Joanna Newsom Follow

Svetlana sucks lemons across from me

And I am progressing abominably

And I do not know my own way to the sea

But the saltiest sea knows its own way to me

And the city that turns, turns protracted and slow

And I find myself toeing the embarcadero

And I find myself knowing the things that I knew

Which is all that you can know on this side of the blue

And Jaime has eyes black and shiny as boots

And they march at you, two-by-two, re-loo re-loo

When she looks at you, you know she's nowhere near through

It's the kindest heart beating this side of the blue

And the signifieds butt heads with the signifiers

And we all fall down slack-jawed to marvel at words

While across the sky sheet the impossible birds

In a steady, illiterate movement homewards

And Gabriel stands beneath forest and moon

See them rattle and boo, see them shake, see them loom

See him fashion a cap from a page of Camus

See him navigate deftly this side of the blue

And the rest of our lives will the moments accrue

When the shape of their goneness will flare up anew

And we do what we have to do, re-loo re-loo

Which is all you can do on this side of the blue

Oh it's all that you can do on this side of the blue