Garota De Ipanema

Ah, she walks through my youth
drawing me back to beaches
and that incredible unattainable:
"dark and tan, and young and lovely"

This beauty strolled in marble halls
ringed with ionic pillars - a goddess
but in my innocence I believed -
held dear her pristine existence.

Then i began to learn the truth
the sadness in her steps
so hidden by that soft undulating
walk in uncertain sandy strata.

Lying in the lap of her misery,
discovered the family troubles,
heard first-hand the struggles
that kept those sulky eyes riveted
to the distant unimaginable horizon
beyond which escape may lie.

Then one day she did flee
beyond that horizon from which
there can be no return;
dropped off the edge of the world
Into that great fall far from Ipanema.

I am not one to follow that path;
stayed on the beach,
counting the waves in sevens,
hearing foot falls in the sand.