Autumn Leaves

It's only when the high winds blow

That I wish my hair was long

Sailing through the autumn leaves

Singing an ancient song

Or falling in love in the streets at night

At the edge of a local square

It's only that I'm here tonight

Thinking I was there

There are high winds on the pier tonight

My soul departs from me

Striding like Thalia's ghost south

On the murky sea

And into midnight's tapestry she fades

Ragged and wild

Searching down her ancestry

In the costume of a Persian child

And gulf winds bring me flying fish

That shine in the crescent moon

Show me the horizon

Where the dawn will break anew

And cool me here on this lonely pier

Where the heron are flying low

Echo the songs my father knew

In the towns of Mexico

When I was young my eyes were wise

My father was good to me

Instead of having a flock of sons

He had two other girls and me

And if we had used our Spanish names

Here's the way they'd run

Thalia, Margarita and Juanita

I'm the middle one

The screen door kept the demons in

As we moved from town to town

It's hard to be a princess in the States

When your skin is brown

And mama smoothed my worried brow

As I leaned on the kitchen door

Why do you carry the weight, she said

Of the world and maybe more?

And gulf winds bring me flying fish

That shine in the crescent moon

Show me the horizon

Where the dawn will break anew

And cool me here on this lonely pier

Where the heron are flying low

Echo the songs my father knew

In the towns of Mexico

My grandfathers were ministers

And it came on down the line

My father preached in his parents

Church when he was ten years and nine

And mama dressed in parishioner's

Clothes and didn't believe in hell

Her daddy fought the DAR

If he'd lived I'd have known him well

They said go find a Sunday School

We must have tried them all

I never stole from the silver plate

My sisters had more gall

One preacher said sing out loud and clear

It's the only life you've got

And the next one said be good on earth

You've another life at the feet of God

And gulf winds bring me flying fish

That shine in the crescent moon

Show me the horizon

Where the dawn will break anew

And cool me here on this lonely pier

Where the heron are flying low

Echo the songs my father knew

In the towns of Mexico

My father turned down many a job

Just to give us something real

It's hard to be a scientist in the States

When you've got ideals

And mama kept the budget book

She kept the garden, too

Bought fish from the man on Thursday

Fed all of us and strangers, too

But time will pass and so, alas

Will most of what we know

Though tonight my memory's eye is

Clear as the story's being told

And I'll play ball with the underdog

And sit with the child who's wrong

Be still when the earth is silent

And sing when my strength is gone

And gulf winds bring me flying fish

That shine in the crescent moon

Show me the horizon

Where the dawn will break anew

And cool me here on this lonely pier

Where the heron are flying low

Echo the songs my father knew

In the towns of Mexico

Now father's going to India

Sometime in the fall

They tried to stay together

But you just can't do it all

I'll think about him if he goes

There's a little gray in his hair

Though not much because he's Mexican

They don't age, they just prepare

And if he goes to India

I'll miss him most of all

He'll see me in the mudlarks' face

Hear me in the beggar's call

And mama will stay home, I guess

And worry if she did wrong

And I'll say a prayer for both of them

And sing them both my song

And gulf winds bring me flying fish

That shine in the crescent moon

Show me the horizon

Where the dawn will break anew

And cool me here on this lonely pier

Where the heron are flying low

Echo the songs my father knew

In the towns of Mexico