Old chair sittin' broken in the corner
a dusty mirror hangin' on the wall
mamma's in the kitchen makin' a cup of coffee
daddy, he's just sleeping down the hall
sisters in the backyard picking' flowers
brothers in the treehouse with a gun
and I am watching all, but they can't see me
no one else around knows what they've done

Some of them will live and die without ever even knowing
and I have lived and died among them all
bones'll break and dust will make the pathways we walk after
and you will hear my voice after it all

old man shopping cart down by the river
the banker drives his cadillac back home
his high rise overlooks the lifeless city
that in his eyes does not seem lifeless at all
twigs and sticks have gathered to build a heart of fire
twigs and sticks or maybe sticks and stones
give or take or crush and break the time that you fear after
realize it was never there at all

Some of them will live and die without ever even knowing
and I have lived and died among them all
bones'll break and dust will make the pathways we walk after
and you will hear my voice after it all
and you will hear my voice after it all
and you will hear my voice after it all
bones'll break and dust will make the pathways we walk after
and you will hear my voice after it all
(c) 2011 CJM

I went out searching' with nothing to find
went looking' for someone with no one in mind
last petal on a rose in the fall I feel alone
all the faces starin' back from the crowd reflect my own
I can't breathe without you here
I can't hold on, I need you near

Down this highway, lonesome road
life before me left untold
tell me something that I wonder
forever lost or just untouched
a wounded heart in two is cut
lost at sea, I'm going under

Through the darkness I feel you
in the silence I see you
turnin' slowly you fade away
your lips moving with nothing to say
reaching out without my hands
a voiceless call on nothing lands

I went out searching' with nothing to find
went looking' for someone with no one in mind
(c) 2008 CJM

Some days you've gotta read the story just to figure out your lines
and other days youve gotta write it just to save some time
so i sit here with my guitar and nothing much to say
but the melody keeps flowin on without me
sometimes it works that way

i like to be in full control but im the first to know to grow
sometimes you gotta learn to let things go
its hard to do im tellin you youre tellin me
sometimes i cant see
but all i can be
is me

some days you gotta read the story just to figure out your lines
some days youve gotta write the poem just to work out all the rhymes
some days the pen goes where the wind blows just so you survive
some times you just gotta watch the blood flow to remember youre alive.

(c)2013 CJM

She said 'where you off to now, Tumbleweed"
I said "i got so many places to go,
it might be what i want it might be what i need
it might be the strangers touch ill never know"

its a lonely way to go the road is long you know
i walk the path of troubadours from long ago
the moon she is my light
the sun she is my night
the pen the only compass ive ever known.

Where you off to now, Tumbleweed
you set your course or you just blowin in the breeze
just like ships in darkness pass
too far to touch too close to last
to grow the soul you know you've got to plant a seed
Tumbleweed
(c) 2013 CJM

Northbound sittin on a southbound train
No money in your pocket and youre left sittin in the rain
Two way ticket down a one way track
Don’t know where youre headed but you know you aint comin back

It feels like ive reached the bottom but its
Still a long way down
So I ask, the bartender
To pour me another round

Stars don’t have to fall for you to know that its night
Whats left is all you’ve got when youre all out of the right
Started at the ending don’t know where to begin
And so it goes, no one knows about the shape I'm in

It feels like ive reached the bottom but its
Still a long way down
So I ask, the bartender
To pour me another round
(CJM 2013)

Ive got boxes full of memories
Next to the mattress on the floor
My hat still hangs in the same place that
It always hung before
Nothings really changed much
Except now I wash my own clothes
And the hole I try to fill seems to get harder as it goes

Sometimes I miss her
Sometimes shes all that I can see
Theres times I think that life is set to make a fool right out of me
But sometimes I smile
When I think of a memory
Because shell always be texas to me

Theres not a highway I don’t see her
Houston on up to raton
The thoughts they fade into the cracks that have opened in these bones
Sometimes I find a bottle and crawl way down inside
Sometimes I sit and feel the pain to remember I'm alive.
© CJM 2014

I'm forever destined to roam
Don’t think ill ever know a place
A place I can call home
I try so hard sometimes
But I don’t fit in
Im here and gone I keep moving on
Like a whistle in the wind

Maybe forever
Maybe just ‘till dawn
Maybe be ill head some place that I’ve never been
Maybe nobody will know I’m gone
I’ll take my chances
Ill take what’s mine
I live my life through the smiles
And the tears and the miles
Ain’t got nothing else on my mind

I'm forever if I'm a day
I'm just the leaving kind
But sometimes I find that I feel inclined to stay
I’ve been the loyal one
I’ve been the Judas kind
I think sometimes I can see it all
And other times I’m blind

- Cyrus James © 2013

Mother when you finally get to heaven
can you tell me just what you have found up there
and if you speak to Jesus, tell me
what he really said
because I think we lost it long ago down here

Now I don't mind what you tell me
but I don't know if it's all true
but you're going' and you'll see it
and I know you really care
that's why I wrote this note to give to you

Well, mother, when you find your place in heaven
just in case I never make it there
tell my old friend I can still hear the ringing of his laughter
and I often wish that he was still down here

Mother, when you look down on me from heaven
in the chance that you arrive while I'm still here
tell the angel at the door to leave the porch light on for me
because I know I'll need help finding my way there

Momma tell the angel at the door to leave the porch light on for me
because I know I'll need help finding my way there

© 2009 CJM

It aint just the blue collar or the hands in the dirt

or the coal on the belt line or the paint on the shirt

or the dust from the cowboy and the cattle he's drivin'

or the eighteen wheels rollin and the gravel thats flyin'



my best friends named Sparky, he works in the mine
 six miles deep, come rain or come shine
 dont take lip from no one, ive seen him move fast
 give him some **** and he'll hand you your ***



I got a buddy called Outlaw, he rolls eighteen wheels
 sometimes nine in a corner with the logs on his heels 
he aint scared of nothin, says he dont like to fight
 says hes just exercisin' for the long haul tonight



my ol man swung a hammer for most of his life 
he earned blood sweat and tears
 but he came out alright 
might be a church in the city or a cabin far from town 
but he''ll die in his tool belts before he'll die sittin down.



it aint just the blue collar or the blood in the dirt,
or the coal beneath your skin or the scars from the work,
or the rope burns on your hands and yet you keep ridin


its just the breath thats the difference between livin and dyin.


(c) 2013 CJM