| S E T T I N G
Fada is a gypsy raconteur, an event producer, a Merlin of the heart -- and he is Kate's lover from long ago to whom she has fled when life with her husband became too dull to contemplate. Fada is also beloved of Kate's daughter, Miranda and, to further complicate matters of the heart, he is Mary's soul mate until the end of time.
Mary has called him back to her in the song immediately foregoing, "I Ching!" Together "I Ching!" and "Fada" form the coda ("the tail") of UPSIDE DOWNSTAIRS.
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L Y R I C
If I could love you exactly as you need me
That means I’d be wise and
Wise enough to play the fool
There is a moment when boasting and tattle
A swagger of manhood, some jocular prattle
Can get a whole war won, to great approbation
While a general still ponders the field for his battle
If I could seize the day for you, in just that way
Then you might say I'm wise and
Wise enough to play the fool
Fada is wise enough to cut the shoot
And give to it the ground to root
For these are lessons learned in school
But do they make him wise
Wise enough to play the fool?
Cruel as the spring breeze
That showers petals from the trees
Useless as feeding hope
That springs up on its own, hope against hope
Unfed and unnoticed there blooms such a garden
Unlikely it is, as a cold winter’s pardon
Gloom in the shadow of all which is absent
And because of that creation has happened
Will Fada discover something new
To shatter what is left of you
For you, who find your way to art
After passion leaves you picking through the pieces
Scattered in the breaking of your heart
Fada lets the garden be closed to you
To make for you the grief you need
To knit in words the rows of seed
And weave with flowing waves of tears,
The low notes only your heart hears
So the world can sing, as it keeps unravelling
And you keep making it whole again
Despite, no because of, the rain
But now methinks it’s time to smile again
Time for us to bide beside one another
Another little while again
Fada must know to cut the shoot
And give to it the ground to root
But these are lessons learned in school
And do not prove him wise enough
Wise enough to play the fool
For wise enough I cannot tell
Even I, a long cool drink from an antique well,
Will lose you to your bending still
Beneath some ancient tree on some faraway hill
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