Erosion (Yesterday's Dreams) . Poem by Albert Ralph

EROSION
June –August 1983

Obviously, buoyed and happier than the last song. This song always seemed to be to be a Neil Young song. If I could do the voice, that’s how I would sing it.
This song is about the creation of character in a person. As the tides of troubles wash against you, you always seem to lose a little something, whether it is youthful innocence, or character faults, like vanity. What is left behind is victory, that which has passed through the tough times and survived. It may not always feel like victory, it may feel an awful lot like pain sometimes, but what comes through is victory, and wisdom, (or at least wisdom should be what comes through.) A.R.





Yesterday’s love’s blown away in a storm.
Yesterday’s dreams have gone by your door.
Echoes are the shadows of the words you let slip away.

Dreams may be sweet, but awakening’s rude.
Tears are the prisms, love’s lost light passes through.
Memories are windows you can see, but not pass through the pane. Until it’s broken.

Wave after wave breaks on your rocky shore.
But each wave rolls away, still you stand as before.
Another grain of sand drops, you’re older, and wiser you pray.

For a stone to throw through the window,
For a way to get through the pain.
For a sign in the sky to show you the way.
Take a look at the rain,
And how it makes things grow.

Fear is a sculptor, that shapes you as you age.
Pain is the chisel, that cuts away the rage.
Carving away at your vanity,
As the sea carves away at the rocky shore.
Washing away your sanity
‘Till you’re sure that you’ve got nothing more.

But, like the sand in an hourglass,
With each grain gone, a moment’s past.
So you lose a little of your sand,
But the stronger stone remains.

So you’ve given up your weaker part,
But the sea can never salt your heart.
‘Cause it can’t destroy, what it can’t reach
and you’ll rise and start again.

Yesterday’s pain’s blown away, no more storm.
Yesterday’s tears have gone dry once more.
Echoes are the shadows of the words that had to be said.

Dreams are renewed and awakening’s keen.
Tears are the prisms through which wisdom is seen.
Memories are windows on the good times we shared, between the pains.

There’s no way to get through the window,
But there’s a way to get through the pain.
There’s a sign in the sky to show you the way.
Just remember the rain, and how it makes things grow.