From the recording The Words We Once Remembered

The Words We Once Remembered emerged from a reflection on one of the messages by Mary Magdalene in The Seven-Fold Path. As I sat with the message, I found myself contemplating a simple but profound possibility: What if the deepest truths of our existence are not things we must learn, but things we once knew and have forgotten?
The song begins with a vision found throughout the world's great mystical traditions: that the Creator is not distant, but present everywhere. The Divine is discovered not only in sacred texts and temples, but in rivers and mountains, in the laughter of children, in wildflowers, sunsets, birdsong, and the quiet beating of the human heart.
Musically, the song blends the storytelling warmth of Americana and neo-folk with the emotional lift of symphonic rock. Listeners may hear echoes of the spiritual wonder of Van Morrison's Into the Mystic, the poetic expansiveness of Walt Whitman, the mystical nature imagery of John Denver, the contemplative spirituality of George Harrison, and the cinematic emotional rise of artists such as Josh Groban, Mumford & Sons, or The Moody Blues. Yet at its heart, the song remains rooted in a simple folk tradition: ordinary people remembering something extraordinary.
Thematically, the song stands alongside the great remembrance traditions found in many spiritual paths. It echoes the ancient Christian idea that humanity has forgotten its divine inheritance, the Platonic vision of anamnesis, the remembering of eternal truths, and the insights of modern depth psychology, where Carl Jung suggested that beneath the conscious personality lies a deeper Self that has always known who we truly are.
The central image of the song is not one of sin, failure, or separation, but of forgetfulness.
We wandered.
We became distracted.
We built armor around our hearts.
We learned anger, fear, envy, and struggle as tools of survival.
Yet beneath all of it, the original song of the soul remained intact.
The chorus captures this remembrance:
"They're the words we once remembered,
Before we wandered far from home..."
As the song unfolds, nature itself becomes a teacher. Brooks, rivers, flowers, sunsets, birds, and beloved companions become living scriptures. The world is revealed not as an obstacle to God, but as a continual expression of Divine Presence. Every experience becomes a doorway through which the forgotten words of Love may once again be heard.
The bridge marks a turning point. The listener is invited to lay down the old weapons of fear and separation and enter a deeper way of knowing. Ideas, concepts, words, images, and beliefs gradually give way to something more direct:
Knowing.
Recognition.
Remembrance.
The awakening of the Light within.
By the final chorus, the song arrives at its ultimate message: beneath every story we have told about ourselves lives the original child of wonder, the beloved child who existed before fear, before division, before forgetting. The Voice that called us into existence has never stopped calling.
In many ways, The Words We Once Remembered serves as both a spiritual ballad and a musical meditation. It is a song of return, a song of recognition, and a song of homecoming.
For those walking the path of the Awakened Heart, it offers a simple invitation:
Listen closely.
The words have never left you.
They are still singing within your heart.
Love.
Joy.
Home.

Lyrics

THE WORDS WE ONCE REMEMBERED
(Neo-Folk • Symphonic Rock • Americana Spiritual Ballad)
E. Craig Hendricks
[Verse 1]
(Fingerpicked acoustic guitar, soft piano, distant strings)
The Creator's all around you,
In the mountains and the rain,
In the sparrow's song at sunrise,
In the starlight's ancient flame.
Closer than your own heartbeat,
Nearer than your name,
Love's been callin' softly
Like a long-forgotten refrain.
[Verse 2]
(Mandolin joins, strings slowly rising)
Before your first remembrance,
Before your first tear fell,
Before the roads of sorrow,
Before the stories you would tell,
The Creator spoke a blessing
Deep within your soul,
Words older than the rivers,
Older than the stars that roll.
[Pre-Chorus]
Can you hear them in the silence?
Can you feel them in the air?
Like a child's bright laughter ringing,
They are waiting everywhere.
[Chorus]
(Full band enters, soaring harmony)
They're the words we once remembered,
Before we wandered far from home,
Before we crossed the fields of forgetting,
Thinking we were all alone.
Still they sing inside our blood,
Still they echo through our bones,
Calling every heart to awaken,
Calling every child back home.
[Verse 3]
(Fiddle enters)
Hear the brook upon the stones now,
Hear the river softly pray,
Watch the golden light of morning
Push the shadows all away.
Smell the flowers in the garden,
Feel the evening jasmine rise,
Every leaf and every meadow
Carries whispers from the skies.
[Verse 4]
Touch the hand of one you cherish,
Hold them close beneath the sun,
Taste the sweetness of creation,
See how all of life is one.
Every sunset, every sunrise,
Every wave upon the sea,
Sings the song the world remembers
When the heart is finally free.
[Pre-Chorus]
Can you hear them in the stillness?
Can you feel them drawing near?
Past the noise of fear and struggle,
Past the armor built from fear?
[Chorus]
(Bigger orchestration, choir harmonies)
They're the words we once remembered,
Before we wandered far from home,
Before we crossed the fields of forgetting,
Thinking we were all alone.
Still they sing inside our blood,
Still they echo through our bones,
Calling every heart to awaken,
Calling every child back home.
[Bridge]
(Music falls to piano, cello, and voice)
Lay down anger...
Lay down envy...
Lay down every wound you've worn.
Lay down all the ancient battles
You were never meant to carry on.
The war is ending...
The remembering begins...
Ideas...
Concepts...
Thoughts...
Words...
Images...
Signs...
All becoming something deeper...
Knowing.
Recognition.
The awakening of the Light within.
[Final Chorus]
(Full symphonic lift, drums, choir, strings soaring)
We're the children who remembered
What the world could not erase,
The firstborn hearts of wonder
Still reflected in Love's face.
We were known before the ages,
Before the turning stars began,
And the Voice that called us into being
Is still calling us again.
Still calling us again...
[Outro]
(Choir, strings, acoustic guitar fading)
And slowly like the morning,
Over every distant hill,
The words we once remembered
Are singing through us still.
Love...
Joy...
Home...