Townes Van Zandt — Quicksilver Daydreams of Maria

[Verse 1] Well, the diamond fades quickly when matched to the face of Maria All the harps, they sound empty when she lifts her lips to the sky All the brown of her skin makes her hair seem a soft golden rainfall That spills from the mountains to the bottomless depths of her eyes [Verse 2] Well, she stands all around me, her hands slowly sifting the sunshine All the laughter that lingered down deep 'neath her smilin' is free Well, it spins and it twirls like a hummingbird lost in the morning And caresses the south wind and silently sails to the sea [Verse 3] Ah, the sculptor stands stricken and the artist he throws away his brushes When her image comes dancin', the sun, she turns sullen with shame And the birds, they go silent, and the wind stops his sad mournful singing When the trees of the forest start gently to whisperin' her name [Verse 4] So as softly she wanders, I'll desperately follow her footsteps And I'll chase after shadows that offer a trace of her sigh Ah, they promise eternally that she lies hidden within them But I find they've deceived me and sadly I bid them goodbye [Verse 5] So the serpent slides slowly away with his moments of laughter And the old washerwoman has finished her cleanin' and gone But the bamboo hangs heavy in the bondage of quicksilver daydreams And a lonely child longingly looks for a place to belong