March 26th, Avignon
Kids playing soccer in the playground
Housewives filling barrels with tap water
Sounds of living, orchestrated, in the background
These are sounds I heard in my mother's womb
Far away but so close
They traveled through my childhood and teenager years
And now they echo in my adulthood
In Avignon, southern France
Ten thousand miles away from where I was born
Another ten thousand miles away from where I call home
Who says life is a cycle, a loop
I do not know I would believe that
When I see the ancient white-stoned statues against crystal-blue sky in front of Palace of Pope
I know that moment is linked to the other end
An end I left open
In Changsha, at Shiangjiang River
At a summer evening when stars are twinkling at another decade
I was floating in the water, watching the sky and wondering
My sister was chasing grasshoppers at the river bank
My father, standing near the shore, was watching out for me
I remembered their silhouettes against the evening sky
I do not know sounds can travel through years
I do not know rivers can flow through centuries
In Avignon, at midnight
When I sit under the willow trees
And watch the Arches of Pont De Benezet reflected in Rhone
I heard that heavenly voice again
Which summoned our young shepherd to leave his home and obtain the miraculous power
It still haunts after nine hundred years
After Romans, Medieval, Renaissance and Napoleons
But these beautiful arches, abandoned and adored
Stand still and silently in the river
As if they forget all the memories
Memories of war, flood, famine and revolution
O Avignon
City of angels and ghosts
Sun shines here like California
People smile like in my hometown
Is this a city in my dream
Or I am dreaming too much in the city
An end I left open
In Changsha, at Shiangjiang River
At a summer evening when stars are twinkling at another decade
I was floating in the water, watching the sky and wondering
My sister was chasing grasshoppers at the river bank
My father, standing near the shore, was watching out for me
I remembered their silhouettes against the evening sky
I do not know sounds can travel through years
I do not know rivers can flow through centuries
In Avignon, at midnight
When I sit under the willow trees
And watch the Arches of Pont De Benezet reflected in Rhone
I heard that heavenly voice again
Which summoned our young shepherd to leave his home and obtain the miraculous power
It still haunts after nine hundred years
After Romans, Medieval, Renaissance and Napoleons
But these beautiful arches, abandoned and adored
Stand still and silently in the river
As if they forget all the memories
Memories of war, flood, famine and revolution
O Avignon
City of angels and ghosts
Sun shines here like California
People smile like in my hometown
Is this a city in my dream
Or I am dreaming too much in the city
