Intro Refrain
My sax retires to rest during the day,
Dawn’s whisper calls me home to stay.
Verse 1
Dawn creeps soft on cobblestone veins,
Sax case heavy, my notes still echo faint,
Delivery trucks growl, unloading crates of dreams,
City sweepers brush away the night’s wild paint.
Verse 2
Artists trickle to Jackson’s Square’s iron lace,
Easels rising like ghosts in the Square’s embrace,
River foghorn moans low and deep,
Paddle-wheeler churns, tourists in sleepy chase.
Chorus
Oh, the French Quarter stirs in misty morning light,
Senses pull me through the fading night,
Coffee calls like an old lover’s sigh,
Homeward bound, where the weary soul takes flight.
Verse 3
At Cafe Du Monde, powder dusts the air so sweet,
Beignets warm, chicory bitter on my tongue’s retreat,
Aroma wraps me, rich as velvet jazz,
Taste of dawn, pulling me from the street.
[Saxophone Instrumental]
Verse 4
Corner jam with guitar strings and clarinet’s cry,
I weave my sax in, one song under graying sky,
Harmony hums, vibrations in my weary bones,
Then onward, echoes fading as I say goodbye.
Chorus
Oh, the French Quarter stirs in misty morning light,
Senses pull me through the fading night,
Coffee calls like an old lover’s sigh,
Homeward bound, where the weary soul takes flight.
Verse 5
By Pat O’Brien’s, Hurricane glasses forgotten, strewn,
Sidewalk relics of revels under the moon,
Stench of rum and regret hangs thick in the breeze,
Sight of chaos cleaned, but the night’s ghost lingers soon.
Verse 6
Vendors unfold carts in the rising sun’s gold,
Musicians like me, straggling home, stories untold,
Quarter awakens, my senses full and alive,
To bed I go, till the stars call me back to thrive.
Chorus
Oh, the French Quarter stirs in misty morning light,
Senses pull me through the fading night,
Coffee calls like an old lover’s sigh,
Homeward bound, where the weary soul takes flight.
Outro Refrain
Echoes linger as the sun climbs high,
Sax dreams wait till the moon claims the sky.
Copyright August 30, 2025, by Stephen Craig Whitley – All Rights Reserved
