The Forest Awakes

David Byrne

The forest awakes
A desert at dawn
A mountain at night
And the river moves on
The people awake
They're marching along
The streets are alive
With a terrible song

Forwards and backwards
In every direction
The abs' perpetual motion
The shifting of light on the banks of the river
I'm free but I'm keeping my clothes on

We're marching along
The street where you live
I'm calling your name
The song is a gift
The song is road
A road is a face
A face is a time
And a time is a place

A place of relief
and a time of confusion
A heart is a simple equation
With beautiful words and with beautiful people
A song is face is a mountain

A fruit that falls before it's grown
I heard a sound and a bird has flown
It breaks to pieces above the forest
A million particles born today
Out beyond the blue horizon
Air can not escape
Underneath the weeping willow
I can see your face
Free-form climbing all over me
Creatures grey an small
Doctors pulling them out of you
Hideous, virtuous, both of us

Calm in my kitchen
When it rains outside
Sweet inspiration
Sneaks up from behind

The forest is true
I know for a fact
That the bigger the front
Then the bigger the back
My heart beating still
Through the perilous night
The bombs burst in air
But my hair is alright
The shifting of light on the trees and the houses
I drown in an ocean of perfume
The strangeness of words
How the meaning keeps changing
But somehow the beauty will find you