Ideas Are Like Stars

(Mary Chapin Carpenter) Today Joseph is sitting alone, with occasional nods to the waitress She tops off his cup while she's snapping her gum, making her rounds on the lunch shift Counting out coins, he leaves them arranged, in neat lines and circles and arcs She just stares at the tip that spells out her name and ideas are like stars And yesterday pedaling down 4th Avenue, between the stalls and the bookshops The sepia tones of a lost afternoon cradled a curio storefront And inside the air was thick with the past, as the dust settled onto his heart And here for a moment is every place in the world and ideas are like stars They fall from the sky, they run round your head They litter your sleep as they beckon They'd teach you to fly without wires or thread They promise if only you'd let them