A Turtle's Dream

often I sing when I'm all alone,

and no one can see me but me.

i think and wonder what i am

and how i came to be.

i can swim the ocean,

and it's deep and wide,

and in the house above me

abide.

maybe one day i'll fly like an eagle,

fly like a bird and go and go.

soar like an eagle,

walk like a lion,

although it won't be i know.

but i can swim the ocean,

and it's deep and wide,

and in the house above me

abide.

i guess the time has come for me to go.

and look around for something, oh,

just moving in my house you know.

moving slowly is not really bad,

moving slowly you see

the wonders of the deep,

just waiting there for me.

and i can swim the ocean,

and it's deep and wide,

and in the house above me

abide.

and in the house above me

abide…

Editorial Comment. — Abbey Lincoln [1930–2010] was the stage name of an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress whose real name was Anna Marie Wooldridge. Lincoln was one of many jazz singers influenced by Billie Holiday; her lyrics were often connected to the civil rights movement, and in 2003 she received a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award. She composed this poem/song in 1994 and released it on her jazz album, “A Turtle's Dream.” It is a wonderful and slow melodic jazz piece that flows and glides along like a sea turtle swimming languidly in the open sea. I found it a couple of years ago when browsing on iTunes and loved it. It now lives happily on my iPod and I listen to it from time to time as I drive or fly and take my favorite music with me. If you love turtles, especially sea turtles, and wonderful and slow jazz, then you need to listen to this piece and be transported into Abbey Lincoln's deep blue ocean and experience her evocative portrait of this slowly gliding turtle's dream.