Nature Boy*
“There was a boy
A very strange enchanted boy”
A very strange enchanted boy”
My father sang to me
along with that voice
that was often-alone
time-together listening-
rich and thick cocoa and
sweet cream pouring over
us – I tiny girl with his hair
leaning on his shoulder on
that green couch – inhaling
him – his breath catching
on certain lyrics just a
whisper from a sob –
when the room chilled –
along with that voice
that was often-alone
time-together listening-
rich and thick cocoa and
sweet cream pouring over
us – I tiny girl with his hair
leaning on his shoulder on
that green couch – inhaling
him – his breath catching
on certain lyrics just a
whisper from a sob –
when the room chilled –
“that strange enchanted boy”
shivers – shaved ice in veins
shimmered as he sang –
shivers – shaved ice in veins
shimmered as he sang –
“They say he wandered very far –
Very far, over land and sea” –
Very far, over land and sea” –
I had seen the scar – his scar
a zipper than ran thick as my
thumb as I traced from sternum
to the breadth of his muscled back –
opened – long ago, long ago –
in some magic time
a zipper than ran thick as my
thumb as I traced from sternum
to the breadth of his muscled back –
opened – long ago, long ago –
in some magic time
The lyrics weaved to leaving and
I moved even closer as though
if close enough – eyes squinched
shut with him –
falling with him
into the music
I would melt with him
whenever he left –
for he was leaving –
I knew of melancholy
before I learned the word –
there watching tears slip
down his cheeks -his eyes
closed in a soft sacred sort
of ecstasy at still simply being –
Singing –
one arm flung across the back
of the couch as I tiny girl – soaked
in the sadness – shivering in spine-
cold fear and yearning, yearning
reached beyond the music into a
misunderstood lyric – hearing
I moved even closer as though
if close enough – eyes squinched
shut with him –
falling with him
into the music
I would melt with him
whenever he left –
for he was leaving –
I knew of melancholy
before I learned the word –
there watching tears slip
down his cheeks -his eyes
closed in a soft sacred sort
of ecstasy at still simply being –
Singing –
one arm flung across the back
of the couch as I tiny girl – soaked
in the sadness – shivering in spine-
cold fear and yearning, yearning
reached beyond the music into a
misunderstood lyric – hearing
“one day, a magic day –he passed away”
instead of “he passed my way” –
and so invited
instead of “he passed my way” –
and so invited
Death joined us and Mr. Cole on
that green couch in our living room
filled with melting music – as something
melted in him- and I sank closer into
the sweet cream swirl of death and love –
loss and enchantment – magic and music
that green couch in our living room
filled with melting music – as something
melted in him- and I sank closer into
the sweet cream swirl of death and love –
loss and enchantment – magic and music
“and while we spoke – Of many things,
fools and kings. This he said to me
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return”
fools and kings. This he said to me
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return”
that much was true – in the whisper
of the wind through each grain of sand
sweeping through this life of time –
Nature Boy plays –
on and on and on –
of the wind through each grain of sand
sweeping through this life of time –
Nature Boy plays –
on and on and on –
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