Jane Siberry

Symmetry (the Way Things Have To Be)

Jane Siberry


...or say you're in a room
and there's a beautiful fire
and you're looking out the window
(at the snow and the winter streets below)
but your eyes keep returning to the fire 

this is what I'm thinking
the reason your eyes keep returning to the fire
is because it divides your sight
into left and right
and dark and light and dark
like a fine dividing wire 

here's another thing
that I noticed last night
whe he kissed me over there
he usually kissed me over here, too 

I must have known it in my heart
and with my inner sense of art
because when I kiss him over there
I never kiss him over here 

it's the way of the world
people do it everywhere
if you're going to do it over here
then usually they do it over there too 

symmetry is the way things have to be
symmetry is the way things have to be 

or say you're at a table
and you have your forks and knives
do you move them around
'til you get them just right?
(this is while you're talking to someone) 

or you work in a nightclub
and you notice that
even though you try to seat everyone on one side of the room
they always spread themselves out evenly from this side to that
like atoms in a model 

it's the way of the world... 

or say you're in an air show
and you're flying with two other pilots
and you want to do it right
because you like to do it right 

and one guy is flying
at the tip of your left wing
and the other guy's off
doing his own thing
would it bother you?
it bothers me 

it's the way of the world...