James Webb

Lyrics

FLASH OF RED
by James Webb
© 2010. Amadeus WAM

Amongst the family photo albums,
And tattered memoirs of fallen men,
She watches from a cheap acrylic frame.
Captured in her mirror,
She looks straight back at me,
Through the camera, and right into my shame.

Between the night and dawn’s awak’ning,
Contemplation in ritual pose,
Gifting all that’s left for me, it seems.
That she might dream of what she hopes for,
Whether woman, mother or wife.
And trust the will to fight, ancestral in her genes.

Chorus
Flash of Red, shelf in my library.
Photograph, of a girl I used to know.
So easily, poised between woman and teen,
Read-headed child of mine, faded colours,
Faded dreams.

Ever drawn towards the mem’ries,
Bitter sweet each scene freeze-framed.
‘Oh Dad!’ she’d say with half-feigned tolerance.
I’d trade a world for her reproaches,
A kind of edgy harmony.
Imagining forgiveness in the dance.

(Repeat Chorus)