Heron Blue

Don't cry, my love, don't cry no more

A crashing sky, a roaring screen

A city drowning, God's black tears

I cannot bear to see

She lay under the midnight moon

Her restless body stirring

Until the magic morning hour

Like poison it succumbs her

Her baby skin, her old black dress

Her hair it twists 'round her necklace

Constricts and chokes like ruthless vines

'Til sleep, she overtakes her

Her room is painted heron blue

Lit by candlelight and chandelier

And from her headboard, perched so high

A million dreams have passed her

Don't cry, my love, don't cry no more

It overwhelms my breaking heart

A minor swell of violins

I cannot bear to hear them

A mother shepherds her young birds

She fills their mouths and warms their souls

'Til they are strong and good to fly

Away from her, alone she'll die

Cradle on quiet old oak limbs

As heaven blue her light fails

A breath of soot into her lungs

A life, a journey's end in one

Don't sing that old sad hymn no more

It resonates inside my soul

It haunts me in my waking dream

I cannot bear to hear it

Don't play those violins no more

Their melancholic overtones

They echo off the floor and walls

I cannot bear to hear them