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billy jonas / bridging divides

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Christoffer

Christoffer was six years old and blessed with a curious mind:  
He said, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
To get to the other side..
Like a prophet, young Christoffer said "it's all a game;
One side or the other, it's really just the same."

Christoffer went to see a shadow puppet play
Why did Christoffer stand up in the middle with his hands stretched to the sky
"Like an angel" said his teacher.  "Like he knew he was ready to go."
Then Christoffer went home and made his own shadow puppet show.
Sometimes a child knows
Like an evening star shows you where you are and what's to come;
And when a child goes
Like a setting sun:  beautiful dreams undone

Christoffer, entrepreneur, pulling a little red wagon
Selling organic "popcornpopcorn!" by the bag, and on
Deck was a plan for a macrobiotic drive-thru
Restaurant called 'Loveland':  "Would you like carrot juice with your scrambled tofu?"

His father said, "Oh my skinny little chicken, wait for me outside."
Why did Christoffer cross the road?  To get to the other side
It was strange, how he stared at the street for a quarter of an hour before
Christoffer kissed a car going 30 miles an hour.

If I was king of everything,
I'd make the pain and sorrow go away;
I'd shine cartoons upon the moon
And let my dreams and visions have their way..

Christoffer's family and friends gathered in a meadow
Singing songs to his memory, and polishing his shadow
Then a rainbow, then another — double rainbows in a clear blue sky
And they all danced together, until the songs ran dry

One night his toy robot turned on spontaneously and said, "I am Magic Mike:  I come from far
away."
And their neighbor, she was Cherokee, said "it's all medicine
His voice is in the water, now he's dancing with the wind
His voice is in the water, he's dancing with the wind"

Sometimes a child knows
Like an evening star shows you where you are and what's to come
And when a child goes
Like a setting sun:  beautiful dreams to come

Credits:

Words & Music by Billy Jonas
1993 Bang-A-Bucket Music, BMI

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