(The CD also includes narrations, which are not written out here.)

PARADOX
Oh God, the spring is hard to bear! It steals upon me unaware, and barring all retreat, its beauty tramples on my heart with silver spiked feet. Eternal paradox of spring that pain to radiance should cling throughout the laughing land, that loveliness and loneliness should travel hand in hand.

TWILIGHT SONG
Do you hear my music through the doors of night; can you hear my cry past the dark twilight? I light a candle as the evening turns, take down my guitar and sing all I've learned. I watch the mute flight of darkness spurned; minor scales ascend as the candle burns. Can you hear my cry past the dark twilight; do you hear my music through the doors of night?

A MESSAGE
For I have walked this way before and I have met this fear before. I have walked through this dark place before. And I remember now how after comes the peace. Yes I remember now how after comes the peace. And I will make it through this night, through this terror, toward the light. Yes I have walked through this dark place before. And I remember now how after comes the peace. Yes I remember now and I will walk this way again. So you will make it through this night through this terror, through this night, for I remember now. I remember now how after comes Your peace. Your light.

PEACE
I went to Heaven, you were there. You held my head gently in the circle of your arms. Your smile was sweeter than ever. You spoke to me tenderly. "Everything's fine, all is well. You are safe everything's as it should be. I feel your peace, I feel you here, I'm glad to see you again." The light from your face, the warmth of your embrace, surround me keeping us safe. The trust that I knew of you when you were here tells me that all is well. We walked the lane within the woods you and I together again with daffodils blooming, sweet spring in the air. We talked without words. "All is well, you are safe. Everything's as it should be. I feel your peace, I feel your love, and I will see you again."

THE WEAVER
My life is just a weaving between my Lord and me. I cannot choose the colors, but He weaveth steadily. Sometimes He weaveth sorrow and I in foolish pride forget He sees the upper and I the underside. Not until the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reasons why the dark threads are as needful in the Weaver's gentle hands as the ones of gold and silver and the path that He has planned.

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL
Won't you buy a match, sir? Won't you buy one from me? My hands are cold. I'm all alone this New Year's Eve. Won't you buy a match ma'am? Won't you buy one today? If you don't buy one, I might try one anyway.
Then right before her a comfortable fire. "Oh, how lovely, a big polished stove! Where did it come from? I am so happy! Oh! But where did it go?"
Won't you buy a match sir? Won't you buy one from me?
Now right before her a great dinner table. "My, what a luscious holiday feast. Apples and plums and a roast goose in gravy. Oh my! He's hopping to me!"
I think I'll light another. Think I'll try one more time.
Suddenly it was so bright all around her. "Oh, what a wonderful gay Christmas tree. Thousands of candles beaming good tidings. Beaming good tidings to me!" Why now just one candle? See it float away. Could it be a soul finally being whole like Grandma used to say?
Right then the girl lit the whole bunch of matches. "Grandmother, you're such a beauty today! The light is so brilliant, I feel like we're flying! Oh Heaven, take me away!"
When they found the Match Girl, her body cold and blue. No one knew the story; no one knew the glory she'd been through.

LYNN'S LULLABY
You come to me soft one, tenderly touching my breast with to your cheek. I love you so, I love you so, I watch you growing. You come, sweet one, to me laughingly catching my heart with your eyes. I love you so, I love you so, I watch you growing. You come to me quiet one, hiding, hurting, moving away. I cannot find you - what have we done? Watching you going away. You come to me peacefully, tenderly, your babe at your breast with his cheek. I love you so, I love you so, watching you growing, growing, growing- knowing me again at last.

LEARNING TO LIVE
I'm learning to trust there is an order within. I'm learning to hold on and to let go. I'm learning to accept and I'm learning to forgive. I'm learning to live. I'm learning to die. I'm learning to speak up and I am learning to speak out. I'm wanting to look deep within my soul. I'm learning to hold on to love and to let go of fear. I'm learning to live. I'm learning to die. I know that you have always been my healing and I am grateful for the joy and for the pain. I'm learning to love you all over again. There's so far to go and I have come so far. I'm learning to hold onto love and to let go of fear. I'm learning to live. I'm learning to die.

LIFTING ME HIGH
I'm falling in love all over again with the power, the power of music. Its strong arms are holding me, lifting me high, holding me close like a lover. I feel myself made whole again. It's lifting me high, holding me, holding me like a lover. I'm falling in love all over again with the beauty, the magic of music. It lifts my soul to depths I never knew, holding me close like a lover. This magic of music now lives within me and I am again now alive, for I am held safely with you in my heart, my life rests here in your hands, holding me close like a lover. I feel myself made whole again. It's lifting me high, holding me, holding me like a lover.

LIFE IS SO PRECIOUS
Life is so precious, it's a treasure, you have permission to feel it now. Live it to its fullest, find your pleasure, live it to its fullest each day. Joy is so precious, let's take it, let's give it the space within us to grow. Grow it like a flower, it blooms forever, more than you will ever know. Even grief is a precious gift to us; it's okay to feel the pain. When you see it as a gift you will understand that sorrow's to the flower like rain. Because Love is so precious, you can share it, you treasure it and share it and let it grow. Then you will live to the fullest, then you're there, it is all that you will ever need to know.

Review from the June 2000 issue of "Whole Life Times"

Marcia Boyesen was well pregnant with her seventh child when she was felled by a brain tumor rendering her paralyzed and mute. She and child survived only for Boyesen to be struck with a second and third tumor, provoking her to activate the music career she had sidelined: during a flight out of the country for treatment, she began writing music, a process that helped her get through her ordeal and healing process. Wanting an accompanist "who was not only proficient in both piano and guitar, but who was a composer with a classical heart," the recovered singer/lyricist Boyesen teamed up with Dr. Roger Latzgo.

In 1993, the pair released "Who Knows Where Time Goes," and in 1995 provided music and narration for The Ever-Reaching Hills, a novel by Dr. Cedric King. With their attention-grabbing, folk-influenced songs and uplifting, motivating ballads, Boyesen and Latzgo became regulars on the small club and festival circuits.

Now, A Music Healing...One Woman's Journey from Darkness into Light, is here. Boyesen's voice is rich and clear, with operatic tone and diction. It reflects the remarkable strength that she has had to cultivate to survive. Several sweetly-intoned "narrations" separate the "Music Healing" program into three segments: "Introduction," "The Nearness of the Other World," and "Personal Responses." Body, mind, and soul support are discussed through vibrations, rhythms, tones, and melodies in simple but intense songs accompanied by piano or guitar.

"A Message" is about overcoming the darkness of terror to embrace the light, and the gentle guitar with it is a joy. "The Weaver" affirms Boyesen's relationship with God, and her renewed love of music gleams in the ballad "Lifting Me High." Adorned with crystalline piano, "Lynn's Lullaby" is dedicated to Boyesen's oldest daughter Lynn. "Learning to Live" has a fun, folky sound and, after the spoken passage "A Final Comment," the spirited "Life is So Precious" closes the album.

Through her releases, Boyesen seeks to offer "courage and hope to others." Playing benefit concerts for the National Brain Tumor Foundation in San Francisco and leading healing seminars for the American Cancer Society, she keeps moving in the light.

Review by Stacy Meyn
Whole Life Times, June 2000