I watched you step
One foot on the curb
Your other leveling you off
Dangling in mid air
The cracks in the cement
Seemed to tell the story of the roots beneath it
and the leaves blew in the wind
On a chilly November day

You walked backwards in the gutter
Re-telling me your favorite story
Still over using your tongue on your favorite line
To you, it seems brand new every time

I watched your fingers floating against the blue sky
Your shoes slip off the curb then re-find their footing
You turn to see me
The sun shines against your teeth
and I can feel my knees go weak
But I have my ego to save me

On a Sunday afternoon
The church people are at their pot lucks
Eating their roast cow
and Jesus is napping
After a long service
The road belongs to us
and its as long and weightless as a cloud

Remember, we'd sit in the back of John's pick up truck
and drive down main street
Van Morrison playing on the transistor radio
We'd sing at the top of our lungs
The notes would get lost in the air
We'd watch them trail off
Like fumes from the exhaust
Good bye and good day

I watched you change the world
With just one night on stage
You glistened like summer rain
On a bright and shiny day
You played the harp like a piano
and the melody sang to me
With each stroke your hands
Set the music free
and I watched the world swim beneath you
All the people, fishes in the sea
A school headed for underwater green
A flounder trapped in a mask of sea weed
and I watched the sun shine through the water
Like smoke in a flood of light
Accept the lines were straight instead of criss cross
and you couldn't hear me laugh
and I watched the sharks circle above us
Like buzzards to a corpse
The skin baking on the black top
The stench filling the nostrils of a nearby horse
and he reared and bucked his master
and watched the buzzards fly from the corner of his eye
Not far a sparrow picks the exo skull of a moth
and a cat purrs, and sighs

Then she played guitar
and the song poured down on me
I felt the melody splash onto the pavement
As I walked home
and her voice guided me through
the longest night
The street lights accompanied my vision
I swear the animals were humming along in key
Out of my peripheral vision I see
The lights turning off in housing buildings
Crying children being lulled to sleep
and their mothers relaxing in their favorite chairs
Settling down in front of the TV

I close my eyes
and nod my head to the beat
and my feet navigate the way
Oh dear you, I do say
I do say, harmonize my mind
and ease my troubled heart
Hush the roar under the bridge
The fish swimming upstream in such harsh water
and I wonder as I watch them swim away
Where will you stay?
and why don't your fins cause you to fly?

I've been a child in this life and the last
and when the skies overcast and the phone lines fell down
I walked the rail road tracks with my shoes untied
I stopped to explore the forests next to
and oh, the things I would find
A carcus dead for weeks
I'd devise an improve poking device
and watch the maggots squirm around in the skin
and I'd recall Sunday school
Voice the seven deadly sings to myself as I headed home
A couple of kids were getting stoned along my way
Everything is innocent when we know nothing is wrong
I remember when love was sacred
and when junkies were just something in movie scenes
My uncle came home from prison
Said they made him and his cell mate test LSD
Because the government wanted to make their war heroes killing machines
But they claimed it was a truth serum,
So they wouldn't have to torture the political prisoners
Its always just one more lie
To get you closer to belief

I never felt so alive until I met you
Every morning that I wake up
I turn on the radio and dress myself
Dancing with joy in front of the mirror
I lip sync with Brucie boy
You are my Wendy
But there is no sorrow ripping the bones from our backs
I smile as you fall into my arms
Tighten my grip and relax my heart
When I close my eyes to fall asleep
You are the sun setting in my mind
and with each REM cycle you are there to accompany me
Your image guarding me in my dreams
and should you ever leave
Del will tell you, I'm sure
Through your guitar strings,
you're my little run away
Run run run run runaway.

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