Citizens of the sky

CITIZENS OF THE SKY (D A D G A E, capo 3)

(Italicised lyrics taken from Joanne Kyger’s poem “Finger Pointing at the Moon Is Not the Moon”)

 

Say goodnight to the small field of daffodils while doves and sparrows pass overhead.

Stars as grand citizens of the sky appear near dazzled moon.

Still possible to read under its full light.

 

Doors of the little palace open. Messages go out. What happened last night?

It was that meteor flashing like a runaway gazelle down the coast.

 

And the world starts to turn.

A gaping mouth swallows me whole.

I tumble and roll until I’ve been tumbling rolling so long it doesn’t feel like I’m tumbling and rolling anymore.

Only notice when I stop.

Something like a camera flash in the distance.

 

An ocean lies between tumbling and not tumbling.

Turning and not turning.

And once we start swimming we get swept by the currents.

Carried by the waves.

And the longer we stay the harder it is to remember what the earth felt like.

If it wasn’t for gravity I’d be swimming in the stars right now.

 

Say goodnight to the small field of daffodils while doves and sparrows pass overhead.