Late for the Sky

This is Jackson's masterpiece. It is one of the most beautifully and touchingly heartbroken songs ever written by anyone. This is an exquisitely crafted song.

I love the juxtapositions of

• night / morning
• awake / sleeping
• closed eyes / dreaming
• drifting / running
• spoken words / whispered promises
• steps from the beginning / close to the end
• hard into your eyes / some words come easy
• whispered promises / where we both lie
• still wasn't right / changing light
• continued through the night / running for that morning flight
• bed / sky
• vanished into the air / late for the sky

and I love the function of this progression:

And still we continued on . . . Awake again . . . How long have I been sleeping? How long have I been drifting . . . How long have I been dreaming . . . How long have I been running . . .

For all of its literary technique, it remains eternally fresh. I'll add an additional nod to David's slide guitar which is glorious.