Weather Report (1989)

Welcome to Marseilles
It’s raining today
This sunny Mediterranean seaport
Whose spry citizens are descended
From the strongest stock of Greek and Roman sailors
Is wet with the tears of God
And every face is bleak
As though their beloved sun
May never return

Addicts, all of them
They’d fare poorly in overcast Paris
Or foggy Brest
Or dismal Cherbourg with its musical umbrellas

Helios, whose light they crave and worship
Smiles upon them nearly daily
And when he wearily decides
For just one morning to abandon his chariot duty
And sleep in, allowing Zeus a tantrum with his
Mighty lightning and furious thunder
It is as though someone has snapped away
Their very life force
Holding them down
And stealing their breath

This town shrieks and laments in the rain
It cries and mourns and grieves under cover of cloud
And the heralded cold Mistral wind
Will sweep today out of the sky
And should bring us a bright, clear tomorrow

Massilia of old
Was rarely wet, I’m told
But now I’ve come to see
The rain may get to me