Zoe's Arms from Alabama Requiem by Devadas

Crushed orange Sunday morning
Wounded chest, swollen eyes
I rode the high line across the threshold
Like a razor through the moon
Me and Dante stayed up all night trading songs
Then we wrapped ourselves in newspapers
And we smoked our last beedies
As the earth rumbled beneath us
And I wish I was in Zoe's arms

It rained for seven days
I threw my boots into the fire
And I slept all night with that picture that she gave me
And I dreamt she was dancing up on the moon
And the stars all moved around her
And at dawn my food was gone
And Lord, I felt like crying
And I wish I was in Zoe's arms

No one seemed to notice when we pulled into Briar's Junction
Dante was writing poems about angels over water
And me, I was pretending the universe was my mother and my father
But we were all alone and those angels seemed so far away
And I wish I was in Zoe's arms

Down here the old men are painting postcards of silent executions
It's dark here in the summer and I'm waiting for November
And there's no sound to this sky
So I try to remember the ocean
And I wish I was in Zoe's arms

Spent the night at Saint Francis and I awoke to find it burning
A beggar gave me shelter and I drank all of his wine
And the wind is breathing cold
And the clouds are always leaking
And I wish I was in Zoe's arms

Not far off in the distance
I can hear that train whistle whining
I hear crows all around me
And a thousand drummers, drumming
I remember I swore when I was a man
That I would climb up to the mountain
I'd look out to the world
To see all had become mine
But now, I wish I was in Zoe's arms

• World
• composer
• kirtan
• songwriter
• New York