Starless Night in 73 describes the night when Giovanny was taken from his childhood home, when my Chilean coworker had to flee the military coup, and when I was experiencing my first adolescent breakup. My daughter Anna, my son-in-law Alex, and I sang this song on my 60th birthday, when Giovanny had just crossed into Costa Rica on his way north.

When I was six years old the tables started turning

Curtains rose and doors all opened wide

The last ones first, those who were yearning

sitting at the table drinking wine

My father was a server at the table

Red bandana wrapped around his sleeve

But the banquet guests, they all scattered

Starless night in seventy-three

and I knew nothing ‘fore I met you --- never can forget you

I was broken but I did not bleed

cause you were smashing every platter

Leaving everything in tatters…

Starless night in seventy-three

Dust rose up like clouds the night she took me

bright-colored woman by the well

like a dream that blew across the desert

stirring up a storm I couldn’t quell

I was only four but still I remember

The way those brown arms rose up from her sleeves

We were trading Marlboro for marimba

Starless night in seventy-three

And I knew nothing ‘fore I met you --- never can forget you

I was broken but I did not bleed

cause when my family was scattered

It left everything in tatters…

Starless night in seventy-three

Abre la ventana las estrellas te entregan su luz

El cielo despejado las estrellas te entregan su luz

Todavía recuerdo esa noche, pero a pesar de lo difícil y doloroso, siempre había una luz en mi camino, como la luz de las estrellas detras de las nubes, brillando en la noche, aun cuando no la podemos ver.

I didn’t know a thing about Allende

I’d never heard about the CIA

I was hunting crawdads and four-leaf clovers

All I knew about was Tennessee

I remember the first night I met her

Her golden hands were reaching out to me

her smoke rings lifted me to heaven

starless night in seventy-three

And I knew nothing ‘fore I met you --- never can forget you

I was broken but I did not bleed

cause when you stole my heart it shattered

leaving everything in tatters

Starless night in seventy-three (repeat three times)

Poetry

Stones from the Tumbler

This is a selection of 40 poems that I wrote between 1980 and 2004.

Read the Collection