Take the Road

I'm driving two ways at the same time
I'm walking the thin sanity line
With power poles providing measures
My heart pounds out the rhythmic pleasures

I see the horizon over the dashboard
But it's your love is on distant shore
I see your face reflected in each sign
But it's your place I just can't find

Take the road from my spine
The speed I'm going is a crime
My heart bleeds from the wound
I'm alone with this dark tune
Take the road from my spine
Your twisted barb's entwined
Take the road, Take the road from my spine

The night green eyes, the whine of the cycle
Fill the air with damp words of trifle
Would you care for a return
A shift in the plans from lessons learned

The black mane of your hair swings wide
Erasing any love you had left inside.
Crumpled and tossed out your window at night
Frozen in silence of the oncoming light (Chorus)

The lights flash red & blue
My heart beats to the tune
In the distance the puddles of the night
Shine red with blood in sight

The lies you lived are distant to me
Now gone for no one to see
I pass slowly in the left
Tonight you lost your last bet. (Chorus)


By Dave Schipper © 2013 Rose Riversongs

Indelibly

Incredibly soft.

Yes that’s how I know

Your lips, your hair.

Indelibly graceful

You, as you pass by

Mere feet away

Stunningly simple

Earth tones suit you well

From the sweater to scarf

Suspiciously quiet

In the middle of the dim

You’re the eye of my heart

Purely joyful

Pull up a chair and rest

Smile and raise a glass

With me.

By Dave Schipper © 2013 Rose Riversongs

Fashion becomes you....

There stands a vegetarian beauty

Dreadlocks and tenuous stature

I just wonder what’s her story

What came first, genes or nature?

Dress her in an Edwardian gown,

And she becomes a PBS star.

Her eyes are the deepest brown

While moving with free grace

Dress her in a wild orange paisley

And you have Colleen Corby

Just 21 and in the summer of love

While looking so adorable

There stands a confident girl

She can smile fully aware

That she can write her own story

And take whoever she’s dares.

Originally published March 21, 2012... but I thought it was to hard to read....

Lady Mary & Matthew (Season TWO)

Lonely the flower the blooms first in spring
Lonely the lady with no wedding ring
Stately she stands in gown so devine
Gently she weeps for him night after night

Mary’s a vision and he loves her dear
Pride and misfortunate has kept him from her
Fills with delight as he sees her each time
When will they be one he says in his mind

Humbly the servant prepares her to dine
Glances and pauses reveal her disguise
Matthew is coming; she’s brimming inside
Stoically she moves showing only her pride.

Precise the setting, and superb the wine.
Nothing compared to Mary at his side
Polite the manners, and coyly she smiles
Warming the eve in this cool British Isle.

The ballroom is empty; they stand face to face
He says it’s time to love and the past to erase
Snow falls and she smirkly says take a knee
Only to embrace with a passion so free.

Written by Dave Schipper to the Slane melody originally publish in Be thou my Vision in 1902 © 2012 Rose Riversongs.  I published this first on Febr. 10, 2012 and today I sit a little over a year later thinking I must write a Season three reprise.  It hard when the ending is much more blue; so we'll see if it happens.

Here's the melody that the piece is written to.



I couldn't help myself from singing it.... since I wrote as I was singing it.

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.

Pure Fiction

I’m not alone with my thoughts lately.
You are there each time.
And there is no reason for this.
While I find you sublime
Its pure fiction if you know I exist.

Your deep brown eyes are intoxicating.
The dimple when you smile
Your Arabian skin,
Highlight an understated style,
And makes me long to be in

In the inner circle to hear your voice
Social media can picture a slice
Provide context, place, and time
But no plot or script device
Just the red herring kind

So alone with my thoughts I write.
A storyline with plain words
One where two souls listen
Then laugh at the absurd.
Alas it merely, pure fiction.

By Dave Schipper © 2012 Rose Riversongs.

