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 your answer

Lace around the collars of the blouses of the ladies

Flowers from a Spanish friend of the family

The embroidery 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

And 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