From the recording Blue Ridge Mountain Time: Songs from Wildacres
(2023): prompt: a song of questions. The bell tower theme comes from the bells at Wildacres which let us know when the meals are about to be served and when it might be a good time to wake up (7:30am). Richard Putnam on organ.
Lyrics
From the waste of the night
To dawn’s first grey light
Summer is drifting away
The moon-turn begins
A ripening friend
But one that I’d like to betray
Leaves wither and dry
They rattle and sigh
The wind making melody
The seasonal change
A curtain remains
Descending by degree
And who is the mistress of time? Ringing the bell tower chimes?
There’s no walking away
From night or from day
From the pace of the sun and the moon
I hear the bell’s toll
I feel the spell’s hold
While I sweep fallen leaves with my broom
And who is the mistress of time? Am I singing her song or mine?
Maybe I don’t need to know
The highs and the lows
The melee and its’ aftermath
I look up at the stars
Look deep in my heart in my heart
As I try to discern my heart’s path
And who is the mistress of time? Is she deaf to my fate; is she blind?