Running Away
(With Robert Zimmerman in mind )


Still yearning he sang his songs all his days
Somehow his voice stayed truthful like always
Beyond the horizon he stood there still
He could observe from there an old windmill

He saw when the river rose to the crest
The only thing holding out the tempest
He reached out his hand and picked us all up
When we were dried, he offered us a cup

He had felt the earth move like that before
And he knew the time to return to shore
He sat by the fire and began to sing
About feeling true and letting freedoms ring

This my children is your new land of hope
Unload the shoulders and come
With your feet running swiftly up the slope
To where you can see the sun

This my chidren is where now you will build
That golden land of your dreams
If you're afraid I'll give you all a shield
You will see just how it gleams

O fathers mothers brothers and sisters
What things have you really learnt
Your leaders readers jeepers and jesters
Ran away before they got burnt

I'm not your cousin, not even a friend
I have always lived alone
I just happened to be at the right old bend
When the seeds were being sown

I can only give you just what you need
No more and not even less
The words of the prophets for you to heed
Didn't quite make the daily press

Where have they landed all my pretty ones
Those who will make the darling blue eyed sons
He asked as the people around him gathered
Feeling it was he who really mattered

He said, he was just a song and dance man
A storyteller with a simple plan
Where there are waves the monsoon winds will blow
The answers to why the waters must flow

At last he got up to say his farewell
He told them to go out and ring the bell
But the hands reached out crying out for more
He tripped, running away, as he opened the door

Lucignano, 26 11 2006