|
IDEAS ARE LIKE STARS
(Mary Chapin Carpenter)
Today Joseph is sitting alone, with occasional nods to the
waitress
She tops off his cup while she's snapping her gum, making her
rounds on the lunch shift
Counting out coins, he leaves them arranged, in neat lines and
circles and arcs
She just stares at the tip that spells out her name and ideas
are like stars
And yesterday pedaling down 4th Avenue, between the stalls and
the bookshops
The sepia tones of a lost afternoon cradled a curio storefront
And inside the air was thick with the past, as the dust settled
onto his heart
And here for a moment is every place in the world and ideas are
like stars
They fall from the sky, they run round your head
They litter your sleep as they beckon
They'd teach you to fly without wires or thread
They promise if only you'd let them
For the language of longing never had words, so how did you
speak from your heart
Yet here is a box that swears it has heard that ideas are like
stars
Tonight Joseph stood out in the yard, as Debussy played from the
kitchen
Celestial companions `til mornings first lark, shone overhead
and he listened
And who was that shadow there by the gate, who was that there
standing guard
It was only loneliness, and loneliness waits, and ideas are like
stars
Ideas are like stars |
