Juliet is Gone

July 2006

First song of the – let’s call it the “Employment Era”. There are a ton of songs out there involving Romeo & Juliet, as I learned in a brief search, but I’m fairly sure that I haven’t done any direct stealing; It reminds me of too many songs to be just one of them (including, strangely, “Centerfold” – the mood’s not all that far off: negative surprises, as it were…). Vocal rhythm has a lot of Dylan, at least originally; it rocks a little harder now, solid electric riff in the chorus. And the song itself, right… Well, it’s not even an accurate retelling, though I’m fond of the second verse. Romeo plays the hopeless romantic, Juliet the unexplained elusive target, in some sort of unresolved tragic saga. No one to blame, no answers, heh. Well, once I start quoting myself it’s time to stop.

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A light through yonder window breaks but Juliet is gone
Poor Romeo is out on the highway staring at the sun
The story’s old and has been told in versions short and long
But that’s no help to Romeo who no longer belongs
To anyone but whispers only “Juliet is gone.”

[Chorus]
Juliet is gone! Oh, Juliet is gone!
And Romeo with eyes aflame hurls curses at the dawn
But there’s no one to blame…
And Juliet, she’d like to think she knew it all along
But there are never any answers
When true love comes out wrong

Romeo was half-awake when the preacher grabbed his arm
He said “boy, get out of here, they’ve raised the false alarm!”
So he capered through the cobweb streets and jumped the Wailing Wall
Till the memory of his Juliet made him forsake it all
And he walked right through the gate and said “You’ve gotten it all wrong!”
But his heart skipped and he froze his lips for Juliet was gone.

[Chorus]

Somewhere up on 49th, a candle burning low
And still nearby the tears are cried alas poor Romeo
He is waiting at the window, he’s standing in the hall
With his tattered coat and fragile hope that true love conquers all
But Romeo another day must sigh and soldier on
A picture frame by candle-light, but Juliet is gone

[Chorus]

A light through yonder window breaks but Juliet is gone
Poor Romeo is out on the highway staring at the sun
Perhaps someday he’ll find her, perhaps a welcome home
Poor Juliet we cannot judge, her reasons are her own
But even now the same refrain each time the tale is told
Alas the lady Juliet, alas poor Romeo

Moonrise

July 2006

Actual, non-songwriting poetry for once. Inspired by an event a long way back, it seems now, October of first year. On some vaguely organized late-night trip to the point, lying around looking at stars, and suddenly there’s this strange orange glow out on the lake, and it turned out to be moonrise, which I’d never seen in that fashion before. I’m not used to clear horizons. But in any case, it was absolutely gorgeous in the way that such things are. I ought to get out there again sometime, maybe check an almanac.

The moon rises, slowly and unintelligibly,
Over Lake Michigan,
A sliver of orange on the horizon,
A trail of light on the water,
Poseidon rising from the deep
With slow steps crowned in burnt gold

And we gasp, forgetting for a moment
That we shiver on cold stones in the darkness
And bask in the nothing-glow, the sky blossom,
Pale sister of the dawn, and yet

There are more glorious things than dawn
In the unlit spaces of the void
Cataclysms rage, stars ignite, and all dance
Together, all tied, all unbound, against each other,
To be mere sparks upon the heavens’ forge

And this,
A sliver of orange on the horizon, and
A trail of topaz light upon the water.