[Quicksilver Daydreams of] Maria - Steve Earle

A diamonds fades quickly when matched to the face of Maria

All the harps they sound empty when she lifts her lips to the sky

The brown of her skin makes her hair seem a soft golden rainfall

That spills from mountains to the bottomless depths of her eyes

Well, she stands all around me, her hands slowly sifting the sunshine

All the laughter that lingers down deep beneath her smiling is free

Well, it spins and it twirls like a hummingbird lost in the morning

And caresses the south wind and silently sails to the sea

Ah, the sculptor stands stricken, painter he throws away his brushes

When her image comes dancing the sun, she turns sullen with shame

And the birds they go silent, the wind stops his sad, mournful singing

When the trees of the forest start gently to whispering her name

So as softly she wanders I’ll desperately follow her footsteps

And I’ll chase after shadows that offer a trace of her sight

Ah, they promise eternally that she lays hidden within them

But I find they’ve deceived me and sadly I bid them goodbye

So the serpent slides softly away with these moments of laughter

And the the old washy 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