The lyrics were written after the composition; they’re not sung here. I’ve found that doing things that way really adds to the old-timey feel, unintentionally. Modern songs take more liberties with how the words fit. Writing this way forces the lyrics into a more regular groove, even if they are over-written. . . does it really need two bridges, with different lyrics? On the other hand, I like its rhymes that fall in odd places (which you can’t hear, because you’re not hearing the words with the music. But trust me; “neck” rhymes with “geckoes.”).
Soft green light
Sweet hibiscus
Rain sifts down
Like gentle kisses
Falling on your neck
Down your shoulders
As the geckos
Watch from the boulders
Through the leaves
Breezes come blowing
Cools my skin
Slick and glowing
With the dew that forms
In the garden of your heart
Tides arise
Hurricanes lash out like lies
Tearing shelter from the shore
Shotgun rain
Blasts through my eyes
Till you explain
And cast your seeds upon the floor
With care they’ll grow
Jungle trails
Pick a path through
Tangled veils
Past the lianas
There’s an open place
Set about in lush embrace
From the limb into my hand
There drops
Luscious papaya
Cools my throat
Banks the fire
That will warm the night
In the garden of your heart
Tides arise
Boiling clouds wash out the skies
Leaving nothing but the gray
Whiplash palms
Mambo and beat their
Feathered arms
And as we stagger from the fray
You say,
“Let’s go away
To where the air tastes like summer
And balms grow cool as winter”
In the dark
Hid in graces
Jungle cats
With painted faces
Wait in deep bamboo
Like “The Dream” of
Henri Rousseau
We paint a scene of
Tropical sultry oasis
Where the mood
Interlaces
With the tender vines
In the garden of your heart
Hear these lines
From the bottom of my heart
Paradise we will find
©2003 Jim Hayes