we pushed back at jfk and watched our country fall away two lovers chasing hours into the dark who blacked their boots and locked the doors now for richer and for poorer go vagabond and wild as a spark it was a civilized affair you wore flowers in your hair your mother s dress so white against your skin the stars of pale blue above the morning found a new and nameless country where no one had ever been we raced the valleys down through the sleepy little towns as blind as any traveler you could meet they took us as we came no one even asked our names two americans in corduroys kissing in the middle of the street back home behind closed doors where the bread and circus roars they turn the volume up and pull the shade but on the cobbles in the square people laugh and smoke and stare and no one looks to me like they re afraid at home the trees are turning red and gold the leaves are burning ruined apples fall too heavy and too sweet but right here the birds are calling the early stars are falling for americans in corduroys kissing in the middle of the street trading evening for midday we touched down at jfk and our country rose to meet us in the air with all its beauty and its lust its diamond teeth and heart of dust that beats inside us though we travel anywhere