"World Before Columbus"


If your love were taken from me
Every color would be black and white
It would be as flat as the world before Columbus
That's the day that I lose half my sight

If your life were taken from me
All the trees would freeze in this cold ground
It would be as cruel as the world before Columbus
Sail to the edge and I'd be there looking down

Those men who lust for land
And for riches strange and new
Who love those trinkets of desire
Oh they never will have you

And they'll never know the gold
Or the copper in your hair
How could they weigh the worth
Of you so rare

If your love were taken from me
Every light that's bright would soon go dim
It would be as dark as the world before Columbus
Down the waterfall and I'd swim over the brim

Those men who lust for land
And for riches strange and new
Who love those trinkets of desire
Oh they will never have you

And they'll never know the gold
Or the copper in your hair
How could they weigh the worth
Of you so rare

"Lolita"


Lolita
Almost grown
Lolita
Go on home

Hey girl
Don't be a dog all your life
Don't beg for
Some little crumb of affection

Don't try
To be somebody's wife
So young
You need a word of protection

Lolita
Almost grown
Lolita
Go on home

Hey girl
I've been where you are standing
Leaning in the doorway
In your mother's black dress

So hungry
For the one understanding
Looking for a token of
Blood or tenderness

Lolita
Almost grown
Lolita
Go on home

Lolita...

"Honeymoon Suite"


the ceiling had a painting on it
in our room in France
so we were living underneath
some angels in a dance

my husband was not feeling well
and so we went to bed
he woke up complaining
of an aching in his head

he said a hundred people
had come through our room that night
that one by one the old and young
asked if he was all right

one by one the old and young
lined up to touch his hand
he spent the night explaining
they had come to the wrong man

the concierge was less than helpful
when we asked her the next day
with coffee and a magazine
we went to the desk to pay

"what happened in that room?" he asked
"a death or something strange?"
she smiled at him politely
and returned to him his change

well, what I'd like to know
and this will be a mystery,
is with all the people in that room
why none appeared to me?

when we sleep so close together that
our hair becomes entwined
I must have missed that moment
in the gateway to his mind

"Tombstone"


I like a tombstone cause it
weathers well
and if it stands or if it crumbles
only time will tell

if you carve my name in marble
you must cut it deep
there'll be no dancing on the gravestone
you must let me sleep
and time is burning burning burning
it burns away

I don't need to see the gates of
famous men
but I do try to see the kingdom
every now and then

if you ask me where it is it's on a
humble map
and I know that to enter in the doorway
show your handicap
and time is burning burning burning
it burns away

"My Favorite Plum"


My favorite plum
hangs so far from me
See how it sleeps
and hear how it calls to me
See how the flesh
presses the skin,
It must be bursting
with secrets within,
I've seen the rest, yes
and that is the one for me

See how it shines
it will be so sweet
I've been so dry
it would make my heart complete
See how it lays
languid and slow
Never noticing
me here below
I've seen the best, yes
and that is the one for me

Maybe a girl will take it
Maybe a boy will steal it
Maybe a shake of the bough
will wake it and make it fall

My favorite plum
lies in wait for me
I'll be right here
longing endlessly
You'll say that I'm
foolish to trust
But it will be mine
and I know that it must
cause I've had the rest, yes
and that is the one for me
I've seen the best, yes
and that is the one for me

"Penitent"


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,
i feel your unseen frown.

Now what would you have me do
I ask you please?
i wait to hear
your voice,
the word,
you say.
i wait to see your sign
would i
obey?

I look for you in heathered moor,
the desert, and the ocean floor
how low does one heart go.

looking for your fingerprints
i find them in coincidence,
and make my faith to grow.

Forgive me all my blindnesses
my weakness and unkindnesses
as yet unbending still.

struggling so hard to see
my fist against eternity
and will you break my will?

Now what would you have me do
i ask you please?
i wait to hear
your voice,
the word
you say
i wait
to see your sign
could i
obey?

"Widow's Walk"


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
as if there's something at the site
I should be learning.

That line is the horizon.
We watch the wind and set the sail,
but save ourselves when all omens
point to fail.

If I tell the truth
then I will have to tell you this
Though I grieve (and I believe
i feel it truly)

But I knew that ship was empty
by the time it hit the rocks,
we could not hold on
when fate became unruly.

So consider me a widow, boys,
and I have told you why.
Does the weather say
a better day is nearing?

I'll set my house in order now
and wait upon the Will
It's clear that I need
better skill in steering...

That line is the horizon.
We watch the wind and set the sail,
But save ourselves when all omens
point to fail.

"(I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May"


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
but that will change from day to night
would you ever see within?
underneath the skin?
could I believe you had that sight?

And so you go
no girl could say no
to you

I'll never be your Maggie May
the one you loved and then forgot
I'll love you first and let you go
because it must be so
and you'll forgive or you will not

And so a woman leaves a man
and so a world turns on it's end
so I'll see your face in dreams
where nothing's what it seems
you still appear some kind of friend

And so you go
no girl could say no
to you

"It Makes Me Wonder"


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
hallucinate her face by day
obscure the view in front of you
it's me here made of clay

You're playing near that line so thin,
austerity? or just give in
to endless appetite,
embrace that white oblivion?

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

And why so high the expectation?
who could live up to this?
well, there's no time now for explanation
cold as an angel's kiss

I have to say it makes me wonder
if you were holding me
to that cold blue flame that you are under
when you were holding me

"Soap And Water"


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
straighten all that we trampled and tore
heal the cut we call husband and wife

Daddy's a dark riddle
Mama's a handful of thorns
you are my little kite
caught up again in the household storms

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