Angel in Disguise

We all encounter angels young and old who we need to watch over; while they grace us with their presence. This song was on my mind recently, here is the instrumental track... my voice will never do the song or the angels justice so we'll leave it hear. You’re an angel in disguise

With unusual brown eyes

You’re a child not in the fold

But a piece of heaven to hold

Your many faces change and shine

With a gentleness so kind

When passing by please hear a prayer

Let me stand and protect her

Take a stand and clear a space

Where it’s safe for her to grow

Stand in back and let her know

True love is hard too show.

You’re an angel in disguise

Beauty masking any whys

My hope to you is that a smile

Light your life’s many miles 

And if chance just stop to pray

You’re a gift from God today

If you take your wings to flight

He’ll show you brilliant in the night.

Take a stand and clear a space

Where it’s safe for her to grow

Stand in back and let her know

True love is hard too show.


 by Dave Schipper © 2005 Rose Riversongs

I'll write...

In case you didn’t notice,
I’ve been watching you.
It’s a style I’ve practiced.
Ever since my youth.

There is nothing to fear
I’m a shy gentle soul.
But when you just appeared
My heart was put on hold.

Yep you will turn and leave;
I will say nothing of course
It’s not my style to grieve
But I will write this verse.

by Dave Schipper © 2007 Rose Riversongs

note: I was looking back at some old blog posts, this is as true today as it was ten years ago.

My Fantasy

I stood in line with all the rest

Watching you in that cotton dress

Unaware how pretty you are to me

The smile you gave to each anew

One by one the patrons slid thru

Until again it was my turn to see

………….. my fantasy, my fantasy

The magic in your eyes and smile

Would make an hour wait worthwhile

We share names in this daily repartee

Is it really intimacy

Or merely friendly privacy

Alas again it was my silent plea

………….. my fantasy, my fantasy

Alone I find myself again

Waiting this time with pen in hand

Mere feet apart could be a mass sea

For in our time, we never talk

Or chance a moment to be caught

Until again it was my time to leave

………….. my fantasy, my fantasy

by Dave Schipper © 2013 Rose Riversongs

Coffee house

You’re behind the counter,

And you have no choice

So you’re instinctively pure

And use a pleasant voice.

I’m on the other side and coy

Yes I know what I want

And besides you, oh boy

Cup of soup and croissant.

This coffee dance goes on

From sea to shiny sea.

Coffeehouse’s best patrons

Are lovers who inside plea

For more intensity than

Caffeine.

© 2013 Dave Schipper Rose Riversongs.

Dedicated to Natalie, Keelie, Callie, Kate, Michelle and numerous baristas and people who have been friendly to me in my life. I wish I knew all your names as I know your faces and feel the love of the smile you shared.

The Dance

The dance of the life, the chance of time
Ages of man and woman have written
Pages and pages of nonsense to fill the subject

Still the real bells and whistles are not simple
Complicated motions seen, not seen, ventured
And not ventured because they are imagined.

So is the dance a waltz with the windows today?
Is it a solo piece targeted for solemn attention?
As long as the dance continues the story goes on.

So mark the time that the sonata ended
Depart the performance gallery until next time
Was the performance real or just for show.

© Dave Schipper Rose Riversongs. 2012

Ten Second Memory

Today a chapter played though my head
During the ten seconds our eyes met.
The story moved from tense to intense
But conversation stayed at nonsense.

Why is it that people can’t scream outloud
The feelings they hold so proud.
Yes, we’ll go one working the same
But smile when we hear each other’s name.

So today you’ve made a memory
With eyes like polished emery
It leaves me only to ponder
If my brown eyes made you wonder


By Dave Schipper © 2007 Rose Riversongs

Graceful & Grand

Graceful and grand is your beauty
Tender and soft is your white skin
I gaze into your deep dark eyes
To lose myself once again.

There but a moment when we met
You fashioned my heart
In your alchemy

Casted a spell to tear me apart.
You fashioned my heart
In your alchemy

Graceful and grand is your beauty
Tender and soft is your white skin
I gaze into your deep dark eyes
To lose myself once again.

A season must pass until we meet
You stay in my mind
Each night and day

To renew a love more replete
You stay in my mind
Each night and day

Graceful and grand is your beauty
Tender and soft is your white skin
I gaze into your deep dark eyes
To lose myself once again.

