Life Under the Rainbow
#21 - Poetry of Song Series
Click the Link to Play the Song! https://suno.com/s/2GkNfPocgk5NBCZb Cici - OMG it's long, Dave. I'll chop it down to size for the radio Angel - Nobody's gonna listen to it but you, so no need. Besides, would Dylan let ya shorten Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands? Would Zappa let your cut down Ethel? Cici - Billy the Mountain, right? Angel - You're full of suprises! Didn't think you'd know that Cici - You forgot you played it for me when we first met Life Under the Rainbow David Angel [Intro] Outside, I saw a bluebird fly, so why oh why oh why oh why can’t I? At my room in the nursing home, he landed on my windowsill and moved his head and cocked his eye I swear he was saying “why oh why” Embarking on a quest to pick up a golden pen and write about the olden days before they sold out of Depends and our chi-chis didn’t sag and our glutes were hard as rocks and we used to watch F Troop in our saddle shoes and bobby socks and our parents were alive and we were gleams inside their eyes and we played with our good friends outside - Truth or Dare and always lied and we were fresh and young and full of zest and knew we were not second best and closer to our birthdays than our tombstones and our epitaphs engraved to tell the world that we were here and had something to say before we barely said a thing and then mostly stopped saying anything except to say the last words I remember and I know just what they are I always sit in the same chair and stare and wait For someone walking through the lobby, anyone and even you -I wait until you’re close and say “You have yourself a blessed day!” My words are moonbeams in a jar because it’s all that I can think to say when someone flies on past me on his way to somewhere special and evidently consequential more important than to stop and hear my tales about yesteryear You’re too fast on your feet, my dear You fly and float as if on wings, I truly wish that I could be the one who runs and laughs and plays for fun just like the olden days with friends the way we used to jump and climb without paying any mind to breaking any brittle bones and going to some horrible home - My son found this one on the phone [Hook] Outside, I saw a bluebird fly, so why oh why oh why oh why can’t I? At my room in the nursing home, he landed on my windowsill and moved his head and cocked his eye I swear he was saying “why oh why” Way back when we could straighten up and walk without a creak of bones, arthritis was for old folks and we pranked them sometimes on the phone and knew old age would never catch us unawares ‘cause we were pretty and always certain we were destined for the big lights of the city and we never saw this coming the way everything would falter and go faster until life was in the mirror and we were grey and alabaster and watched our friends all disappear without a happy ever-after as one by one they dropped like flies and flew off to MAYBE greener pastures and the rest of us just sit and stare unfathomable that you and me were once so lithe and supple skin as smooth as Mr Bubble and I dare say were sweet as honey, pure and young and free and funny and would soon be the moms of little kids who flew away and now are big They grew up as we grew small and now our children walk these halls, and come to visit once a month whether we know their names or don’t [Hook] Outside, I saw a bluebird fly, so why oh why oh why oh why can’t I? At my room in the nursing home, he landed on my windowsill and moved his head and cocked his eye I swear he was saying “why oh why” So we bide our time ‘cause we’re still here trying not to cry too many tears when ambulances pull up and remind us of our pain and fear and sense our time is drawing nigh and we shall soon bid you goodbye and hopefully will sail the sky and not slink along the viper’s pit with serpents and the girl who bit the apple off that tricky tree and caused the fall of man and got ejected from the Eden garden Naked Eve should not have listened to that snake because she found out but too late so we just wish like Hell that someone cared and we could wear clean underwear when we join Eve here or there or that somehow it was a false alarm and we wake up from this fever dream with tears of joy and we all scream - Lo and behold we’re young again! [Bridge] Today I saw NO bluebird fly and NOBODY would catch my eye The passerbys just passed on by I heard a crow, he cawed goodbye It’s different as I’m growing older, finding out that time moves slower and that the clock ticks with a clunk when life becomes an azure funk and after all is said and all is done the rush did not help anyone and regardless if time’s fast or slow there’s basically one thing I know and that’s that no one really knows what the Hell we’re doing here and where we came from, where we go and what’s the reason I don’t know and what’s with all this goddamn snow - we had to leave the building for a fire drill or some such thing - the sound is really scary when those terrible hallway buzzers ring The buzzer buzzed me from a dream of sand but not a shoreline and no sea and no blue-green waves were billowing - just hourglasses emptying [Outro] Outside, I saw a bluebird fly, so why oh why oh why oh why can’t I? All rainbows fade into the sky I shut my eyes, bid you adieu - goodbye Copyright©️2026, David Angel, All Rights Reserved Arcoíristography - May 2026 - (pics are of same rainbow) by David Angel The Poetry of Song Series: # 1 Flurry of Gratitude - Our Circle Grows # 2 Down for the Count # 3 NecroBarbie (two versions & original sheet music) # 4 Resolve of Steel # 5 Two-bit Meal # 6 Way Outside (two versions) # 7 Haunted (Gatling Static) (two versions) # 8 Second Comin' # 9 Shootin' Crap #10 Spring Hitcher #11 Narcissa Jugulator #12 The Isis Trilogy #13 Smoked Salmon Burger #14 Ballad of Bugs & Kisses Elegy #15 Thundersnow Sugaring #16 The Water Glider # 17 Weather by Droplet # 18 Therapy Dog Hymn # 19 The Lost Years # 20 After You Left # 21 Under the Rainbow PoetNote - This song was adapted from my poem, Life Under the Rainbow - posted August 15, 2025. Click Read full story below to read the original poem
