Stephen Sondheim
Poems
[KAYAMA]
Rain glistening
On the silver birch
Like my lady's tears...
Your turn

[MANJIRO]
Rain gathering
Winding into streams
Like the roads to Boston...
Your turn

[KAYAMA]
Haze hovering
Like the whisper of the silk
As my lady kneels...
Your turn

[MANJIRO]
Haze glittering
Like an echo of the lamps
In the streets of Boston...
Your turn

[KAYAMA]
Moon
I love her like the moon
Making jewels of the grass
Where my lady walks
My lady wife...
[MANJIRO]
Moon
I love her like the moon
Washing yesterday away
As my lady does
America...
Your turn

[KAYAMA]
Wind murmuring
Is she murmuring for me
Through her field of dreams?...
Your turn

[MANJIRO]
Wind muttering
Is she quarreling with me?
Does she want me home?...
Your turn

[KAYAMA]
I am no nightingale
But she hears the song
I can sing to her
My lady wife...
[MANJIRO]
I am no nightingale
But my song of her
Could outsing the sea...
America...

[KAYAMA]
Dawn flickering
Tracing shadows of the pines
On my lady sleeping...
Your turn

[MANJIRO]
Dawn brightening
As she opens up her eyes
But it's I who come awake...
Your turn

[KAYAMA]
You go

[MANJIRO]
Your turn

[KAYAMA & MANJIRO]
Leaves
I love her like the leaves
Changing green to pink to gold
And the change is everything
Sun
I see her like the sun
In the center of a pool
Sending ripples to the shore
Till my journey's end

[MANJIRO]
Your turn

[KAYAMA]
Rain...

[MANJIRO]
Haze...

[KAYAMA]
Moon...

[MANJIRO]
Wind...

[KAYAMA]
Nightingale...

[MANJIRO]
Dawn...

[KAYAMA]
Leaves...

[MANJIRO]
Sun...

[KAYAMA & MANJIRO]
End