Sparrows on the Wire

[Female alto, expressive, resonant, English] [No percussion, breath and silence are part of the song] [Intro] [Solo felt piano, slow arpeggios, C# minor] [Warm analog pad enters low] [Three audible breaths, the exhale longer than the inhale] [Silence] [Verse 1] [Low alto, close, half-sung, unhurried rubato] Sparrows on the tram wire, spaced like someone measured them. My hand is halfway to my pocket, I leave it there. Two seconds and I'd know. I'd rather WONDER first. [Chorus] [Piano opens, A major light, voice resonant and full] Let me not know yet, let me hold it a while, a question warm in my hands, an answer I reach on foot. Let me not know yet, the slow one is MINE. [Stop] [One second of full silence] [Verse 2] [Pad drops away, piano alone, back to C# minor] Blocks that looked the same kept tipping in a small hand. She turned them, looked beneath, she asked WHY. Someone I have not met yet is waiting on that why. [Chorus] [Fuller but gentle, wider harmony, breath before each line] Let me not know yet, let me stay in the gap, three breaths, the long one out, then my guess, even wrong. Let me not know yet, half right, and the half is MINE. [Outro] [Piano thins to single notes, settles on A major] [Low alto, almost spoken] And when the answer comes, it opens one more door. [Breath] [Silence] [End]