The Ballad of Gideon Stargrave

In a city full of strangers,
or a town that's drowned in dreams,
I'm the albatross, awaiting flight;
a soldier's greatest scheme
before his life and pride are blown apart.
Locked on target for her heart:
His pen's his only missile that he flies.
But he's still stuck somewhere
between himself and I.

Oh, if I could be him
he wouldn't have to be me.
There's an albatross around my neck
and we both know what that means.

So he's offering his blessing
to the boy out in the cold
because he's given all that he can give.
He's left with just a face,
and though the girls all swear he's handsome,
it's just not to his taste.
Without his arms, without a neck,
without his feet, without a heart,
he's more than alive,
and that's more than a start.

He gave me most of his mind.
He asked me to write,
to color his life
but a poet is lost
when his life is all right;
when the girls are in love;
when he sleeps through the night
without a sound.

July '06