Kentucky Girl

for Christy

Yes, you are, yes, you are, my love,
You’re my lovely Kentucky girl.

In your bourbon smile I can see
Grassy hills just as free as you—
Come, my darling, won’t you sit with me—
We’ll have a beer or two.

In that hair that shines like the sun,
Freckled skin and untamed, sparkling eyes
I can see the Kentucky sky
And the valleys where the horses run wild.

I remember when I was a child
And the wind would embrace my face,
I’d smile like you smile tonight,
Thinking this is the time and place.

As I stand here at a local saloon,
The same child is awake in me—
Struck by love in the Kentucky moon—
Thinking this is where I’d like to be.

And the moon seems to sign your name
In your eyes that sparkle like pearls—
Yes, you are, yes, you are, my love,
You’re my lovely Kentucky girl.


   April 19, 1998
--Alexander Shaumyan