The Great Blue Heron (Song of Solomon)

Did you skip rocks on the water then
On the river near your backyard?
Did you catch minnows in your cupped hands
Like a pelican over the water
I have these visions inside my head
Technicolor pictures of you
When I walk to the office from the subway
Off at Rockefeller Center

I know the great green rushes grow green
Out all over the water
I see a great blue heron on the river's edge
Flying off in the distance
He reminds me of you
A real magnificent creature

Did you draw symbols in the dirt then
With twigs from the trees in your town?
Did you make magic with leaves and the branches
Like a little pansy dancing in autumn?
I remember hiking in the Black Hills
With my maps and your sense of direction
Walking about amongst God's creation
Just like Adam and Eve in the garden

I know the shape of the Douglas fir
And the Aspen leaves of the forest
I hear the wind rustling through the
Trees all around us. Like a chorus
I'm reminded of you

Did you build campfires back then
Strike the steel to the flint on the pyre
Did you catch cold swimming in the water
With the chill of winter still lingering there?
I remember camping in the deep woods
When the winds came upon us so quickly
And there isn't a thing in all of this tarnation
That could make me forget about it

I see those dark clouds billowing on
Over the horizon
I smell the earth and grass on the
Breath of the storm at the tree line
Like a bulwark, and I think of you
With your nose to the wind

Did you carry buckets full of sand then
On the beach over your spring vacation?
Did you build castles that reached to the
Heavens
As I know only your imagination could
I have these visions inside my head
These Technicolor pictures of you
When I'm stuck on the subway over the river
Down from Brooklyn to the heart of the big city

I hear the great deep water rushing out
All over the shoreline
I feel the ocean waves crashing down all around us
In the darkness, I'm reminded of you
A real magnificent creature