River Kate

We’re struck by the moon, listenin to the loon
A backwater tune that leaves us to soon

Oh River Kate
Let’s stay out to late, says the moon and the lake.
Oh River Kate
Got some time to wait, It’s sure no mistake.

The stories to tell, neath the old willow.
They got the same feel, as our own pillow.
Leave the bills behind, you don’t need a dime
I’ve got some wine, and we’re doin’ fine.

Midnight eyes, tender sighs
Warm embrace, little lace

Oh River Kate
Let’s stay out to late, says the moon and the lake.
Oh River Kate
Got some time to wait, It’s sure no mistake.

So we’re just moon struck, sittin in the truck
Whistlin with the loon, then leavin to soon.

River Kate by Dave Schipper © Rose River Songs 2004

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

Lady Mary & Matthew Crawley spring reading

The tree

The tree on Fourth and Main
Will turn 80 next week.
Of course the passerby’s
Don’t know or care;
But she did just like
Yesterday.

She was turning 87
Next week and feeling
A step away from heaven
Yet the memory is fresh
Right after school the first
Warm day.

Eighty years ago in spring
Dad said, “We need a tree
Out there this year.”
Mom wanted blossoms
Something purple
And bright.

Dad wanted just a steady oak,
She exclaimed “no shade for years,
And just attracts squirrels”
Ah but we’re here
For the long haul and
He won.

Dad nurtured the tree making
It stronger every year until
It stands tall in a city
Still small overlooking the
Mighty Mississippi
From a hill

So she sighs looking out the window
Its cloudy and no one will come
No visitors today but that’s ok,
Alone like that oak
She sits tall and ponders
Her history.

By Dave Schipper © 2012 Rose Riversongs

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

The Eyes of March waltz

The eyes of this March morn
Are the eyes of a sultress
A lady, and an actress

Her picture captured the day
The grays were there
But sparkled so aware

Spin, spoon, sing to June
March will move on
So April, be gone.

Spin, Spoon, sing this tune
To March’s gray eyes
The smiles, the sighs.

Her eyes danced up to me
With her smile she protrayed
The promise of a spring day

She bloomed pinks and blues
The grays were gone
Replaced with sweet song

Spin, spoon, sing to June
March will move on
So April, be gone.

Spin, Spoon, sing this tune
To March’s gray eyes
The smiles, the sighs.

by Dave Schipper (c) 2012/2009 Rose Riversongs

Photo of Lady Grantham or Elizabeth McGovern

Rising Eagle

Earth’s heart beat pulses inside
The century’s stories are etched in stone.
The sky is within my arm’s reach
While I walk my spiritual path alone.

Pierce my heart
Release the stars
My spirit’s found
My hidden path
Pierce my heart
And I will start
Singing songs
All journey long

I listen to the choir of nature.
Surrounded in smoke from a distant fire
I take on wings and ascend high
Above the pines and mighty fir

Above the trees I see the truth
The great one is in harmony with us
She’s writing a story in epic length
But I worry we’ve lost her trust.


by Dave Schipper © 2007 Rose Riversongs

Wounded Heart

Your warming smile is light, in the morn, in the morn.
Forbidden love is planted and born.
What secrets your dark eyes, reveal thru your disguise.
My wounded heart rests in your arms, in your arms.
My wounded heart rests in your arms.

Love is a soft light,
A wind in the night
Words can be a call
The softest of all.
But you in the end
Are lover and friend.
But you in the end
Are lover and friend.

Time is a fleeting wind, thru my soul, thru my soul.
Just grains of sand to try and hold.
Was it yesterday, when you asked me to stay
My wounded heart has no control, no control.
My wounded heart has no control

My wounded heart
was not torn apart
But batter’d bruised
right from the start.
Now in your eyes
A glint a spark
Ignite a new fire
in this wounded heart.

Love is a soft light,
A wind in the night
Words can be a call
The softest of all.
But we in the end
Are lovers and friends.
But we in the end
Are lovers and friends.

by Dave Schipper © 2006 Rose Riversongs