Strangest Angel
(for Chris Whitley)
The strangest angel whispered to me
of distant shores I would never see
flying above this other world
capturing heaven in a muscled pearl
My strangest angel singing to me
of vast horizons and big sky country
all hallelujahs and swirling smoke
a whiskey sunrise the day I woke
please just say something if I took too much from you
this desert silence is burning me through
o howling engines and new machines
o bone and steel and dust I have seen
because you brought them all to me
brutally tender, your migrant wing
please just say something if I took too much from you
this desert silence is burning me through
o strangest angel, I hear the sound
you fly in circles on the long way around
I saved for you this crystalline tear
to salt the wounds that have brought you here
my strangest angel,
stranger-less angel,
dangerous angel,
fade into blue
dangerous angel,
stranger-less angel,
my strangest angel,
I sing for you
All Things Chris Whitley 