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 family 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 you 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. --- Albatross - Judy Collins