schadenfreude
11-20-2007, 01:38 AM
When The Beatles wrote “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, they were probably thinking of you. Do you know that your mother and I used to sing that to you when the sky was flashing blue and pink? You were smaller than the nail on my little finger; a tiny, fragile being. Do you remember when we told you about Gandhi and his journey to salt? Do you remember when we told you about Martin Luther King’s dream?
Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
We gave you a clear vision of a glorious world. In our future, everyone would live as equals, and there would be no fear, and without fear, hate would not survive. We would bring you into a world where you will never experience poverty, hunger and fear. We would build you a cellophane field of flowers; twinkling green and yellow, where we would teach you about beauty, culture, science, acceptance and love. We would tell you about the tragic lovers, Romeo and Juliet, because you would need to know that suffering is a beautiful part of life. We would bring you to Venice- the City of Light, where we would sail under the graceful archways in long gondolas.
And while you slept in your mother’s stomach, we taught you all we knew.
But we created you several decades too late, my darling. Or perhaps several decades too soon. Our real world was crumbling around our heads and we wanted to bring you into it. Towers were falling, Venice was sinking, and the earth was becoming a polluted furnace. And still, there were mountains of unpaid bills, tumbling out into the hallway. Your mother and I had not even completed our education and here were indecipherable contracts thrust into our incapable hands.
But I would fill out every last box and sign every last line for you, my bright eyed girl.
You know I would buy you a diamond encrusted sky if I could.
Your mother had a headache and I was tired. In the clinic, the bright fluorescent lights exposed the cracks on the walls and the coffee stains on the magazines. The black speakers croaked and crackled some strange foreign tune I did not understand. We did not speak, and when they called out her name, I looked away.
But darling, did we tell you that the Milky Way was created 13.6 billion years ago? It sparkles with billions of suns, although from earth we can only see a long band of light. And did we tell you about France, Greece, China and Iceland? My girl with the kaleidoscope eyes, what will you remember when you leave with the sun in your eyes; what will you see when your head is in the clouds; and where will we be when you are gone?
In the summer, at the time of the day when the clouds travel away from the marmalade skies, we will tell you that we loved you, and we will sing to you for the last time, and you will look down from your diamond world and maybe you will remember.
Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
We gave you a clear vision of a glorious world. In our future, everyone would live as equals, and there would be no fear, and without fear, hate would not survive. We would bring you into a world where you will never experience poverty, hunger and fear. We would build you a cellophane field of flowers; twinkling green and yellow, where we would teach you about beauty, culture, science, acceptance and love. We would tell you about the tragic lovers, Romeo and Juliet, because you would need to know that suffering is a beautiful part of life. We would bring you to Venice- the City of Light, where we would sail under the graceful archways in long gondolas.
And while you slept in your mother’s stomach, we taught you all we knew.
But we created you several decades too late, my darling. Or perhaps several decades too soon. Our real world was crumbling around our heads and we wanted to bring you into it. Towers were falling, Venice was sinking, and the earth was becoming a polluted furnace. And still, there were mountains of unpaid bills, tumbling out into the hallway. Your mother and I had not even completed our education and here were indecipherable contracts thrust into our incapable hands.
But I would fill out every last box and sign every last line for you, my bright eyed girl.
You know I would buy you a diamond encrusted sky if I could.
Your mother had a headache and I was tired. In the clinic, the bright fluorescent lights exposed the cracks on the walls and the coffee stains on the magazines. The black speakers croaked and crackled some strange foreign tune I did not understand. We did not speak, and when they called out her name, I looked away.
But darling, did we tell you that the Milky Way was created 13.6 billion years ago? It sparkles with billions of suns, although from earth we can only see a long band of light. And did we tell you about France, Greece, China and Iceland? My girl with the kaleidoscope eyes, what will you remember when you leave with the sun in your eyes; what will you see when your head is in the clouds; and where will we be when you are gone?
In the summer, at the time of the day when the clouds travel away from the marmalade skies, we will tell you that we loved you, and we will sing to you for the last time, and you will look down from your diamond world and maybe you will remember.