Song to a Seagull

Fly silly seabird 
No dreams can possess you 
No voices can blame you 
For sun on your wings 

My gentle relations 
Have names they must call me 
For loving the freedom 
Of all flying things 

 My dreams with the seagulls fly 
 Out of reach out of cry 

I came to the city 
And lived like old Crusoe 
On an island of noise 
In a cobblestone sea 

And the beaches were concrete 
And the stars paid a light bill 
And the blossoms hung false 
On their store window trees 

My dreams with the seagulls fly 
 Out of reach out of cry 

Out of the city 
And down to the seaside 
To sun on my shoulders 
And wind in my hair 

But sandcastles crumble 
And hunger is human 
And humans are hungry 
For worlds they can't share 

My dreams with the seagulls fly 
Out of reach out of cry 

I call to a seagull 
Who dives to the waters 
And catches his silver-fine 
Dinner alone 

Crying where are the footprints 
That danced on these beaches 
And the hands that cast wishes 
That sunk like a stone 

My dreams with the seagulls fly 
Out of reach out of cry

--Joni Mitchell (1943- ), Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and artist, from Song to a Seagull, 1966