LIFT ME UP I saw you just the other
day
My, you're so much older now
If I've failed, at least I've done it my
way
And that makes me feel better, somehow But
I will be worse off, if I never confessed
That I've never loved another like
I loved you
When I see ya, I'm right pretendin' I don't care
But if you
catch me out of the corner of your eyes, you know I do See
a woman with a pale face
Black tie dinner, white lace
Life packed in a suitcase
Movin'
on to a better place Lift me up, like the wretch
I am on Sunday
Wake me up, I've been sleepin' for too long
I've lost some
time, that's OK
Look at me, look at you
We both need to belong Met
you in a bright haze
But our meeting was hatched in a premonition
I knew
you'd set me apart from all the rest See them
all out walking
They're lost in a time spun
Spinning away from here
So,
I'm singing for my tears
Cuz they make me feel lively
Like a sun's beatin'
on me
I don't want to die
In a high school memory
When I go to work
in a factory Raise me up
You and I are going
one way
If you're lost, that's OK
It's the age that we are Follow
yourself, down some dark deserted highway
The light you see at the end, it
isn't that far
If you ever need someone to believe in
Baby, you can believe
in me
Cuz, after all, if in the end, you didn't win
That's OK, one day you'll
be free And you can take my hand
And walk
on the sand
Lyin' on a sandy beach
With the sun beatin' overhead
I think
everyone will see
This is a world that's beautiful enough
Beautiful enough
for you and me
LIPS She
put her lips to mine
And she opened up her eyes
We parted and both smarted
With
similar sighs I wondered how she'd taste -
Such money in her guise
I learned she tasted of vanilla
Or more like
a lemon pie She said, "I don't want to
see you
I might fall in love too soon
For my lone dowry is due
To some
other pedigree" "What fine pedigree
You
most certainly have"
I said as I surveyed the room
"What a fine
mate you might make If you only eased up
And
allowed my charm
To do it stuff - I challenge you
To call my bluff" "For
what are we
If we are not in love?
We're pensive and unhappy
With all
the above But we can't match the thrill
So
let's leave this silly zoo
Now my heals will click twice
Tell me you want
me, too" ROAD
SONG I came from the North
From
New York City and the frantic pace
Headed south on I-81
Doing the cannon
ball run
Made it through Virginia without haste I
rolled down on I-41
Nashville, Tennessee, callin' out to me
Maybe some temptress
Will
steal my heart in Memphis
But I got a belle waiting in Albuquerque I
imagine the two of us
My Latin love and I
Out in the dusty desert
Away
from all pressure
Sharing contentment and locking eyes The
cars are shinin' on the highway
The silver glimmer blinds my eye
We'll whisper
in each other's ears
We'll joke about our silly fears
We'll fall asleep
under the brick-red sky All the prickly cacti
All
the winos fumble noisily
They stand broken and alone
I'm so far from home
Each
dirty alleyway is so new to me
TENNESSEE
MOON The Tennessee moon
Is shinin'
so bright
On a crystal clear
Indian summer night In
the doorways of the bar
Stand the guitar players
They try to lure the tourists
They
answer their prayers On these Nashville nights
Under
a Tennessee moon
By the Cumberland River
We've all got to shiver
GIVING
UP ON PARADISE When our hearts
don't work anymore
And our flesh is balmy, cold, and poor
And our years,
the quiet, anonymous stuff of yore
Tell me about paradise When
our passion's left us small and meek
When our days number just shy of a week
When
we're 50 years past our temporal peak
Point me towards paradise
For in the sunset of our lives
The soul is dealt a spanning night
Home
not to love or loss or light
Or wrong or right, just baleful night
We've fooled ourselves along this bluff
With talk of post-mortem bliss and
fluff
I think it wouldn't be so tough
To let our lifetimes be enough But
today our hearts are pumping fast
Our blood and flesh are warm and vast
Let's
use our age to fill our past
With the void left by paradise Don't
save yourself for when you're thrust
Into the realm of ash and dust
For
if you don't then you know you must
Have some longing for paradise
We've lost all perspective on paradise
Till we die we won't know, they say
Webster told us death was nice
We'll only learn the truth at the end of our
days
FIND TIME
TO SMILE Pick
your head up
Put your hair behind your ears
Put your tiny hands in mind
Let's
allow each other to switch gears We're always
stressing about something
We rarely find the time to smile
When was the
last time we had a hearty laugh?
I know it's been quite a while We've
got such petty problems
Brought on by cars, bars, and jobs
Let's think about
our happiness
Let's think about what we have It's
great to be alive
You haven't said that in a while
It's great to be alive
Let's
find the time to smile
DANCING
I saw her dancing
Through
the window
Of a champagne glass She was
taken,
Quite taken, and I knew
That sort of beauty couldn't last I
was alone at the time
And I saw the virtues
Of partnership And
I kept thinking
Only of how elegant
A body can be STRIVING He
pushes and strives
Takes what the fates bring
He's confident and thinks
He
can do everything But that's the sort of naiveté
That
comes with his youth
He thinks he knows it all but
One day he'll be long
in the tooth PIPE
DREAM Kickin' up dust tonight
Chewin'
on a pipe dream, baby
Got my brand new suit to wear
Flowers in your hair
and we feel crazy You got the world in your
hand
You think it follows your plans
That idea is lost on me
But I'm
tired of throwin' stones
LIKE A WRETCH, IN TENNESSEE Your
hair in the afternoon sun
Does it need anyone to make it right?
It takes
the light from all that has begun
You're so young, so bright
It's only a
short while If you could only embrace me
Like
a wretch, in Tennessee
Let's forget about ourselves
Hold me like we've just
begun
Be honest, be honest Crawling in the
hot sun
Mama, mama give this boy some shade!
In a bar you can throw all
your words
Into a drunken glass
But tell me
Is it just trickery?
Isn't
it just self-deceit?
The sea is cold
It does not spare anybody
Not even
the wretch
In Tennessee
4 AM It's 4 in the morning
And
I'm starting to grieve
The leaves outside
Like the leaves on my childhood
street
It's all business
It's all business
Let's not talk of poetry
It
makes my heart and head dizzy
I sat with an old man who said
"Do you
know what it's like to be close to death?
It's not much different than being
born"
I don't remember being born
It's what happens between the point
you're born
And the point you die that matters
Perhaps the most important
thing we have
Is time
To try to make the moment mine
Somewhere, time
is not important
It is hard to imagine whether having
The sort of mind that
is inspired to write poetry
Is a blessing
Or a curse
THE TRAIL I set out on a trail
The
trail was overgrown
The weeds were thick
I thought that the breadth of this
trail
Might make me sick
And make me fail myself
By failing to follow
through
By failing to realize the goal
Of getting to the end
To realize
all those dreams
We thought we knew
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