For Weena

(em)                D
In the hot summer dawn I stand
           C               G   B   em
     Where other times I stood
                      D
To see the Palace of Porcelain,
     C               B
     Beacon-like, beyond the wood;
         em         D
Now the valley we travelled through
     C             am       em     C
     Lies smoking like a brand.
             em
You perished in the night;
          am               B                em
     The fire was kinder than their hands.

(em)          D
I'll stay no longer here
       C              G                  em
     Among the angels and the ghosts.
               D
These shadows hold no fear
           C                  B                   em
     Any more; they cannot steal what I have lost.
                    D
Across a rift of a million years
         C                      B
     My heart reached out to you,
                                  ||:  em | am C :||  em
Gentle stranger; perhaps you loved me too.


They greeted me like some marvell'd god
     A thunderstorm had brought;
But I'm a man from another time,
     Exiled by what time has wrought.
Frail and pretty as Dresden dolls
     The human race has grown;
Of that alien company,    
     With you I was not so alone.

I'll stay no longer here
     Among the angels and the ghosts.
These shadows hold no fear
     Any more; they cannot steal what I have lost.
Across a rift of a million years
     My heart reached out to you,
Gentle stranger; perhaps you loved me too.

You danced beside me and took my hand,
     Bewildered by my wrath.
Precious matches I sacrificed;
     The flames would make you clap and laugh.
For my pockets you picked flowers:
     Yellow, white, and red.
That was another time;
     Now those flowers are brown and dead.

I'll stay no longer here
     Among the chimneys and the streets.
These shadows hold no fear
     For me now, but marvels wondrous to meet;
I'll scatter footsteps across the years
     As restless spirits do.
(Gentle Weena, perhaps you loved me too.)