Albatross

The lady comes to the gate dressed in lavender and leather

Looking north to the sea she finds the weather fine

She hears the steeple bells ringing through the orchard

All the way from town

She watches seagulls fly, silver on the ocean

Stitching through the waves, the edges of the sky

Many people wander up the hills from all around you

Making up your memories and thinking they have found you

They cover you with veils of wonder as if you were a bride

Young men holding violets are curious to know if you have cried

And tell you why and ask you why any way you answer

Lace around the collars of the blouses of the ladies

Flowers from a Spanish friend of the families

The embroid'ry of your life holds you in and keeps you out but you survive

Imprisoned in your bones behind the isinglass windows of your eyes

And in the night the iron wheels rolling through the rain

Down the hills through the long grass to the sea

And in the dark the hard bells ringing with pain

Come away alone

Even now by the gate with your long hair blowing

And the colors of the day that lie along your arms

You must barter your life to make sure you are living

And the crowd that has come, you give them the colors

And the bells and wind and the dream

Will there never be a prince who rides along the sea and the mountains

Scattering the sand and foam into amethyst fountains

Riding up the hills from the beach in the long summer grass

Holding the sun in his hands and shattering the isinglass?

Day and night and day again the people come and go away forever

While the shining summer sea dances in the glass of your mirror

While you search the waves for love and your visions for a sign

The knot of tears around your throat is crystallizing into your design

And in the night the iron wheels rolling through the rain

Down the hills through the long grass to the sea

And in the dark the hard bells ringing with pain

Come away alone, come away alone with me