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In Cairo
by Pete Justus

Someone told me she was in Cairo
But I don't remember who.
When she left so long ago
She had no idea what she was going to do.

Then she was so hot and sultry
Like the molten desert heat
With a style that burned brightly
As she rocked to a blazing blurry beat.

She always complained when the Santa Ana's came,
Said she was dying for a breeze.
She said she couldn't wait for the rains to come,
Couldn't wait to put her mind at ease.

And now someone's saying she's in Cairo
Just down the road from pyramids tall,
Just out of sight of ancient wonders,
And I wondered if she was still feeling small.

If you just saw her you had to wonder
How could that beauty burn so bright
But once you got to really know her
You knew she was really running from the night.

She was hiding from that blackness
That lived deep inside her soul,
Hiding from some hurtful lost truths
That made her live her life like she was playing a role.

The last time that I saw her
She slipped lightly across the dark hardwood floor,
Her tears leaving stains in the grain
As she headed for the door.

The fire was blazing brightly
Casting its flickering shadows across the room.
She stepped out onto the porch
Under a thin, barely visible, new moon.

In an instant she was gone in the darkness
And I knew she was gone for good.
I wished there was something I could have done,
But I had already done all that I could.



Now maybe it wasn't enough
And maybe I could have loved her more
But I don't think I could have ever filled her emptiness,
That I could have ever kept her from walking out that door.

There was something in her missing
And there was something so soft and sweet
That made her more than just a lost soul
And yet left her so incomplete.

Every once in a while
We'd find an oasis clear and bright,
We'd shelter in its cooling shade,
And make love all through the night.

Most of the time we were lost though,
Each of us trying to find our way,
The blind leading the blind
With neither of us having very much to say.

And now she's off in Cairo
And I'm wondering why I care.
It's been so long since she's been gone,
Since my fingers ran through her hair.

I was looking at a map of Egypt,
Running my finger down the Nile long,
Tracing the small of her back in my mind,
Humming to an old sweet song.

Somewhere in that big black dot named Cairo
She's living on the edge
And I wonder how's she doing
Navigating her way along that lifelong ledge.

She had a queen's dark eyes
And a smile that burned across the sand
But underneath all of that
Was more old pain then she could stand.

Maybe she's found peace in the desert.
Maybe she's gotten used to its blazing heat.
I know she can still light that fire
And I'm sure she still seems as sweet.


But it's all just speculation.
It's all just wondering about the past,
Wondering about old time memories,
Wondering how long pain can last.

Of course she may not be in Cairo.
It was just something someone said
But it left me wondering about her all over
Just when I thought that dream was dead.

Now I'll go to sleep tonight picturing her
Walking down a crowded street
Burning bright among the brown walled buildings
In the noontime Nile heat.

And as I drift off into dreams
She'll slip off into the crowds
And fade away into the chaos
As my dreams start to play out loud.

When dawn breaks and the day lies in pieces
I'll see her smile in the light.
I'll pray she's found some kind of answers
To show her the way out of that long dark night.

I'll wonder what she's up to
And I'll wish I had done more
But in the end she's just a memory
Who someone said was walking along the Nile shore.

 


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