For my mother {Rose}

Weave your way through the City of Light
And meet me at the Chateau tonight
Here among daisies and marigolds, rest
Mingle, but let not their beauty impress

Let not the lily your amour propre mar
For your grace and prestige do outweigh hers by far
Skirt the snapdragons and sunflowers too
Should they your magnificence try to outdo

'Tis here in Malmaison's bed you must wait
Til the sun rises up to the garden elate
For the great Belgian brush who paints great Queen Marie
Comes here this great morn to pay tribute to thee

Oh, how we love.

Perhaps You're right
I mean, You usually are
Especially about this sort of thing
You know how our humble minds struggle
To wrap themselves around You
And Your noble ways

Tell us again
Let us sit and marvel at Your brilliance
Your luster
Should we bow?
Kiss Your feet?
We have never been subjected to such superbness
Not in real life, anyway

Yes, you are a magnificent One
There's certainly no doubting that
Wealthy in pride
Humility so absurb a concept
For someone of Your stature
Your eminence
Your highness

But do You love, oh Great One?
Do You love like we love?
Does Your heart beat?
Do Your palms sweat?
Do Your lips tremble?
Do tell us!
For this, oh Prominent One
Is the story we long to hear

For you.

It's not easy up here, you know?
Watching the little ones fall
We were falling, once
Do you remember?

You fell for me
And I fell for you
And we both fell head over feet
But to be fair, I'd much farther to fall

And what goes up must come down
And I came down
And you came down
And we hit the ground together
But not running
Because running just gets you to the end faster
And neither of us is coordinated enough for that, anyway

And besides that, I think I was broken
From falling so far
And everyone knows the bigger you are the harder you fall
And I'm not so big usually
But I'd had a big breakfast of apprehension
And my wet hair probably weighed me down

But you sang me better
So I kissed your face and sang to you back
And you sang
And I sang
And our music was wonderful for a moment
And life was wonderful for a moment
And everything was wonderful
For a moment

But there's a time a place for wonderfulness
And this was not the time nor the place
For wonderfulness
Or beautifulness
Or any of those sorts of things
And even if you walk instead of run
You reach the end eventually
And things aren't wonderful anymore
You told me
Do you remember?

It's not easy up here, you know?
Watching the little ones fall
Listening to their music and wonderfulness
Wondering why we're up so high when in the end
We all fall down