Outside my window

There’s a cloud

Floating overhead

Instead of rain, it dropped a rope ladder down

That dangled just too high to reach

It floated merrily, merrily, merrily across the ocean

Over the water

The rungs of the ladder

Bouncing off the highest waves

Getting caught on a mountain, one day it came down in the cold

In a rain of colour and gold

And I cried out ‘If I was a just a little bit taller

Think of all the places I could soar’

But to live amongst these lights so long

Is what I moved to the city for

Outside my window

There’s a guy

Going off his head

At all hours of the day and of the night

He twists and writhes and almost falls into the street

Crying terribly, terribly, terribly out to no-one

A broken apostle

Said, ‘The world of humans is awful

There has never been a better time -

You believe in a lie’

But on summer nights when I write my songs

And the good old boys listen to reggaeton

In the car park outside the Travelodge

Outside my window

I see myself floating over to them

To offer all the guys a smoke

To be a part of the midnight salon

Is why I strayed away from home so long

Outside my window

There is a cloud coming in tonight

Rolling in and blocking out the light

Growing and blowing in year after year

Outside my window

What’s this I see?

That little cloud is coming back

With an olive branch between its teeth

It says, ‘Next time come with me’

And just at that moment, you came home

And that cloud scurried off - they scare easy you know

And for a second there I was all alone, by my window

And I thought to myself if I just had a little bit longer

Think of all the things I could know

But to hear your voice call across the hall

That’s what I live in the city for