Dar Williams - What Bird Did You See Lyrics

 Dar Williams - What Bird Did You See Lyrics

In the parking lot the dark becomes two panes of light

There's a charcoal slash of ocean and a smoky plank of sky

Now they're changing colors

Laurel green with snowy aster

Agate blue with alabaster

And as the blues are brightening and the cars are coming in

You see a seagull weave a path upon the wind

Like a thread that can begin and then begin

While the world just goes about its day

As the ground beneath you falls away

In this time when there's no time, there is no place to be

What bird did you see?

You think a goldfinch is enchanting and you know you told her

Now a goldfinch lands above you like it's on your shoulder

Yesterday you saw a red-tailed hawk

Around a corner proud and still

Out of place, a sentinel

And at the window when sparrows flew away

A single cardinal seemed to know he had to stay

He had a to be the bright vermilion in the gray

While the world just goes about its day

As the ground beneath you falls away

In the presence of this absence, was there one bright flash, a simple song, a revery?

What bird did you see?

And you will feel the summer sun and autumn rays

You will return to busy friends and busy days

But now in this time, between the here and the hereafter, there's a feather at your door

And love will find its way

In the life you have today

You'll go back to what you understand

Maybe unbelieve

But tell me now, what bird did you see?

It's okay to know it's me