The Lily

Blanco White

I left a sign with a candle
In the streetlight that shone below
Where through the night
The people dance in linen and smoke
I still remember her song in my head
Each palm in time
Every face in that light
As their mouths bellowed

Now they tell me she’s just vanished
Some other place by the sea
But to me she was banished
By herself not by me
And though I still remember
The streetlights are low
Now dull in the night
And the dance has gone quiet
But the sea still bellows

See the island on fire
And the towers align;
Built in silos of sea
Underneath every street
Lily spoke of a city’s bones
An ancient rubble of time and stone
Where the walls tremor under the sky
Covered day after day by the tide
Could I save them if I tried?
If only I could

We shine our light across the ocean
A Troy this city has burned
We shine our light across the ocean
A fire on ships will return
We shine our light