Promise and Dreams
She stumbles in the dark and staggers in the cold
Because you get used to it, dark and cold
Dark and cold
But never quite used enough
And no matter how cold, how dark it has been
You still trip to-day
You still shiver
(He stumbles in the dark and wanders in his room
He touches the walls and pushes himself back
He finds the bed in the dark
And wonders how long it is until the sun rises
And he has dreams, dreams
He dreams of beauty and love)
So she stumbles in the dark as she runs, runs
On bare feet that bleed
But feet always bleed and shoes are imaginary creatures
You don't mind that
You don't mind
You wrap rags 'round your feet in the winter
So as not to leave footprints in the snow
But you're used it, and you can't mind it
When the stones and dirt make them swell
(He stumbles in the dark as he finds his shoes
Must get up now, before the light
Light is pretty, like imagination, but he leaves
Before it comes
And he has dreams, dreams
In the daytime in his room in his place where he
Scratches living from words
He dreams of beauty and love)
And she runs, runs, to find a house with a number
Numbers are bronze birds that fix themselves
To posts and housefronts
Birds that say, with a bronze voice, Here here here!
Here is where She lives!
And she looks away and wonders do you pretend?
You pretend, don't you?
You lie and promise and twist your hands when you
Hide the bird
So that he'll never know, Here here here!
Here is where She lives!
(He runs, runs, half-tripping half-falling
Because one must get where one is going on time
Time is everything
Time is life and food and having a moment for Her
But he has a promise, a promise
A beautiful promise which he dreams of and devotes himself to
Chastely
And the girl who cornered him once
Whom he pitied and regretted for her poverty
(But not too much, because he is poor too, and the world is poor)
She made him a promise
And so he has dreams, dreams
He dreams of beauty and love)
She takes the bronze birds in her head, the bronze birds that are numbers
Numbers
To remember by and she takes her promise
And twists it in her hands like a piece of bronze she's bending
Promises! Why do you make promises,
Anyway?
She stumbles in the street and a man kicks her and she screams anger
That's how it is, yes? That's how it is...
You fall and they kick at you
And you scream back because you can't kick them because
If you kicked them they'd have something to say
About that!
And getting beat twice a week is enough
She takes the bronze birds and twists them in her head
And she twists her promise in anger
What do you do? What do you do?
(He takes the words and tries to translate them
But translations come out meaningless and mean nothing
Not when he turns them a hundred times
He has a promise,
Promise
When will it come? There was a glimmer of light
Through the window where he twists words
But he doesn't understand and he looks away
And prays for speed and dreams
For comprehension and dreams
Somewhere there is an answer, and hidden in the paper
He cannot find it
He dreams dreams, dreams! He cannot find his dreams!
And aching, hurting, condemned, he sighs
Turns his head away
Turns to the window
And he has dreams, dreams
In the quiet of the words which mean nothing
He dreams of beauty and love)
She haunts around in a field with her bronze birds
Playing dress-up with the grass and sky
Putting on a new blue dress of sky
Shoes of broken grass and fixing her hair in the stream
Adorning it with emeralds that are really
Streaks of slime
She haunts around and wonders about promises
How do you keep promises? Why do you keep promises?
If you hate promises, why do you capture birds and keep them in your head
To give to people?
If you hate but She loves and he loves and you love but you hate then
Where does it come out right?
And she steals bread between her hauntings
Buries her face in warm bread and hurts her teeth because they're rotting
Somewhere in the sunshine, she lies on her back and screams
Because you don't cry not now
You don't cry
You make promises the way you fall in the dark
And wrap rags around your feet in the winter
It's like rules
There're rules
And she keeps the birds and she waits until she hates, hates, hates
But she keeps her pockets full of promises
(He haunts around in the buildings of words and aches
And thinks of happiness and promises
He imagines that promises are always kept
And then
In the dark he thinks of larks
And that is when he leaves the buildings of words and windows
He stumbles in the dark as he puts on his shoes
First threadbare stockings and then shoes
And sometime soon he finds his field
Wanders lost and lonely as he's dreaming
That promises are always kept, he imagines
Then as he wanders lost
So he has dreams, dreams
He sees a dirty, strange face watching him and his mind becomes dark and coloured like shadow
And his mind becomes confused and reminded of shadows
But he pushes it away, away
And he dreams of beauty and love)
She stumbles in the dark and recognises something in the world
And her pockets full of promises
And her head full of bronze birds,
She stumbles out and catches him in her arms in her mind
And she cries out hello
Which he does not recognise
You get used to that
They don't recognise you day by day because every day
You get uglier and dirtier and ghostlier in the shadow because
That's how it is
So you can't mind that but you call out
M o n s i e u r Marius!
(He stumbles and turns on hearing a sound
He wonders who calls and he dreams
Dreams
And sees a strange face that calls shadows to his mind)
Me. R e m e m b e r
Me?
E p o n i n e
With a tall E at the beginning and a small e at the end and you
Can call me
P o n i n e
If you want to
She holds out her hand and thinks of
Promises
Promises in pockets and birds in heads
Bronze birds that call out, Here here here!
R e m e m b e r me?
I've brought you something and
You'll be very
H a p p y
You will
(He holds out his hand and knows the strange face
Despite the shadows
Because there is poor light and there are poor people
People
Who have strange faces--but people who give one dreams)
But I
Kept my
P r o m i s e a n d y o u
Must make me a
P r o m i s e, t o o
She holds her breath and thinks of
Promises
She made a promise and she wants a promise back because
Promises hurt and if he hurt her
She will hurt him
She hates and hates and hates because she loves
And she feels half-mad but she wants a promise
Back
A promise she deserves
Will you give me a n y t h i n g?
Then I'll give you a n y t h i n g
I kept my promise
Y o u
Must keep yours
Anything, anything
A n y t h i n g a t a l l ?
(He holds his breath and waits for her
Anxiously
He cannot dream dreams now
Now there is a promise at stake, a promise
And he imagines that promises are kept, and he waits
Waits for his promise to come
It will
He holds his breath and touches her
Anxiously
She will keep her promise? For he
Cannot dream dreams now)
A n y t h i n g at all?
Here is my promise
I kept my p r o m i s e
Here here here!
Here is where She lives!
She gives him the bronze birds
Aching in her head and suddenly, for the first time in years
The cold hurts her feet
It isn't spring yet
Her feet are bleeding and she can't mind but she does
And he holds out his hands for her and she falls into them for-ever and ever in her mind
And in reality
He is weeping over his birds
(He gives her his money and
She throws it on the ground, all he has
Is that life? Could he mind? He has his dreams, dreams
And now they are no longer dreams
He spins through life in his mind, for he is windowless
Love and marriage and children and sweet life together
He has no windows to pull him away with light
Nothing!
He is joy and his dreams of beauty are whole
And nothing in the world matters but joy
And his dreams of beauty are whole
So he follows her
He follows her
And
He is joy)
She leads him by the bronze birds
And by the promises in her pockets
Is that life? Could she mind? She kept her promise, promise
And he made her a promise
And she will remember
She hates and hates and hates but she loves and her feet hurt
But she will remember her promise
She pretends that promises are kept
So she leads him by the bronze birds until they cry out, Here here here!
Here is where She lives!
And now
Now
He is gone and there is the house and the order is backwards
But she doesn't care
She is dirty and small and crippled and angry
And she hates, hates
Her feet hurt and now she minds
And you get used to it
You have to get used to it, dark and cold
Dark and cold
But never quite enough
Her feet hurt and nothing is fair and she knew it and she will know it again
But to-night
All to-night
She stumbles in the dark
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