Birds Of Flims

Damn if I didn't just go walking and find some horses

A man-made lake and some trees

Came back to my room all covered in sweat

Here at the Swiss Waldhaus Hotel

Filled out an application for a work visa

For Japan and Australia

It's been a few weeks since I've left home

And I feel out of place

And out of my element

I work from 7 at night

Until 5 AM when the AD says "Wrap"

And a runner named Fabio flashlights me back to my hotel before the sun comes up

Then I get in my bed and talk with my girl on the phone to the birds chirping

How the hell did I end up playing myself in an Italian film

Set in a ski town in Switzerland?

Damn if I didn't just go walk in the yard, so alone on my night off

I felt like Jimmy Page walking the mountains out behind Aleister Crowley's house

It was too dark, and it got so cold

That I turned back around

Came back to my room, read Graham Nash's Wild Tales

Til I fell asleep to the sound

The sound of the birds

The birds of Flims

Yeah I've asked around

But nobody knows the names of 'em

Of the birds

The birds of Flims

Yeah I've asked around

But nobody knows the names of 'em

Damn if I didn't just go walking down the road

When a girl named Veronica stopped me

She said she was from Milan and that she recognized me from the film

And that today was her birthday

We talked a little bit

But there was a barrier

And she went one way and I went the other

And I walked along the dandelions and down to market

Where I bought her some flowers

On the way back to my hotel

I left them in the lobby of hers, with a note

"Veronica, happy birthday - Mark"

And when I saw her again on the set

She said "Grazie", and I could tell the gesture

Had touched her heart

Damn if I didn't go to dinner last night with Paul

But his throat was sore

And I could see that he was feeling ill

He spends more time on the set than I do

And it's cold out there

And the last two days, he was playing Hitler

I could see he was grappling with that

And I felt bad, and I gave him some words of support

And we talked about John Hughes movies, home ownership

And the cost of living in San Francisco and New York

And damn if I didn't go out later with a set dresser or something like that

Named Cipriana

We talked for four hours at a bar down the street

And the music was terrible

But yeah, I liked her, kinda

She's been with someone for four or five years

And I kinda figured that anyhow, and told her "Well, so have I"

And that made life easier for both of us

And I walked her drunk ass back to her room

And like a gentleman, I didn't try

And I went to my room

I looked down at the waterfront

From my balcony I felt

The surrealness of my surroundings

I got in my bed

Looked up at the baby blue ceilings above

And thought of my home

And my girl

And I ached for her love

Damn when it all ended

If I didn't have them fly me out

To New Orleans

Where I saw kitty cats sleeping on porches

And drank real iced tea for the first time in six to eight weeks

It was nice not having to walk down that awkward path again

And not to have to yell or to holler

About eating pasta pomodoro for the 38th time in a month

And that the price of knit hats was 60 Swiss fuckin' francs

Damn if I didn't go walking the next afternoon

Down Oretha Castle

I ate a catfish lunch at Cafe Reconcile

With a side of macaroni and cheese

And cornbread and collard greens

Saw it advertised on channel 99

The public access channel

And I walked across the street to a gym

And I watched two fighters spar

And I talked to them during their break

While they sipped on their Snapple

And I thought, what is life if not a fight?

Or a test of will and grace

Some would match it by throwing bombs like Mike Tyson

But some, like Pernell, are slippery and win cleverly

Some are fearless like Gatti

But like Henry Akinwande

Some of them buckle and stall

When the going gets tough, with much due respect

Some of them break down and cry

Like Oliver "The Atomic Bomb" McCall

Life's a chess game for all of us

Hit, don't be hit, jab and hook and feint and bob and weave

When the fighters got back in the ring

I thought of my own fight in life

And it was time to be leaving

And damn if I didn't go to the airport

And fly up to Cleveland, Ohio

I had dinner at Sylvester's in North Canton with my girlfriend and her friends

And for the first time in a while

I was surrounded by genuine smiles (beautiful smiles)

There at the table with all of them, I felt content

And grounded and rooted again

And was dropped off to face the hardships

Of a single mom who happens to be one of my closest and dearest friends

Fell asleep in her spare room to the sound of crop dusters

And cars on the highway

Back to my roots where unconditional love

Rules over everything

And I could no longer hear the birds of Flims