Song to a Seagull

Fly, silly seabird, no dreams can possess you

No voices can blame you for sun on your wings

My gentle relations have names they must call me

For loving the freedom of all flying things

My dreams with the seagulls fly

Out of reach, out of cry

I came to the city and lived like old Crusoe

On an island of noise in a cobblestone sea

And the beaches were concrete, and the stars paid a light bill

And the blossoms hung false on their store window trees

My dreams with the seagulls fly

Out of reach, out of cry

Out of the city and down to the seaside

To sun on my shoulders and wind in my hair

But sandcastles crumble and hunger is human

And humans are hungry for worlds they can't share

My dreams with the seagulls fly

Out of reach, out of cry

I call to the seagull who dives to the waters

And catches his silver-fine dinner alone

Crying, "Where are the footprints that danced on these beaches

And the hands that cast wishes that sunk like a stone?"

My dreams with the seagulls fly

Out of reach, out of cry