By Dave Schipper © 2012 Rose Riversongs
dedicated to Lady Mary Crawley

Graceful

Lady Mary

I know Mary is not for real.
Her perfection perfected in an hour
In costumes selected with zeal
And details down to the flowers.



I cannot live in Mary’s façade
But I breathe in and enjoy it;
Reach out to take her hand
Walk to the garden and sit.

Oh Mary to live in your dream
Would make mortal men melt
I can only wish and scheme
Then wonder how it all felt.

By Dave Schipper © 2012 Roseriversongs

Dedicated to Lady Mary Crawley

Hepburn moment w/Video

She walked slowly by the pieces of the past
Scarf wrapped up to her short-cropped hair
Somewhat out of place with Hepburn flair
Stubbornly, She’s stuck with a style that lasts.

She made her way to the café window table
Oblivious to her surroundings she went on-line
Reading, renewing and restoring lives entwined
Only pausing for an infrequent nibble on a bagel

He pictured her in front of bustling Paris street,
Much easier to finish the plot without any words
And on cue the music switched to jig on a dulcimer
He needed to leave and folded up his vision complete.

There you go, strangers at noon and never love.
He looked back and she was gone from her chair
Chuckled to himself, “was it real or just a dare”
The devil had dialed up one that would fit like a glove.

By Dave Schipper

This site is for lyrics only... if you want to read more about it click here
http://thezemmyshow.blogspot.com/2010/12/hepburn-moment.html

I did end tweaking it into a song:

In between lines and life...

In between the lines
Embedded in the pixels
Are unspoken words of love

There will come a time
When digital becomes flesh
Words will shine light from above

It will hold surprise
Secret pleasure and of course
Disappointments of some kind

Yes this is real life
But no excuse to stop you
For you will touch flesh so fine.

So you’re impatient?
There’s no instant message here
And life won’t turn on a dime.

Learn to be content
Write a line to remember
And don’t forget it should rhyme

At least this time.

By Dave Schipper © 2010 Rose Riversongs

Confession of a true romantic

It is with dread I tell my story; my confession.
As I open myself to the honesty of consequences.
Addicted, I must avoid the public places of life
Anytime I sit in the open, it’s mere moments
And I’m lost in romance of another stranger.

These novelettes are one sided but each unique.
The cotton print of the blushing brunette
The piercing eyes of the gray hair beauty
The pug braid accentuating her long neck
And I’m lost in the unfolding love and danger.

The vulnerability is my haunting pleasure
These souls don’t realize their power over me
I’d be on bended knee in a flash if they knew.
A mere sentence or two would pierce a shy armor
Bleeding passion profusely, a life changer.

Though no one is hurt, scar tissue is growing.
Not that this play has no acts or scenes set,
It’s just that the reality of a few minutes
Is dwarfed by the epic played out in my head.
I’m just lost again in romance and I linger.

But drag me through the gutter; I do go on.
And I must admit my saviors are the angels.
I must only be attracted to the true golden ones.
They see this halo of a ring I wear proudly
And treat me as some else’s gift and tender.

Well a leopard can’t change his spots, nor I.
I am blanketed in love from a special woman.
One who knows me for the gypsy lover within
So my heart will skip a beat for sparkling eyes
And I’ll be lost in romance with another stranger.

But I sleep at peace with my true love
With a smile on my face.

(c) by Dave Schipper 2010 Rose Riversongs

I am Here

That box of wine ain’t big enough for me to drown in

But I wade through it to find life on the other side.

On the other bank I leave that old life for a night of sin

Though I prefer to call it a guilt free unabashed thrill ride.


Funny how even the best freeing intentions are consumed

Not with guilt, not with lust, but with a flicker of love flame.

Though I cry, whine and whallow for that special doom

I’m brought back to silence and tender thoughts so tame.


I am here, I was there.

In that minute, you were aware

I am here, You are there.

In this moment, I own dispair.


I will not preach to the choir and correct our harmonies

If we walk in step though distant, I will embrace that gift

Unlike the dictator of good and evil, I strive for ease

I will hold my inner cries for an absence of rift.


Though I keep coming back, like a penny or a boomerang

It’s hollow without words that can bind emotions like mortar

So while I hear the words, I sit in my corner with no harangue

I’m at peace, but in the mirror I see my life grown shorter.


I am here, I was there.

In that minute, you were aware

I am here, You are there.

