Sara

I laid on the dune, I looked at the sky

When the children were babies and played on the beach,

You came up behind me, I saw you go by,

You were always so close and still within reach.

Sara, Sara, whatever made you wanna change your mind?

Sara, Sara, so easy to look at, so hard to define.

I can still see them playing with their pails in the sand,

They run to the water their buckets to fill,

I can still see the shells falling out of their hands

As they follow each other back up the hill.

Sara, Sara, sweet virgin angel, sweet love of my life,

Sara, Sara, radiant jewel, a mystical wife.

Sleeping in the woods by a fire in the night,

Drinking white rum in a Portugal bar,

Them playing leapfrog and hearing about Snow White,

You in a marketplace in Savanna-la-Mar¹.

Sara, Sara, it's all so clear, I could never forget,

Sara, oh, Sara, loving you is one thing I'll never regret.

I can still hear the sounds of those Methodist bells –

I'd taken the cure and had just gotten through,

Staying up for days in the Chelsea Hotel,

Writing "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" for you.

Sara, oh, Sara, wherever we travel we're never apart,

Sara, oh, Sara, beautiful lady so dear to my heart.

How did I meet you?––I don't know,

A messenger sent me in a tropical storm.

You were there in the winter, moonlight on the snow,

And on Lily Pond Lane² when the weather was warm.

Sara, oh, Sara, Scorpio Sphinx in a calico dress,

Sara, oh, Sara, you must forgive me my unworthiness.

Now the beach is deserted except for some kelp

And a piece of an old ship that lies on the shore,

You always responded when I needed your help,

You gave me a map and a key to your door.

Sara, oh, Sara, glamorous nymph with an arrow and bow,

Sara, oh, Sara, don't ever leave me, don't ever go.

¹ A coastal town in Jamaica.

² Lily Pond Lane is in East Hampton, Long Island, New York, which is where Dylan and Jacques Levy collaborated on songs for Desire.