Gretchen is falling someplace faraway 
Like a whiffle ball dropped from a cargo plane bay.
She falls through the clouds in the glow of the eve
Over empty horizons & wide lonesome seas.
Gretchen, oh, Gretchen, what do you see?
If I ask you politely, would you tell me?

You asked me politely, so I will tell you—
Feathers of fire I saw in the blue
They lit up my edges and lifted me high
Into the reaches of a star-powdered sky.

Gretchen, oh, Gretchen, flying so free,
Out in those reaches—what did you see?

I passed out of time to a towering tree
Its curls and blossoms encircled me.
Birds in bright nests offered strange eggs to eat 
That hatched in my breast & put wings of my feet.

Gretchen, oh, Gretchen, in that timeless tree,
Did you meet anyone? Were you ever lonely?

Oh, ecstatic angels with pain in their eyes
Took breath from my chest to make room for their sighs.
I lay in myself on pillows of gold
Breathing with beings that never grow old.

Gretchen, oh, Gretchen, in that tree with your wings
What of your love for your home & your things?

I love—oh, I love—yet, I need to be 
An unburdened creature in that unrooted tree.
But my wings have burned off. I’m back in the air
Falling, it seems, just falling somewhere. 

Bridge:
Are you falling, falling, falling my way? 
No, I’m falling and fallen, just falling away.

Gretchen, dear Gretchen, so far out of reach
Come into my arms on the edge of this beach.

I can’t for the call of the light on the waves—
sparks of dead candles raised up from their graves.
My face meets the foam ahead of my hips
and it all slips away through my fingertips.

Gretchen, oh, Gretchen, can  you hear me below?
I’ve a pot of thick soup, and bread on these coals.

Instrumental

Gretchen, dear Gretchen, won’t  you answer me?
There’s only the crash of the wide, lonesome sea.

Instrumental

Gretchen, oh, Gretchen, my heart gives a shout.
There’s a hawk on the beach with its eyes eaten out.

Story behind the Song: As a teacher, I worked with many people dealing with drug addiction. Some pushed through, and some did not. In this song, I imagined a father in conversation with his daughter as she was literally falling.

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