Song of the irises

William Overington

This song was written in December of 2003 yet the lyrics were not published until October 2007.

The song was inspired by the fact that the encoding of cuneiform into Unicode was taking place at the time that the song was written.

Since that time I have thought that if the song were being recorded and a video were being made, that maybe the video could be recorded in a garden, near some irises, beneath a starry sky on a summer evening.

There are irises in the garden
Some have flowers the colour of the sun
Some have flowers the colour of the moon
Some have flowers the colour of lapis lazuli
They will fade all too soon
The splendour of the flowers
As they are today
Deserves to be recorded
On a tablet of clay
Whatever the colour of the flower
The stem is dark green
Showing there is adequate water
At the roots which are unseen
The flowers are prominent in the iris
They are nearest to the stars
Yet all parts of the iris
Contribute to their splendour