Same Star Tonight

Ruby calls at half past seven With the phone against a cup Dad is sleeping in the armchair Mom is trying to wake him up I've got coffee by the window They've got dishes in the sink And the package that she sent me Says don't open till we ring

It's a paper star like school days Folded wrong along one side She says, Put it in your window And I hold it to the light

We've got the same star tonight One in your window, one in mine Different streets and different skies But we can keep this little light Merry Christmas, I can hear you Even when the picture freezes twice There's an ocean in between us And the same star tonight

She unwraps the scarf I sent her Says, This tape could seal a ship Then she wears it through the dinner With the tag still on the stitch I can hear our neighbors laughing When she opens up the door Someone asks me when I'm coming I say, Soon as I can, of course

Then she takes me to the kitchen Where the noisy people aren't Says, It's good but I still miss you And I say, I know, it's hard

We've got the same star tonight One in your window, one in mine Different streets and different skies But we can keep this little light Merry Christmas, I can hear you Even when the picture freezes twice There's an ocean in between us And the same star tonight

Next year I will wrap your present Badly at the kitchen table Steal a ribbon from your pile Ask if you have any labels Till then, don't put down the phone yet Tell me who's arrived downstairs Let me stay here with you laughing For a little while from here

We've got the same star tonight One in your window, one in mine Different streets and different skies But we can keep this little light Merry Christmas, I can hear you Even when the picture freezes twice There's an ocean in between us And the same star tonight

She says, Owen, Merry Christmas I say, Ruby, you too Keep that star there in your window I'll be looking at mine too