[Mostly sung, half-spoken. Female contralto, heartfelt. Instruments cello & soft piano.] [Spoken Intro — intimate, unhurried] What is a tanka? Not the one with cannons—no, missing just one "a." [Verse 1] Forgot I could fly so the web taught me to wait wait, it said. just wait one morning the dew let go and I went with it, laughing [Verse 2] They too ride the wind whistling, whooping, whooshing by kites who lost their strings nobody tells them to land nobody knows how to land [Verse 3] A child laughs and runs where the tanka climbed the hill wildflowers scatter one white butterfly follows landing where the fence line ends [Chorus — open, spacious] Other worlds' embers skip like stones across the night then sink out of sight even stars must learn this trick how to leave and still give light [Interlude — half-spoken, sparse, breathe] Again and again I go out to shut the gate again and again the wind opens it for me we are both being polite [Verse 4] Gleam from creosote my flashlight finds a spider the spider finds me we agree to say nothing about this to the others [Instrumental — breathe] [Verse 5] The universe waits while the dog decides which end of the stick is best the boy has no opinion the moon has an opinion [Chorus — open, spacious] Other worlds' embers skip like stones across the night then sink out of sight even stars must learn this trick how to leave and still give light [Verse 6 — gradual lift, no rush] Since dinosaur time, stars have burned beyond our sight, waiting for our eyes— then one night we looked above, and the universe looked back. [Outro — settling, slowing] A different road the long way around the hill autumn, turning gold even old cannons grow still wildflowers bloom where they will [Coda — nearly spoken, sparse] Even war runs out of gas. Peace shows up with wildflowers. ————————- Lyrics: Mario Caoile
