Track 3 of the EP Frangipani Afternoons · 2022

The Atlas on the Window Seat

“The window seat at my grandmother's place had a faded green cushion and an atlas I never finished reading. I wrote this thinking about all the places I planned to go.”

folk-pop · dream folk · xinyao-inspired · 3:02

Lyrics

There's a window seat with a cushion
Faded green and worn
And a heavy old atlas on it
With its corners soft and torn
I trace the blue of the oceans
With a finger and a cup of tea
And I sail to every country
That the rain's too wet for me

Oh, I've been to Lisbon on a Tuesday
And the fjords before the tea went cold
I've crossed the whole Sahara
In a cardigan, I'm told
The world is wide and waiting
But it's lovely from this seat
With the page turned to a faraway
And the kettle's quiet heat

Somebody pencilled a small cross
Beside a harbour town
A name, a year, a tiny heart
The ink has faded brown
I wonder who was dreaming here
Before the book was mine
And if they ever made it
To that far and lovely line

Oh, I've been to Lisbon on a Tuesday
And the fjords before the tea went cold
I've crossed the whole Sahara
In a cardigan, I'm told
The world is wide and waiting
But it's lovely from this seat
With the page turned to a faraway
And the kettle's quiet heat

Maybe someday I will pack a bag
And follow where the pencil led
Find the little harbour town
And the tiny cross, and the spread
Of washing lines and white-washed walls
And sunlight on the sea
But until then I'll keep the seat
And the whole world on my knee

Oh, I've been to Lisbon on a Tuesday
And the fjords before the tea went cold
I've crossed the whole Sahara
In a cardigan, I'm told
The world is wide and waiting
But it's lovely from this seat
With the page turned to a faraway
And the kettle's quiet heat

Turn the page, turn the page
The whole world on my knee