Ideas Are Like Stars

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
 For the language of longing never had words,
 so how did you speak from your heart
 Yet here is a box that swears it has heard
 that ideas are like stars
 Tonight Joseph stood out in the yard,
 as Debussy played from the kitchen
 Celestial companions 'til mornings first lark,
 shone overhead and he listened
 And who was that shadow there by the gate,
 who was that there standing guard
 It was only loneliness, and loneliness waits,
 and ideas are like stars
 Ideas are like stars