Childhood dreams drift like paper boats. Rain falls on a lost afternoon, while the boatman drowns in dead memories. No rhythm. No hope. Only time remains.
love
time
rain
dream
beauty
hope
muse
nostalgia
sunlight
memory
absence
afternoon
childhood
noemi
paper boats
Story behind the song
Noemi died on an afternoon painted in gold.
The doctors had spoken in hushed tones for weeks, whispering predictions as if death were a scheduled train they alone could see approaching. Her frail hands had trembled, her breath had grown shallow, but she had smiled at them all. She was old, after all. This was expected.
Yet, as her eyelids fluttered closed, Noemi felt something strange, time bending, slipping, unraveling like a frayed ribbon in the wind. She was falling, or perhaps floating, drawn backward into the corridors of memory.
And then, sunlight.
A bright afternoon, long ago.
She was seventeen again, standing at the edge of the river, her bare feet pressing into the damp earth. The scent of rain clung to the air, mixing with the sharp sweetness of orange blossoms. She held a paper boat in her hands, folding the edges carefully, as if the universe depended on its shape.
A boy was with her. His laughter rang out, easy and free, as he reached to steal the boat from her fingers. "Let me," he said, grinning. She let him take it, let him place it on the waters surface.
It floated. It danced. It drifted toward the unknown.
He looked at her then, the sunlight kissing his hair, his eyes deep as the sky. Noemi, Noemi, Noemi. He had said her name like a song, like a prayer, like something that would never be forgotten.
She had loved him. She had lost him.
The years had come like waves, washing over the past, reshaping it until it felt like a story told by someone else. She had grown older, wiser, lonelier. Paper boats had turned to crumpled letters, dreams left in dusty corners.
Now, here she was seventeen once more, weightless, breathless, on the edge of something infinite. She turned toward the river, toward the boy.
But he was gone.
Instead, she saw her reflection in the water, not of a girl, but of an old woman. Eyes dimmed; hair streaked with silver. The river did not lie.
A gust of wind tore through the trees, scattering dry leaves into the current. The boat tipped, spun, and then, it sank.
Noemi gasped, but there was no sound. The golden afternoon faded, replaced by sterile white light, by quiet voices murmuring her name.
Noemi, Noemi, Noemi.
Today.
Then, silence.
And somewhere, far away, paper boats drifted on a river that had no end.
Lyrics
(As if I could fly)
On such a beautiful sunny afternoon, she appeared to me
The warmth of the sun kissed her brown hair with glee
Her smile radiated pure joy, filling the air with delight
No words could capture the beauty I saw, try as I might
At that moment, time stood still, as if in a dream
Her presence cast a spell, like a gentle flowing stream
NoemÃ, the embodiment of grace and elegance so rare
Her every movement, a symphony, beyond compare
Her eyes sparkled like diamonds, reflecting the azure sky
And I couldn't help but get lost, yes, as if I really could fly
On such a beautiful sunny afternoon, she captivated my soul
A melody of love and desire, that I cannot control
Noemi, you're the muse who inspires my every line
Your presence in my life, a blessing so divine
No words can truly express the magic you bring
On such a beautiful sunny afternoon, it's you I sing.
Noemi,
Noemi,
Noemi,
Today,
Paper boats in my pocket
Lost dreams from a childhood wreck,
Only to surface again, later.
And, as strange as it is, love remains benign,
Moving within today,
As rainwater sings once more
On that harsh afternoon, falling.
The boatman drowns
My sense of place, my caution
Let them drift into your eyes,
Perhaps tormented,
Weighted by a thousand dead memories,
The absence of one, his hope.
She, with her eyes,
So old, so distant.
No rhythm left. Hope is dead,
Again.
I walk in these days,
Between the waves of time.