I awake on a chilly Christmas morning   Watching choirs singing carols on TV   I gaze out through my window at a dozen other windows   Then I plug in my artificial tree   And like a dream I begin to remember every Christmas I used to know   A thousand miles away, a million years ago   I remember sky.   It was blue as ink,   Or at least I think   I remember sky   I remember snow, soft as feathers, sharp as thumbtacks   Coming down like lint   And it made you squint when the wind would blow   And ice like vinyl on the streets   Cold as silver, white as sheets   Rain like strings and changing things   Like leaves   I remember leaves   Green as spearmint   Crisp as paper   I remember trees   Bare as coatracks, spread like broken umbrellas   And parks and bridges, ponds and zoos   Ruddy faces, muddy shoes   Light and noise and bees and boys   And daaaaays, oh!   I remember days or at least I try   But as years go by, they're a sort of haze   And the bluest ink isn't really sky.   And at times I think I would gladly die   For a day of SKY!