
FADING IRIS
[Intro]
Slender back, crystal hair.
What's it like
sleeping in the air?
Over waves, over clouds.
It's been a long time
since you've been down.
[Verse]
Bring the message of good harvest.
Put to end this suspense.
They say good news travels fastest
when lovely Iris is sent.
At the speed of changing winds
you whisper to the wise.
Even darkness in the sky portends
your illuminating sign.
But what is the sign?
Won't you please be clear?
The waters are on the rise
and it’s been years since you were here.
[Chorus]
Come back to see us Iris.
Come back and give us breath.
Without you there's no telling
how much longer we have left.
Your face came down shining
and it showed us the way.
Now we long for its return
but you're fading every day.
[Verse]
I saw you once when I was ten.
You told us, "Go inside."
Then hail rained down on all the men
who didn't heed your advice.
In these days where it always rains
we look skyward for you,
hoping you made peace with the Gods
and will return with good news.
Since our world has built a fire
that rain only makes worse
we lie waiting like the lyre
that has no second verse.
[Chorus]
Come back to see us Iris.
Come back and give us breath.
Without you there's no telling
how much longer we have left.
Your face came down shining
and it showed us the way.
Now we long for its return
but you're fading every day.
[Verse]
Some mornings I see your rainbow
but awaken with grief,
thinking you had come at last
I try to fall back asleep.
Where is it you stay for so long?
Are you among the stars?
Or do you hear siren songs
in the depths while reading cards?
Maybe you will never come back,
just fade without a trace.
How hard it is accepting that
our prayers just drift through space.
[Chorus]
Come back to see us Iris.
Come back and give us breath.
Without you there's no telling
how much longer we have left.
Your face came down shining
and it showed us the way.
Now we long for its return
but you're fading every day.
[Epilogue]
Slender back, crystal hair.
What's it like
sleeping in the air?
Over waves, over clouds.
It's been a long time
since you've been down.
Photograph by Mathew Blanchard © 2016