Aphelion Issue 293, Volume 28
September 2023
 
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Paper Moon

by Seanan McGuire


I don't want to live where the sky is small;
I want to write my name across the stars.
So you can follow me through all the ports of call,
You can hear my story in a thousand bars...
But that doesn't mean I'm gone for good;
Some stars fall home, and this one still could.
So tell my lover I could be home soon.
He can make his wishes on the paper moon.

I don't want to live by another's rules,
I want to blaze my trail across a new frontier.
Your boundaries may serve to stop the fools,
But there ain't no way you're gonna keep me here.
But just because I fly away,
That doesn't mean I won't come back someday.
So tell my lover he could see me soon.
He can blow his kisses to the paper moon.
Paper moons and tinsel stars
Light your way no matter where you are.
I can fly forever, never go too far...
If a man don't reach, then what's a heaven for?
I don't want to live so afraid to die
I never leave the ground, I never take a chance.
So you can find me out there in that endless sky;
Some people run away, but I prefer to dance.
Though I'm somewhere off the beaten track,
That's no guarantee that I won't come back.
So tell my lover don't forget me soon...
He can see my face in the paper moon.
Paper moons and tinsel stars
Light your way no matter where you are.
I can fly forever, never go too far...
If a man don't reach, then what's a heaven for?
I don't want to live where the sky is small;
I want to write my name across the stars.
So you can follow me through all the ports of call,
You can hear my story in a thousand bars...
But that doesn't mean I'm gone for good;
Some stars fall home, and this one still could.
So tell my lover I could be home soon.
He can make his wishes on the paper moon.
He can blow his kisses to the paper moon.
He can see my face in the paper moon, oh,
Paper moons and tinsel stars
Light your way no matter where you are.
I can fly forever, never go too far...
If a man don't reach, then what's a heaven for?

Give me a paper moon and a tinsel star.
If a man don't reach, then what's a heaven for?


The song "Paper Moon" is featured on Seanan McGuire's new CD, Stars Fall Home. You can hear a sample of this song and other songs from the album by visiting her webpage. A review of Stars Fall Home is featured in this month's Aphelion.


© 2007 Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire is an author and songwriter who lives in the San Francisco Bay area, with her insnae cat, Lilly, and enough plush animals to populate a metropolitan zoo, if a metropolitan zoo heavily featured dinosaurs. Her first studio album, Stars Fall Home, was released in 2007, and can be ordered from her webpage at http://www.seananmcguire.com/.

Find more by Seanan McGuire in the Author Index.

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