Paradise Revisited

[bnewman]

A journey to the Pardes, the garden or orchard of mystical insight.  Be careful!  It's easy to lose your way.

lyrics and music by Benjamin Newmn

 

listen to this song

 

/ Em A / / / C D /

 

The sages who sought for the Secret Power

Said G!d's Presence was a grove of trees

Apples and almonds in the fullness of flower

And their fragrance upon the breeze

 

And they knew G?d's Presence was One, and they knew

The trees whispered, one to another

I can hear them, too, when I'm open to You—

Protector and Teacher and Maiden and Mother

 

/ C D / G C / 1st / /

 

And the trees of the garden are singing

The many are One, but they're not the same

And the wind in the garden is bringing

All of their names back home to the Name

 

The Perfect Light from the first day of dawning

Still shines through the branches there

And seekers before us have given fair warning

Not everyone can handle the glare

 

Some have lost their way, some have lost their minds

And some say that the trees are just trees

But a soul's got to reckon with the tale she finds

In the plain truth of what she sees

 

And the birds in the treetops chatter

They say there isn't a G0d at all

They say that's just why it matters

Just which G*d you choose to call

 

In the old days, the grove was well-hidden

But men wrote its secrets down

And tourists began to arrive unbidden

For a glimpse of the the sacred ground

 

And we weren't prepared, or properly careful

We took what we thought to take

And yet, if we didn't quite know our peril

We knew something about a snake

 

But the snake only whispers, gently

As if it prefers to hide:

You've studied that tree intently

But are you sure that you've checked both sides?