From the recording RIPE
Inspired by Lyle Lovett's "She's Already Made Up Her Mind."
Lyrics
The cold wind seeps in like the tea from the bag,
hinting at the passing of time,
and in this little cup life's becoming a drag
and I fear that I'm losing my mind.
For no mail has come in from the letters I sent
helping my will to decide,
and soon you'll be gone to where my heart has went,
leaving only my body behind.
Chorus: Kirei na Josei
The pain is wide and the heart is deep.
The full moon wanes, at night I weep
like a willow by the banks of the inland sea.
As you scratch Japanese characters on an envelope I'll send,
an' over paper your hand glides,
so it scratches my heart and my heart does rend
tearing me up all inside.
Your wrist is so cool in the palm of my hand
as I pretend to ask for the time.
And I swear I see the promissed heart land
in your sweet sweet smile and the shine in your eyes.
(Repeat Chorus)
Now it seems the only thing that's between us
is the small table and us being shy,
but what stops us from making that closest touch
is the burden of other people's lives, yes a burden of so many lies.
Still the clichés seep in like the teapot wind,
clouding my heart and my mind,
I long for your rose petal lips and lily white skin
and the deep lit ponds of your almond eyes.
(Repeat Chorus)
Now nothing's so flat as a mountain--
cut cardboard 'gainst the evening sky,
and nothing's so deep as the pain in the heart
of a man trying to make up his mind. (Repeat Chorus)
Tuesday October 1st 1996,Montreal -St Lazare.
But decisions are so hard to come by
where you're drowning in an unchartered tide
but as I drink your beauty like a cool spring draught in july,
:My heart's already made up its mind. :
Later added verse;Yonago 1998