Ivory Bill Blues
by harpgirl and Stephen Brooke, (2007 copyright)

Ivory Bill, old Ivory Bill
Do you fly wild in Florida still?
You are the spirit of an age gone by
Before we banished you from woods and sky.

Lambent dreams of yesterday
Ancient dreams they've flown away;
Elusive shadow in the morning mist,
A love that fades yet still persists.

Oh Ivory Bill blues have bound my soul
I search for a ghost now legend of old,
A glimpse of white winged flashing flight,
The Lord God Bird black as starless night.

What doomed you ghost, what sealed your fate?
Rise up from the swamp before it's too late.
The Ivory Bill blues like a love long past
Fills my heart with longing, a die that's cast.

Each bend in the river upends memories,
As I glide beneath the mighty trees
And the morning whispers of all that's been lost
In a world we've built, but at what cost?

But I'll keep searching the swamps and the sloughs
Trying to cure my Ivory Bill blues;
I won't find peace till I know your plight,
Oh Lord God bird, black as starless night.

Some swear they've heard the beat of your drum
Among the tall pines and the old sweet gum,
Or the swamps where the mossy cypress grow
Along the dark Choctawhatchee's flow.

Others insist your time is all gone
You nest today where there is no dawn;
Did you fade away like the lover we lose?
I need a cure for my Ivory Bill blues!

Old Ivory Bill, old Ivory Bill,
Do you fly wild in Florida still?
Or like old love are you lost and gone
A memory fading in a misty dawn.



yeah, we know....it sounds like Gilligan's Island when you sing it...oh well...they hated it at Will McLean too....