When Sarah Smiles

Lacking anything serious in my recent repertoire, I decided to compose an ode to a friend of mine. That it was her birthday didn’t hurt either!

[22 Oct 1997]

I am Lord from the hill to the seaside
Of land rich in silver and miles,
But it all falls to nought,
And with barely a thought,
In the sun-rising when Sarah smiles.

You can sing me of lips like red roses,
But no rose so sweet could there be.
Not a flower alive
In creation could strive
To compare with the beauty I see.

I am Lord from the hill to the seaside,
With a hundred transactions and trials.
‘Though I must be away,
It is here I would stay
In the sun-rising when Sarah smiles.

In the garden, a man and a woman,
And before them a singular tree.
‘Twas a serpent, they say,
Tempted Adam to stray,
But I rather suspect it was she.

I am Lord from the hill to the seaside
Of land rich in silver and miles,
But it all falls to nought,
And with barely a thought,
In the sun-rising when Sarah smiles.