When I was 18 I met a dancer

When she walked the spotlight followed her steps

She would twist and turn for the roar of the crowd

Her toes pointed her arms raised

She moves front and back side to side on the stage

She leaped and curtseyed and smiled and laughed

She packed her bags backstage and left

Saying goodbye she smiled once more

This time without a wild roar

I saw her crying on a city street

While I was walking home from the show

Her toes were Crimson

Her knees black and blue

In the silence of the night I helped her off the ground

She told me never sell yourself to the roar of the crowd

Jack is just as slender as he is tall
When he walks the girls track him up and down the halls
He's so kind but he's never fallen victim to their eyes
The face he wears is simply a disguise

Cause in his head hes got a funny way of thinking
Nothing understood by you and I
From his curls down to his feet
his ******* shirts and faded jeans
He's just a little off if you asked me

Some days he won't come to school at all
The next day he'll show up with cigar marks on his arms
During lunch he sits alone or in the office down the hall
You hear rumors about him but there's no way of knowing if those things are true at all

Cause in his head hes got a funny way of thinking
Nothing understood by you and I
From his curls down to his feet
his ******* shirts and faded jeans
He's just a little off if you asked me

At the parties he spends his time in closets
Or locked inside a room with other boys
It's never really been much of a problem
When it's over he leaves without a noise

Cause in his head hes got a funny way of thinking
Nothing understood by you and I
From his curls down to his feet
his ******* shirts and faded jeans
He's just a little off if you asked me

My Bird cannot fly
My Bird has no song
It sits
And watches the Sparrows
Robins
Oreoles
Bluejays
Hummingbirds
And Doves
Dance and play
From the shadows
Of the magnolia tree
But still my bird waits

My Bird doesn't sleep
During the warm summer nights
Eyes watching the stars
Beneath the soft glow of the moon
As the fireflies join Orion
Suspended and flashing
My Bird watches
And dreams

Alone he may be
Perched in the magnolia tree
Apart from the calls of Sparrows
Robins
Oreoles
Bluejays
Hummingbirds
And Doves
That carry in the wind

Still my Bird sits
Because in a way
He is free
For one day
All will see
His vibrant colors
Hidden within the leaves
Of the magnolia tree

I had a dream
And in my dream I saw petals
Rose petals
That covered the floor of my room
Yet never wilted
No matter how many times they were crushed
And outside they masked the dirtiest of streets
Shades of red and pink and blue
I liked the blue the most
Id never seen them before

I saw where they came from
Roses growing from the highest of buildings
Greenhouses on the roofs of skyscrapers
And young men and women who plucked them
And let them rain to the masses below

The roses grew back quickly
Each time more vivid than the last
Until the streets were covered
Masked in red and pink and blue

After morning the roses stopped growing
And the men and women headed down
Where they stood amongst the petals that coated the ground
While everyone smiled and talked
And the sun shone brighter than the days before
As I walked along the trail of red and pink and blue

In my dream we all just watched
And felt the breeze from the street corners and rooftops
We sat on curbs and power boxes
Leaned out from windows and treehouses
Cars and shops
Bikes and offices

And together we watched the petals fall

My side of the valley is green
It is flat and the soil is fertile
My crops flourish
My livestock are healthy and strong

But when I sit in my cabin
at sunset each day
I look across the river
and stare through the mountain pass
and bask at the beauty of those green plains so far away

I often sit and long for it
How I would love that land
The beautiful pastures
And the luscious mountainside

So as months pass my want grows
I bring myself to abandon my land
and lead my life onto another path
I tear down my home and pack my crops
I heard my animals and I head out
I do not look back

Through my travel the crops deplete
And I lose half my livestock
And I myself feel hope growing thin

After a month of traversing the mountains
I arrive at my new home
And I plant my crops, in the soil that's not as rich
I settle my animals, who are not as healthy
as they once were
I sit in my cabin on land that is not as flat
And I look through the pass and across the river

At the beautiful green land
Laying flat on the countryside
I think back to where once lived
And I long for it