In this moment, I own dispair.


By Dave Schipper © 2010 Rose Riversongs

when you...

When you play within the lines,
but dream outside them
Then you harvest a wild imagination.

When you smirk at someone
but long for their touch
Then you produce a fine tension.

When you stop for the night to ponder
but end up writing instead.
Then you write a prose for retention.

By Dave Schipper © 2009

Broadcast it to the void

Broadcast it to the void of space.
I could stare for hours at your face.
Whisper it under dim of the crowd.
I can barely say I love you outloud.
Grab a cliché like a spring coat
I’ve got words stuck in my throat.
Spend some time lost in thought,
I’ve no idea the life you’ve wrought.
Stop over and flash a smile my way
I can’t tell you how you made my day.

By Dave Schipper © April 2007
Photo Credit Eye of God

Beauty in Strangers

They walked along as content lovers.
Her hair pulled up tight in a librarian bun
With a smiling face that would melt hearts

Her flower skirt flowed in the hot August air
And her white blouse was century old fashion.
I could see her beauty was taken for granted.

If I was next to her, one hand would take hers
My eyes would not leave her eyes
And I would caress the nape of her neck.

So if we can unlock beauty in strangers,
Can we do it in ourselves freely.
I would say it starts there first.

By Dave Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs

Today...

Today,
Everything reminded me of you.
The contour of the pen
The song overhead
The rain on my face.

Funny,
I’m probably not an afterthought
You are self-centered
You’re already down the road
You’re in your place.

Honestly,
My imagination created it all.
The look was innocent
The laugh was casual
The silence, just space.

At lunch
I reconcile the past events.
We’ll see other again and again
We’ll talk and freely laugh
We’ll meet face to face

And I
Will die a little more each time
When your eyes light up
When your hand touches my arm
When you turn with grace.

And leave.

Dave Schipper
© 2009 Rose Riversongs
photo credit

Just a dream

Determined to make it right
Though love was out of sight
And the touch of real flesh,
Just a dream.



The memory of her was fresh
Like a whisper of warm breath.
But now what to do next
Only dream?

He got out his pen to write her
But just stared at the paper
The hollowness took over
His own dream.



So where could she be right now?
“I love her” he said out loud
Yet no one heard him
Just his dream.

So instead he lost himself
In work and books on self-help
Love still did exist somewhere
Just
in
a….
........Dream.

By Dave Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs
Photo Credit 1 Photo2 Photo 3

The Coffee Shop

Coffee Shop II by Dave Schipper © 2008 Rose Riversongs

In a small café she smiled from over the counter

Life is good, and God invented the doughnut.

There was time; different place, life was simpler.

Thank goodness someone invented sprinkles and nuts.

Now she warms her hands on the black cup and waits

Until she smiles and says good morning again

The doughnut gone but I pick the crumbs on the plate

Savor the French Roast and wonder where she’s been.

It’s just stories over coffee again

A warm place where smiles begin

We get lost in the troubles of the day

But treat each other in just the right way.

This morning did she wake next to a lover or a pet?

Did she stress over a test or just fluff her hair non-stop?

Too bad I couldn’t connect this morning, but

Life is good, and God invented the coffee shop.

It’s just stories over coffee again

A warm place where smiles begin

We get lost in the troubles of the day

But treat each other in just the right way.

Now it’s time to go, I’ll release her this time.

Let her escape my psyche until I think it over.

Yes claim that a stranger inspired this strange rhyme,

But I’m sure she’s someone’s lucky lover.

It’s just stories over coffee again

A warm place where smiles begin

We get lost in the troubles of the day

But treat each other in just the right way.

The laws...

The laws of science paused;
And the power of the motion pictures took over.
A narrow tunnel of silence surrounded her.
It wasn’t the first time to happen, but again
She was oblivious to the repeat event.

The laws of passion caused,
A momentary void, a time continuum rift.
Yes, age old passion makes the mind drift.
What can reel it back in? Absolute fear.
Life changing, yes maybe someone would hear.

The laws of nature unchanged.
The stalker carves out his silent territory
Writes the beginning and end to his story,
Oblivious if he has all the details right.
He’s confident that he needs to stay out of sight.

The laws of love unchallenged.
So he drags himself back into the sunlight
Hiding any wounds from his last fight.
Determined not to fight and lose again
He kept silent and instead picked up his pen.

By Dave Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs

Picture credits