A Time to Share

The finale song number of "Care for Christmas?"...this song echoes in my mind. Perhaps beyond the rythmic meter and the repeating words, there is a deeper call. During this holiday season, may God truly help each one of us bear each other's burdens and let our deeds reflect the compassion of our Lord.

A time to share, a time to care,
A time each other’s burdens bear;
A time to feed with word and deed
Each hungry soul we see in need.

A time to hold and to behold
The helpless child in bitter cold;
A time to place a tearful face
Within the Savior’s warm embrace.

A time to heal, a time to feel
The love of God so pure and real;
A time to tell the sweet noel
About the Christ we know so well.

Beloved, let us love not merely with our words,
But may our deeds reflect the compassion of our Lord.

A time to share, a time to care,
A time each other’s burdens bear.
A time to love and tell them of
The ageless home we have above.

It's a Cold, Cold World

Even though this dramatic song from the climax hospital scene of "Care for Christmas?" has long been a 'scheduled-release' on this blog, the words of the song seem to rebuke me from the screen today. The world is cold and it pulls us with it. Oh may God help every one of us keep that warmth and glow within our hearts. May He help me set aside the envy, discontentment, vanity, and selfishness the world encourages...and let His love radiate from within me.

It’s a cold, cold world
Full of cold, cold things.
Don’t let it touch your heart
With the cold it brings.

It’s a cold, cold world
With a cheerless smile.
But if your heart is warm,
It may glow awhile.

So let the glow, so let the warmth,
Remain forever in your heart.
Despite the wind, despite the cold
That try to tear your soul apart.
The bitter world may bring you low,
Leave you in the dark,
But there’s a hope, and there’s a glow,
That you can keep within your heart.

So let the glow, so let the warmth,
Remain forever in our hearts,
Despite the wind, despite the cold
That try to tear our souls apart.
The bitter world may bring us low,
And leave us in the dark,
But there's a hope, and there's a glow,
That we can keep within our hearts.

I Don't Care

Probably the meanest song I've ever written, this is the third excerpt from "Care for Christmas?" and the song for the memorable Pilgrim sisters' quarrel scene. I could almost hear our director's voice pronouncing "A' don't kur" as she re-directs the scene again and again. While I like this work for its near-perfect craftsmanship and uniqueness, its words are the last words I hope I would think and utter during this Christmas season.

I don’t care what you think, what you like, what you say,
I don’t care what you can, what you may,
I don’t care where you are, where you go, where you stay,
I don’t care all about it anyway.

I don’t know why you shout, why you scream, why you cry,
I don’t know why you weep, why you sigh,
I don’t know what you want and why I should comply,
I don’t know why I even have to try.

Why do you have to act like this?
Why should this happen everyday?
Why can’t you stop being you for once
And just do things my way?

I don’t like how you move, how you sit, how you stand,
I don’t like everything you demand,
I don’t like how you make every wish a command,
I don’t think I will ever understand.

I don’t think you are good, you are smart, you are bright,
I don’t think you are nice, you are right,
I don’t think you are worth any more than a mite,
I don’t know why you’re putting up a fight!

The Busiest Time of Year

As the Christmas season approaches, the words in this "Care for Christmas?" office scene excerpt are coming true again. Even though these lyrics may be the weakest in the musical, I like them for their realism. With parties, presents, travels, and all the rest piling in during the holiday season, it really is becoming the busiest time of year...besides, this was the first (and perhaps only) rock song my mother ever wrote. It should be worth something just for that, hehe...

Richard:
Thank you cards to send away,
Christmas bonuses to pay,
Meetings, parties, everything upon one single date.
Five more messages to send,
Three return calls for this friend,
Gotta go within the hour, and goodness grace! I'm late!
Can't believe that Christmas's here...
The busiest time of year!

Jack:
Master Richard, please sign here,
Goods are late again, I fear.
Richard:
Not again! I needed all those stocks immediately.
Call them up and see if they
Will come faster if we pay
All the money through a check signed right away by me.
Can't believe that Christmas's here...
The busiest time of year!

Jack:
One contract done today,
Two will be for later.
Kim:
Sir, your wife is on the phone,
And she would like to talk.
Richard:
Kim, please tell her that I--
That I will be home shortly.
Can't believe that Christmas's here...
The busiest time of year!

It's Christmas

Perhaps due to my leisure, I have been prematurely pre-occupied with Christmas this year. Well, Christmas is a very happy time of year, so I am going to continue to indulge in my early nativity spirits.

This song is the grand opening number to our in-house, all-original Christmas musical production "Care for Christmas?" in December 2006. Involving almost the entire cast, it is a song that set the stage of "Christmastide" for the play, and I hope it does for reality today as well. It's Christmas, my friends! May glory be to God on high, on earth goodwill to men.

The Christmas lights are twinkling
In colors sharp and bright.
The Christmas trees are glistening
With branches green or white.
And Christmas shops are opening
From morning into night
While Christmas kids are caroling
With all their heart and might.

It’s Christmas, Christmas,
It’s Christmas once again.
May glory be to God on high,
On earth, goodwill to men.

The Christmas cards are sent away
To friends and family
As Christmas children laugh and play
Around the gleaming tree.
The Christmas figures on display
Reflect nativity
For Christmas time is on its way
In joy and gaiety.

It's Christmas, it's Christmas,
It's Christmas once again.
May glory be to God on high,
On earth goodwill to men.

Hong Kong, I Come

This is a simple poem I penned around the time of a recent visit to Asia's global city Hong Kong. Describing the impressions of a passenger on an arriving plane, this poem captures the feelings I have every time I approach the family's "favorite city."

A shining sleepless city,
Beneath the summer sky,
I scan the harbor city,
As soaring high I fly.

The sighs of hustling people,
The sounds of screaming trains,
The sight of scraping steeples,
Below the surfing plane.

As I the city sighted,
As engines lowly hum.
I catch my breath excited,
Hong Kong, once more I come.

Never Apart

I wrote these lyrics as an entry to an online contest last year. Written to the tune of Chinese celebrity Vicki Zhao's song "With and Against the Wind," this song has little classic content. Still, it won me the competition, it's sweet, and I'm happy.

Every echo in the wind,
Every whisper from the ocean,
Every hustle in the twilight air,
In love’s lasting song,
Every thunder in the night,
Every question from the nightingale,
Every shower from the waterfall,
In love’s lasting tale…

Tells me even though the universe
may keep us from each other,
There is nothing that can ever truly
separate our hearts…far apart…

Even if the ocean spans the world,
Every wave would repeat the lasting vow,
That we held so dear, clinging near and
Loving, trusting, holding to each other’s hands.
Even if the sun sets upon our love,
Every cloud would repeat all the promises,
That we made that day, on our way to
Recreating dreams made just for me and you.

Even if the matters of this world
may keep us from each other,
There is nothing that can ever truly
separate our hearts…far apart…

Even if the storm should steal the night,
Every lightning bolt would light the flight,
Of our fantasies, over seas and
Mountains, valleys, travelling years to the end.
Even if the waters flood the land,
Every echo of the falls would verify
Every single word, that it heard when
Laughing, dancing, we stood within it again.