A Lifetime in a Glance - The Botticelli Waltz

A Lifetime in a Glance (The Botticelli Waltz)

[Verse 1]
In the hush of the Hermitage, echoing, lonely,
Where footsteps fall soft on the polished parquet,
November’s grey sorrow peered in, pleading only
To let through the fading and cold northern day.
Past canvases born of a master's devotion,
Absorbing the museum’s quiet and grace,
Two strangers stood still, without word or emotion,
Above the Neva, by an angel’s soft face.

[Verse 2]
Inside an ornate baroque frame through the varnish,
Shone Botticelli’s enchanting design,
And you, with your heart free of shadow or tarnish,
Touched softly her soul in that moment divine.
You bundled a scarf of plain tweed round your collar,
Unfolding the catalogue page in your hand;
The profile of Mary, untouched by the squalor,
Was thoughtful and pure, from an innocent land.

[Verse 3]
Your gaze pulled away from the frame of the master,
Our orbits crossed paths in the museum’s quiet air.
No word, not a breath, but the heartbeat went faster,
Deep strings of the soul started trembling there.
And time fell to pieces... In that single second,
A pathway unfolded, unmeasured and bright:
A whole lifetime opened, as if it had beckoned,
And blossomed inside of our hearts in the light.

[Verse 4]
We fled from the drizzle and cold Petersburg weather,
And rushed to the south where the golden sun shone,
To ancient Toledo we traveled together,
Where hillsides were blooming and grief was unknown.
Beneath the high vault of a solemn cathedral,
With sighs of an organ and singing clarinet,
We wed before God and the dawn of creation,
Catching the stained-glass where twilight had met.

[Verse 5]
We lived in a garret that looked on the city,
Shared olives and wine and tobacco till night,
Fed birds from our palm without sorrow or pity,
And argued until the stars faded from sight.
Our children were born, running free through the bower,
With laughter that trampled the fallen jasmine...
And youth drifted by like a dream in an hour,
And grey in our hair spoke of all that has been.

[Verse 6]
And now we are eighty. Outside our cottage,
The ocean surf whispers beyond the cliff edge,
You doze in an armchair, absorbed in a page,
Wrapped warm in a Scottish wool blanket of grace.
We sailed across life, where both sorrow and beauty
Were woven together in one silver thread,
And old age was glowing with holy-like duty,
A purity only in storybooks read...

[Dramatic Pause]
[Verse 7]
...The museum guard coughed in her woolen beret,
Your scarf that had fallen took flight from the floor.
And all crashed to dust: dawns of gold and of grey,
The harp and cathedral existed no more.
You startled so gently. The vision fell through...
Just a nod and a wordless, polite little smile...
And into the shadows you slipped out of view,
Leaving eighty long years of a dream to beguile.

[Outro: Slowing tempo, gentle nylon guitar with soft flute improvisation]
The rain whispers down on the Palace Square paving,
Cold water runs down by the granite bridge walls...
I fasten my coat as the chilly wind’s raving,
And smile at the years that we lived in those halls.
[Fade Out]

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