Passerby

I'm heading up to the mountaintop
Just to breathe the ocean breeze
Islands on this panorama
Like old friends on hard days
They can heal with their steady presence
For this I'll dodge the tourists every day

The passerby will never know
The stories behind the walls they roam
The passerby will never see
Looking down at their little screens

Cars queue up all down the road
Wait for a turn to see this postcard
It's not a place that I can stay for long
Go down the path and listen to silence
Except the beat of my feet on the stairs
And the hum of the city pulling me back in

The passerby will never know
The stories behind the walls they roam
The passerby will never see
Looking down at their little screens

I watch the wild parrots of telegraph hill
Fly in waves of color from the valley below
Overhead they squeal and cry
Then scatter away in different directions
I wonder why, then I see it clear
There's a hawk in the sky in a dive, and it's getting near

The passerby will never know
The stories behind the walls they roam
The passerby will never see
Looking down at their little screens
Unless they stretch their mind
Gotta stretch your mind
Get out of line
Get yourself free