Alchemy

i brought back more that you will ever know
stare deep into the blue you'll see the shapes that move below
i never learned a lesson that i didn't learn by heart
and when one lesson ends i find, another lesson starts

and something moved me in the shadows on his skin
in a place where half-remembered clouds lie down upon the sea
shiplight and starlight as the colours disappear
where he paints from photographs, under a pale blue bulb

from the beginning he held me like a child
no jealousy or envy, he lets my heart run wild
he paints from photographs of sun and sea and sky
and softly he can play
and something in him haunts me

the water sighs sometimes when a wave hits solid ground
you can hear the stones sometimes, singing in the sea
there's a sea-change in me - it's in him too
and though we lost something beautiful
we make ourselves anew

i brought back more than you will ever know
stare deep into my eyes: all the sadnesses and things i've seen
it comes like alchemy, makes gold-dust of our hearts
and when one lesson ends i find, another lesson starts.