The Great Blue Heron (Song of Solomon)

Did you skip rocks on the water then On the river near your backyard? Did you catch minnows in your cupped hands Like a pelican over the water I have these visions inside my head Technicolor pictures of you When I walk to the office from the subway Off at Rockefeller Center I know the great green rushes grow green Out all over the water I see a great blue heron on the river's edge Flying off in the distance He reminds me of you A real magnificent creature Did you draw symbols in the dirt then With twigs from the trees in your town? Did you make magic with leaves and the branches Like a little pansy dancing in autumn? I remember hiking in the Black Hills With my maps and your sense of direction Walking about amongst God's creation Just like Adam and Eve in the garden I know the shape of the Douglas fir And the Aspen leaves of the forest I hear the wind rustling through the Trees all around us. Like a chorus I'm reminded of you Did you build campfires back then Strike the steel to the flint on the pyre Did you catch cold swimming in the water With the chill of winter still lingering there? I remember camping in the deep woods When the winds came upon us so quickly And there isn't a thing in all of this tarnation That could make me forget about it I see those dark clouds billowing on Over the horizon I smell the earth and grass on the Breath of the storm at the tree line Like a bulwark, and I think of you With your nose to the wind Did you carry buckets full of sand then On the beach over your spring vacation? Did you build castles that reached to the Heavens As I know only your imagination could I have these visions inside my head These Technicolor pictures of you When I'm stuck on the subway over the river Down from Brooklyn to the heart of the big city I hear the great deep water rushing out All over the shoreline I feel the ocean waves crashing down all around us In the darkness, I'm reminded of you A real magnificent creature