve become
You couldn’t know the hell I’ve seen
or how Heaven has touched me
… oh how heaven has touched me
I prayed a prayer you would forgive
that terrible way I broke you
My answer came that you had no need
to forgive when you had never blamed
… when you had never blamed
(chorus: ) Lay me down, lay me down gently
lay me down on the other shore
Lay me down, lay me down gently
lay me down on the other shore
… lay me down on the other shore
My beloved, we dance in the lovelight
twirling and laughing like children
Hearts afire, a beating of drums
Holy song, we are its melody
… we are its melody
Blindly we leapt, hearts in our hands
into a fearsome storm
We meant to show the people some new ways
and oh the price we would pay
… oh the price we would pay
Without a warning, you were suddenly gone
like a curl of smoke in a breeze
In this world we wept, while the angels rejoiced
We must find one another again
… we must find one another again
(chorus: ) Lay me down, lay me down gently
lay me down on the other side
Lay me down, lay me down gently
lay me down on the other side
… lay me down on the other shore
Body and soul, I ache for tender mercies
sweet water to ease my thirst
a kind hand to stroke my brow
and to bathe me in blamelessness
… bathe me in blamelessness
I fly at last like an arrow
into the heart of the mystery
birthless, deathless, where nothing is not
and all is held in a word
… all is held in a word
Bear me up on wings of love
carry me high above the carnival
far beyond stagnant seas of regret
and across the chasm of pain
… across the chasm of pain
(chorus: ) And lay me down, lay me down gently
lay me down on the other shore
Lay me down, lay me down gently
lay me down on the other shore
… Lay me down on the other shore