Here are the lyrics from Paula Foley's new album, "The Soul of Who She Is." Except where otherwise indicated, all lyrics below were written by Paula Foley and are copyright © 2001. Click on the highlighted titles below to hear a sample of the song in MP3 format.

WHERE I BELONG (For Rita)

Take me back to where I belong
Where the river flows into the bay.
Back to the place where the sky embraces the land
And my soul will be free.

Take me back to where eyes can meet
And hearts find peace in a smile
Where old people are needed
And children are allowed to be heard.

Chorus: I am going home, going home, going home
Where my spirit sings, where my spirit sings.

Take me home to November's sigh
Where endings are allowed to be
Where mystery is born in the chill of night time
And joy in the dawn of day.

Take me back where my spirit sings
To be cradled in fields of green
To be among kindred spirits of here and gone.

CROCUS & HYACINTH

The leaves are falling to the ground
The grass in the field is a thousand shades of brown
My heart has befriended this semi-dormant place

Hardly living ... Barely breathing ... Scarcely feeling ... but

Chorus: Crocus and Hyacinth
Wait in the frozen earth
Expectantly
For the first caress of spring
I am waiting too!
Warm sun -Caress my brokeness

The geese are taking flight now
Instinct leads them to a soft more gentle air
Instinct leads me blindly through this winter of my heart

Mostly numb ... Mostly ache ... Mostly lost ... but

DISCOVERY

There are many ways to say I love you
Many words to express feelings deep within
You tried to love me in your fashion
And in my fashion I could not let you in.

Chorus: I don't know why I didn't believe before
I know that I couldn't see before
Your integrity, your tenderness
Now I'm trembling at the edge of your beauty
I see clearly, I see clearly
Your actions say more than my words.

It's been hard to let go and receive your love
there's so much I don't know about loving me.
I never felt I was enough no matter how I tried
And I've hurt you now because of the hurt in me.

I AM ENRAGED
(Reprinted by permission of artist Carolyn McDade)

I am enraged that children die with bellies round
while fields once of grain are graveyards of bombs
that people live in shacks of discarded tin,
while we with our scriptures, pretend, pretend.

I am enraged that words can mean most anything
that missiles are hailed like promise of spring
that peace can mean the threat that millions die
we stand midst our weapons friends we lie, we lie.

I am enraged that we invoke the voice of God
To bless our gold, our guns and rod
we turn the day against our sister night
and seek of peace my friends with guns and might

I am enraged that women cast aside, unheard
are robbed of our children as well as our word
our bodies raped, our souls too like slaves, like foe
but now we know my friends, we know, we know.

So thus in rage, my heart doth leap my hands do rise
and I must choose to care or despise
if we dare see the fury within the dove
then dare we to labor friends,with love ... with love.

WILD HEARTED
Based upon the poem "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good
You do not have to ask forgiveness
For the life you have been given.
Let the wild- hearted muse of your body
Love what it loves.

CHANGED

You are here so I can love you
You are here because we've dreams to dream
miracles still happen between us as we gaze into each other's eyes
I am changed inside by your love.

Chorus: I am changed.
I am changed by your love
I am changed, changed by your love.

May I hold you
Your body tired and broken
May I lie with you as you take your leave.
I've cherished our lives together
though thirty years doesn't seem enough
I've been changed inside by your love.

WOMAN

Woman, woman, woman

Chorus: Woman dance your prayer, sweat your pain and move on. mmm hmm
Woman dance your prayer, sweat your pain and move on. hmm
There's life within your body and your spirit's growin' strong.

We were born to say yes, we were born to say no!
We were born to say yes, we were born to say no!
Say Yes when we mean Yes, say No when we mean No!

Too many years of silence, always smiling, always sweet.
Too many years of living their patriarchal creed.
We don't travel in a straight line
Life's not black and white you see.

Dance, Dance, Woman, Dance, Dance, Dance your Prayer
Move, Move, Woman, Move , Move, Move your Body
Your Spirit is on Fire ...

We have a woman body, woman big and woman small.
We have a woman hunger and we want to taste it all
Woman's spirit's rising, we're answering the call.

Give birth to your power, give birth to your need.
Give birth to your body's luscious sensuality.
Feel the pulsing of your heartbeat
Feel the pulsing of your dreams.
We're alive now! So ... (Chorus)

PRECIOUS FRIEND

Peace go with you,
Peace go with you,
Precious Friend

Times of healing
Holding hearts in your heart
Opening to the pain
And the hope that lies within

Ah ... the Mystery, Ah ... the Mystery ...the Mystery

Yellow sunflowers
Yellow snapdragons
Yellow hair of grandchildren

There is hope here, There is hope here, There is hope
Ah ..Sweet Mystery, Sweet Mystery

Peace go with you,
Peace go with you ......
Precious Friend

BAREFOOTED WOMAN

Chorus: Come in.
Come into the water
You barefooted woman, come into the water as deep as you dare

Come in. Come into the water.
Leave expectation behind you
It's fear that binds you
It's love that defines you
Come in.Come into the water.

Your nine year old girl child
she holds the answers
she is waiting deep inside you longing to be free
to be free,to be free

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, luia, Alleluia, luia, Alleluia.

PROCLAMATION

Some say, unrequited love
Keeps us constantly searching.
Ah, but I am haunted instead
By what I could not give to you

Never free to take my lover into the river
Naked, dripping, sweet aliveness on our skin.
Never once to throw our hands into the sky
Screaming to hell with rules and conformity:

No explosions of passion
No walking outside the lines
No, no, ah - ah - ah

Time has softened my body
Cleared the clutter of guilt from my soul
I know who I am from inside of me
That's where I should've started
A long, long time

Oh-oo
I will claim this love, I will proclaim this love
I will claim this love, I will proclaim this love.
I will take my woman's body to the river
And dance on the banks for you.
Yes, I will in my woman's body throw my fists in the air for you
And I will sing out our names for you
And I will dance on the banks for you and me

And na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na na, na, na, na,
na, na, na, na, na na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.