Mike Heron Beautiful Stranger
Soft lapped the bark boats
A wounded shoulder hurt me not
Snake - like branches quietly hid my eyes so bright in the swamp-red sun
Soft edged the foreign words
Coloured by the dark waves splash in the mist
Brown the breasts and purple-stained
Dye deep-pounded with the stone
The warm wind now lifts the haze
I looked and I caught my breath
And I raised my head up high
And I shouted out loud in my soul
Beautiful stranger I'm glad I found you
Bright the sky above my head
Streaked with red and yellow wing
Warm the mud between my toes
Darkest green the inland trail
Distant now the bark boats
Golden beads on silver wire of sea
Long bathed by salty spray
Visions float on the dry earths smell
Drifting back through younger days
I looked and I caught my breath
And I shouted out loud in my soul
Beautiful stranger I'm glad I found you
Moist and cool the river bank
Laid me down against a tree
Remembering as in a dream
Shoulder cut in the dark waves splash
In that place no wound there was
Only a ring of finest bronze there gleamed
Soft lapped the back boats
Brown the breasts and purple stained
River green reflect the gaze
I looked and I caught my breath
And I raised my head up high
And I shouted out loud in my soul
Beautiful stranger I'm glad I found you
