(Quicksilver Daydreams Of) Maria

(album: Townes Van Zandt - 1969)

Well, a diamond fades quickly when matched to the face of Maria
All the harps they sound empty when she lifts her lips to the sky
Ah the brown of her skin makes her hair seem a soft golden rainfall
that spills from the mountains to the bottomless depths of her eyes

She stands all around me her hands slowly sifting the sunshine
All the laughter that lingers down deep 'neath her smiling is free
Well, it spins and it twirls like a hummingbird lost in the morning
then caresses the south wind and silently sails to the sea

As softly she wanders I'll desperately follow her footsteps
I chase after shadows that offer a trace of her sigh
They promise eternally that she lies hidden within them
but I find they've decieved me and sadly I bid them goodbye

So the serpent slides slowly away with his moments of laughter
and the old washer-woman has finished her cleaning and gone
but the bamboo hangs heavy in the bondage of quicksilver daydreams
and a lonely child longingly looks for a place to belong