Once I stood alone so proud
held myself above the crowd
now i am low on the ground.

From here i look around to see
what avenues belong to me
I can't tell what ive found.

Now what would You have me do
i ask you please
I wait to hear.

The mother, and the matador,
the mystic, all were here before,
like me, to stare You down.

You appear without a face,
disappear, but leave your trace,

Consider me a widow, boys
and I will tell you why.
It's not the man, but it's the marriage
that was drowned.

So I walk the walk
and wait with watchful eye out to the sky,
Looking for a kind of vessel
I have never found.

Though I saw it splinter
I keep looking out to sea,
Like a dog with little sense,
I keep returning,

To the very area where
I did see the thing go down

I'll never be your Maggie May
the one you loved and left behind
the face you see in light of day
and then you cast away
that isn't me in that bed you'll find

I'd rather take myself away
be like those ladies in Japan
rather paint myself a face
conjure up some grace
or be the eyes behind a fan

And so you go
no girl could say no
to you

There's the way we may appear

The virgin mary on a chain
has hit me in the mouth again
as we explore the carnal score
of sacred and profane

Sulky boy won't drink his milk
mothers breast beneath the silk
remains untouched it's way too much
reject all of that ilk

I have to say it makes me wonder
if you are holding me
to the same blue flame that you are under
i feel you scolding me

Your virgin mary's in the way

Soap and water
take the day from my hand
scrub the salt from my stinging skin
slip me loose of this wedding band

Soap and water
hang my heart on the line
scour it down in a wind of sand
bleach it clean to a vinegar shine

Daddy's a dark riddle
Mama's a headful of bees
you are my little kite
carried away in the wayward breeze

Soap and water
wash the year from my life

The reproach in your daughter's most beautiful face
made me wonder just how she could know
of that something that happened between you and me
so much more than a long time ago

Her mother, I can see, lives within her still
cause she looked at me with her eyes
though I had only just met her right then
I feel that she peeled back my guilty disguise

Last year's troubles are so old fashioned
the robber on the highway the pirate on the seas
maybe it's the clothing that's so entertaining
the earrings and swashbuckling blouses that please

here we have heroes of times that have passed now
but nobody these days has that kind of chin
over there the petticoats of ladies of virtue
you can hardly tell them from the petticoats of sin

She'd come to my house
and dance in the hall
with the music up loud
against the light on the wall

I danced beside her
feeling no shame
we were in costume
and this was a game

She'd put on her skirt
of layers of chiffon
the top of the umbrella had come off
so I put that on

We'd dance together then
an awkward ballet
she was 20 years older than I was
but still we did play

If I were a weapon
you said I'd be a gun
lethal at close range i guess
with silencer and stun

but I feel more like a needle
always pulling on the thread
always making the same point again
and wondering if you heard what I just said

if you were a weapon
a hammer's what you'd be
blunt and heavy at the end
and coming down on me

but i've concealed a weapon
in a pocket knife attack

i dreamed you were a rich man
and that i had no place to go
i came to you to see if you would take me in
through golden curtains you told me you'd let me know.

well, you drink for ten and you smoke for twenty
and your fickle heart will never be true
but still i feel the wind in from the harbor
thats when i know the longing for you
when i know the old longing for you.

i saw you in my mind's eye

Am I an afternoon's pastime
a thing on a string
to be thrown and retrieved
like a phone call received
on somebody's birthday
to tease and delight
and then say goodnight
and then just say goodbye

Am I a toy on a tray
a soft piece of clay
queen or clown for the day
machine ballerina
soldier of tin
standing so loyal
while you sit so royal
then I'm put away

For your approval,
perusal,

Black on the red and the red on the black.
It's a tic of a tired mind.
Come and sit down, won't you try your luck.
See if you unwind.

Never use your threes and twos.
Follow superstition.
Otherwise you are going to lose.
Compulsion makes you listen.

Take what's wrong, and make it go right.
Weave it like a prayer.
Wonder if you you'll spend the night
Playing solitaire

call on that saint
and the candle that burns
keeping her safe
until her return

plaster and paint
holding the fire
a poor woman's saint
holding all man's desire

bold little bird
fly away home
could I but ride herd
on the wind and the foam

all of the souls
that curl by the fire
they never know
all man's desire

watercress clings
to the banks of the stream
in the first grip of spring