9.22.2004

To Margaret

The sun picks out
a brown hair on my brown shirt
before I do,
resistant within the fibers.
If not for extraordinary length
and ringlet spring,
how could I have known it was yours?

Coated strands catalog essence,
outing the poisoned.
Your plump pods reveal
nothing so dramatic:
gray skies and evergreens,
salmon and Rainier cherries.
They say you've
never strayed, never
launched your grand tour,
Canada your farthest destination,
comfortable cities.

You can't hide, though, Margaret,
spinning, daring and shining in camouflage,
catching foreign suns.

And so on this grass
outside Southwark Cathedral,
I let this piece of you
release through my fingers,
a tendril feeler for this your journey.
It's a start—
now you've been to England.

9.17.2004

Year of Grace

lyrics & music by Amanda Caldwell

Download the mp3
Listen online at ReverbNation.com or below (track #2)



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For Percy

VERSE 1:

A clever disguise
to pretend you're no prize—
your secret's safe with me.

Your inanity
an excuse for vanity,
as English as afternoon tea.

Can I forgive your machinations,
lost in ostentation,
or surrender to disharmony?


CHORUS:

Do you hate this
inbred greatness
you can't hide,
you can't hide?

Your name a scarlet flower,
your love a fortified tower
I can't climb,
I can't climb.


VERSE 2:

Playing red rover
on the white cliffs of Dover,
but it's always yourself you send over.

My wilting contempt
my impoverished attempt
to forget what I fantasized.

Calculated disdain
just to cover up the tearstains
I can't hide,
I can't hide.


CHORUS:

Do you hate this
inbred greatness
you can't hide,
you can't hide?

Your name a scarlet flower,
your love a fortified tower
I can't climb,
I can't climb.

You must hate this
inbred greatness
you can't hide,
you can't hide.

Your name a scarlet flower,
your love a fortified tower
I can't climb,
I can't climb.


Playing red rover
on the white cliffs of Dover,
but it's never yourself you send over.

...

Send yourself over.



Official audio disclaimer/apology

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