Amaryllis

Amaryllis at my back door
Swear to God it wasn’t there before
Growing tall from the cold hard ground
Red and green
What’s a hothouse flower like this
Doing in the land of winter’s kiss?
I do believe I’ve seen a sign
I do believe it.

Mississippi she weaves and winds
Makes her way from the northern pines
Land-locked water is ocean-bound
To New Orleans
Sunlit water come take my joy
To wash the skin of a southern boy
I do believe I’ve seen a sign
I do believe it.

Crazy wind blows across the land
African drum in an Irish band
Dream tattooed in the palm of your hand
Walls slip away like a pillar of sand

Sister lookin’ for the hand of fate
Maybe better try a change of state
Shake your life like a dusty rug
Out the kitchen door
New world springing from the shell of the old
You can’t say now you were never told
I do believe I’ve seen a sign
I do believe it.

© 1995 Emma Bull