Portrait

Words & Music by Christopher Kent

Sadly are we listening
There is sadness in your eyes
Though your words are filled with madness
It is only a disguise
You can fill the room with laughter
Or with loving, or with lies
And the vision still will linger
When the final echo dies

Go ahead, sing your story while we listen from afar
You are painting us a picture of the things we think we are

In a melancholy voice, you share the shadows of your mind
And your life comes out in colors
That your music has designed
You display your fallen idols
And your lovers and your schemes
In portraits and reflections
Of your daylight and your dreams

And we listen as you show us all the prizes and the scars
You are painting us a picture of the things we think we are

Soft, like the wind through the trees
Songs from the sea
Sounds from a broken dream
And the music runs like rivers through the night
In a gallery of sorrows and delight

And you sit beneath the spotlight
And you turn the music on
And you watch us as we listen
To the pictures you have drawn
And sometimes you start to wonder who it is behind the songs
Is is you, or just a portrait
Where a different face belongs?
But we will not hear you wonder — just the sound of your guitar
You are painting us a picture of the things we think we are

(Dedicated to Joni Mitchell)

© 1975  by Christopher Kent/Dragonheart Music. All rights reserved.