Summer Stars

[Spoken Intro]
Gravity glued feet on the ceiling that is earth
And there’s Roger pointing down
Can you see the emu there
There below us in the dark deep space blue
And burning bright
We call the stars by different names
And suddenly I can recognise all the
Parcels of silent time in between
Where there is no darkness and never nothing
And only shapes and signs and meaning
We make and call our own
Shapes of Doug and Kathy, Lester Ralph and John
Kurt and Joanie, Bob and Don
Big Len, Big Den Louise, Johnny, Kevin

[Verse 1]
Summer stars come out again
Through veils of amber cloud, city lights and rain
A cardboard silhouette of landscape all asleep
Painted oceans clear and deep
Out where the earth and sky combine
From mackerel blue down to the brightest orange rind
Once the world did as it was told
Under summer stars, bright and cold

[Verse 2]
Where you are determines what you see
Into negative or positive territory
Hemispheres with little common ground
A milky way all wrapped around
We watched it sideways through the 3 day week
With the power off, we had time to look and speak
The naked eye of the palest white
A billion years of light

And in its core an inhospitable place
Where summer stars form and fall into space

[Verse 3]
And when the engines stop there’s nothing else to do
But count the stars and name them like we used to do
Walk outside and watch the satellites fall
See new shapes above us all
From the east into the west
Map them out before we die
From the north down to the south
Hank William's mouth will fill the sky

[Verse 4]
When summer stars will not come out for me
The Hubbell telescope is sinking in the sea
Beneath a cityscape hiding in our sleep sleep
The deepest cave, the castle keep keep
Buried alive where no one can get in
With purple bruises on our orange skin
But once the world did as it was told
Under summer stars, bright and cold

[Outro]
Bright and cold, bright and cold
Bright and cold, bright and cold
Bright and cold