Distraction

The sun is never up or down
It doesn’t rise, it doesn’t set
It does not move from east to west
It just looks that way from here
And we are moving constantly
But feel that we are in one place
While hurtling through time and space
Upon a little sphere

You have moved so far from me
While standing just a foot away
I talk to you and do not say
A thing to bring you near
We are dizzied by the reckonings
Talk is crass and silence stings
I tend to tend to everything
But what is true and dear

Can you drive me from distraction?
Distraction’s what I know
Can you bring me to attention
That’s the place I want to go

She said, “You’re not here, even when you are here”
She said, “You hold me closest when you’re far away”
She said, “The things in front of you are rife for disregard”
She said, “Why do you work so hard?”
Why do you work so hard?
Why do you work so hard?

In old Cologne the schoolgirls giggle
Past the bones of Balthazar
A marketplace fills streets the bombers
Cratered in the war
Gray November broken
Only by the pretty Christmas lights
And rowdies dressed in blue
And knocking back the football pints
Storms out on the ocean
But the plane will leave come morning
I will stand in line on heavy legs
And then fly across the day
And I will land to find the messages
And tend to duty, eloquence
And everything but recompense
And what I ought to say
What I ought to say

Is can you drive me from distraction
Distraction’s what I know
Can you bring me to attention?
That’s the place I want to go
Can you drive me from distraction
Can you hear me above the din?
Can you bring me to attention
That’s the place I’ve never been
Can you bring me to attention
That’s the place I’ve never been