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"Chasing the Cherry" from
Blackbird Singing
Poems and Lyrics, 1965-1999
Fragile fragments
Clattering down
The lavish marble staircase
Tinkling smithereens
Smashing, grabbing
At china stars
Bursting in clusters,
Scattering E-side cats
Credit cards dropping
From rain-clouds
Pour down on the well-polished floor
Tortoiseshell hair-combs
And black tape cassettes
Rattle the cages of
Knife-wielding grand dames
And say, are you chasing the cherry?
The merry go round of the roses
If so, you must know
That the down side
Is to sink like a ferry
Ascending the slope
In herring bone fashion
Holding on chromium steel
Lifting the bar bells
With candlestick motion
Side stepping hot wax,
And wheel
Flying with lizards
All blown in a gust
Through staining glass
Windows and covered with dust blood,
To keep out the rain
And say, are you chasing the cherry?
The merry-go-round of the roses
If so, you must know
That the down side
Is to sink like a ferry
A weapon is not
Worth a button,
When anti-world
Matters explode
And chandeliers
Drop from the ceiling
With sharpshooter's skill
Exhausted collapse
In the playground
Apeak epileptic remains
And froth at the mouth
Like a river, till
Teachers in apple-pie beds
Reach out
Chalk filled hands
And lift
Lift
And say, are you chasing the cherry?
The singular red one on top
It gleams with particular pleasure
That may never stop
If so, you must know
That the high tide
Has sunk like a ferry.
Copyright © 2001 Paul McCartney
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