Look Up to the Sky

The cup was cold beside the bed,
The morning crossed the floor.
I heard a car go down the street,
Then nothing anymore.
The hours had a way of passing,
Each one much the same.
Outside, a branch against the window
Tapped and tapped again.

Before the wind, before the sky,
Before I had a reason why,
I left the window open
Just a little every day.
I had no words to call it hope,
No distant place in mind.
I left the window open,
And let the world come by.

A shirt was drying on a line,
A bird moved through the leaves.
Somewhere a radio was playing
A tune that stayed with me.
I stood and listened for a while,
My hand against the frame.
The afternoon was nearly over
When I heard that song again.


Perhaps it starts this quietly,
Too small to understand:
A little warmth across the room,
A curtain on your hand.



The curtain moved.
I let it move.
And stayed there for a while.

For a while, the days were quiet,
And the road was hard to see.
Then a patch of blue broke open,
And the wind came through to me.
I stood beneath the open sky,
With nothing left to say.
Above the hills, a sail of white
Was slowly on its way.

Look up to the sky,
See clouds sailing ahead,
So high, so bright.
Clouds, wait for me.
I will fly by your side
And never look back.

I spread my wing upon the hillside,
Feel the lines come into place.
There is nothing here to hurry,
Just the wind against my face.
And the earth falls softly from me,
And the valley opens wide.
What I thought was lost forever
Stirs a little more inside.

Look up to the sky,
See clouds sailing ahead,
So high, so bright.
Clouds, wait for me.
I will fly by your side
And never look back.

You don't have to turn to hear me,
You don't have to know my name.
Let me follow where the wind goes;
I will never be the same.
There is more beyond this moment,
More than I could see below.
With the sunlight on my shoulders,
I am learning to let go.

Look up to the sky,
See clouds sailing ahead,
So high, so bright.
Clouds, wait for me.
I will fly by your side
And never look back.

So high,
So bright.
I will fly by your side
And never look back.

The grass bends over on the ridge,
The wing lies at my feet.
I take a breath and check the lines,
My heart picks up the beat.
The valley stretches out below,
The wind is on my face.
I let the moment settle in,
And give the morning space.

One step into the wind,
Feel it rising overhead.
One more step, and I am moving
Past the place where I have been.
With a tremble in my hands,
With the hillside running thin,
I am on my way at last—
One step into the wind.

The fabric fills and finds its shape,
I feel its steady pull.
The sounds around me fall away,
The air is wide and full.
For all the time I stood so still,
For all I could not name,
My feet have found a little rhythm,
And I move with it again.

One step into the wind,
Feel it rising overhead.
One more step, and I am moving
Past the place where I have been.
With a tremble in my hands,
With the hillside running thin,
I am on my way at last—
One step into the wind.

I used to wait for certainty,
For fear to disappear.
The wind is lifting at my shoulders,
And my heart is beating here.


One step into the wind,
Feel it rising overhead.
One more step, and I am moving
Past the place where I have been.
With a tremble in my hands,
With the hillside running thin,
I am on my way at last—
One step into the wind.

One more step.
The ground lets go.
The wind comes rolling in.

The slope slips out beneath my feet,
The treetops drift away.
A ribbon road, a field of green,
Grow smaller in the day.
I feel the harness take my weight,
The wing above me holds.
And slowly, in the moving air,
My tightened hands unfold.

Carried by the air,
Held beneath the blue,
I can feel the morning moving
Through everything I do.
Let the long breath leave my chest,
Let my shoulders ease.
Carried by the air,
There is room enough to breathe.

A little shift, a gentle turn,
The hillside comes around.
The wind runs softly past my ears,
A wide and endless sound.
I thought that I would grip the world
And never lose my hold.
But something in this quiet flight
Is teaching me to float.


I can turn and find my bearing,
I can feel the wing respond.
There is strength in moving gently,
In the air that bears me on.


Carried by the air,
Held beneath the blue,
I can feel the morning moving
Through everything I do.
Let the long breath leave my chest,
Let my shoulders ease.
Carried by the air,
There is room enough to breathe.

The wing above.
The fields beneath.
And room enough to breathe.

A road runs silver through the trees,
A roof catches the sun.
A tractor turns across a field,
The afternoon goes on.
From here the houses fit together,
The river finds its bend.
I watch the country spread below,
Then bring my eyes ahead.

Between earth and sky,
With the world beneath my wing,
I can see how far the roads go,
How they meet and part again.
Every roof a place of living,
Every field a passing year.
Between earth and sky,
I can feel that I belong here.

Somewhere a door is standing open,
Someone is coming home.
The thought arrives so simply
As I make another turn.
There will be ground beneath my feet,
An evening drawing near.
I find a kind of comfort
In the life still waiting there.


Distance gives the eye a little mercy,
Lets a winding road unwind.
I will take this wider view
Into the days that I call mine.



The river turns.
The road runs on.
The light is moving home.

The ridge is hidden in the grey,
The rain runs down the pane.
The wing is folded by the door,
I leave it there today.
Some mornings have a heavier step,
Some hours take their time.
I put the kettle on again,
And let the water rise.

When the clouds come low,
I will leave a little light.
Make some room beside the window,
Let the day take its own time.
I have seen the valley open,
I have felt the rising air.
When the clouds come low,
I can rest, and still get there.

I cannot make the weather turn
By wishing at the glass.
I find a dry shirt in the drawer,
And watch the traffic pass.
A voice comes through the telephone,
We talk of simple things.
The room feels warmer afterwards,
Though rain keeps falling in the street.


The hills are where I left them,
Beyond the mist and rain.
I will know the path that takes me
When I walk that way again.



The wing is folded by the door.
There will be another day.

I took the longer way this morning,
Past the corner grocery store.
Somebody was playing guitar
Beside an open door.
I had a pocket full of nothing,
And an hour I could spare.
So I stayed until the song was over,
In the sunlight standing there.

A little more alive,
A little more awake,
Got a tune I keep on humming,
Got the long way home to take.
There is sunlight on the pavement,
There is music down the street.
A little more alive,
And the rhythm's in my feet.

I bought some bread and two ripe peaches,
Carried summer in a bag.
Stopped to watch a dog chase shadows,
Had a quiet little laugh.
There are days I used to hurry through,
And never really see.
Now a song beside a doorway
Can make a morning out of me.


I could tell you where the road turned,
I could tell you how it felt.
But today I think I'll walk a while,
And let the story tell itself.



Got a tune I keep on humming,
And the rhythm's in my feet.

I fold the wing at evening,
Brush the grass from off my sleeve.
The sun is on the farther ridge,
There is gold among the trees.
I take a moment where I stand,
Before I turn for home.
The sky has given me a distance
I can carry as I go.

There is an open horizon,
There is a road beyond the bend.
I can take the coming morning
As it finds me once again.
With the wide sky in my keeping,
With the earth beneath my shoes,
There is an open horizon,
And a life to wander through.

Some days will take me to the hillside,
Some will keep me close to home.
There are people I will sit beside,
And paths I'll walk alone.
I want to hear the stories,
I want to watch the seasons turn.
There is time to make a little room
For things I've yet to learn.


Once, I called up to the white clouds,
Asked if they would wait for me.
Now I carry something of them
Into everything I see.



Tomorrow, when I open up the door,
I'll see what morning brings.
The sky goes on beyond the hills.
I have a day to live.