Stranger Music

for thee
I met a man who lost his mind
In some lost place I had to find
Follow me the wise man said
But he walked behind
I walked into a hospital
Where none was sick and none was well
When at night the nurses left
I could not walk at all
Morning came
And then came noon
Dinner time a scalpel blade
Lay beside my spoon
Some girls wander by mistake
Into the mess that scalpels make
Are you the teachers of my heart
We teach old hearts to break
One morning I woke up alone
The hospital and the nurses gone
Have I carved enough, my Lord
Child, you are a bone
I ate and ate and ate
I did not miss a plate
How much do these suppers cost
We’ll take it out in hate
I spent my hatred every place
On every work on every face
Someone gave me wishes
And I wished for an embrace
Several girls embraced me, then
I was embraced by men
Is my passion perfect
No, do it once again
I was handsome, I was strong
I knew the words of every song
Did my singing please you
No, the words you sang were wrong
Who is it whom I address
Who takes down what I confess
Are you the teachers of my heart
We teach old hearts to rest
Teachers are my lessons done
I cannot do another one
They laughed and laughed and laughed and said
Well child, are your lessons done
Are your lessons done
WINTER LADY
Travelling lady stay a while
Until the night is over
I’m just a station on your way
I know I’m not your lover
I lived with a child of snow
When I was a soldier
And I fought every man for her
Until the nights grew colder
She used to wear her hair like you
Except when she was sleeping
And then she’d weave it on a loom
Of smoke and gold and breathing
And why are you so quiet now
Standing there in the doorway?
You chose your journey long before
You came upon this highway
Travelling lady stay a while
Until the night is over
I’m just a station on your way
I know I’m not your lover
SO LONG, MARIANNE
Come over to the window, my little darling
I’d like to try to read your palm
I used to think I was some kind of gypsy boy
before I let you take me home
So long, Marianne
it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh
about it all again
You know I love to live with you
but you make me forget so very much
I forget to pray for the angels
and then the angels forget to pray for us
We met when we were almost young
down by the green lilac park
You held on to me like I was a crucifix
as we went kneeling through the dark
Your letters they all say that you’re beside me now
Then why do I feel so alone
I’m standing on this ledge and your fine spider web
is fastening my ankle to a stone
Now I need your hidden love
I’m cold as a new razor blade
You left when I told you I was curious
I never said that I was brave
O you are really such a pretty one
I see you’ve gone and changed your name again
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside
to wash my eyelids in the rain
Your eyes, I forget your eyes
Your body is at home in every sea
How come you gave your news to everyone
when you said it was a secret just for me
So long, Marianne
it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh
about it all again
ONE OF US CANNOT BE WRONG
I lit a thin green candle
to make you jealous of me
but the room just filled up with mosquitoes
they heard that my body was free
Then I took the dust
of a long sleepless night
and I put it in your little shoe
and then I confess
that I tortured the dress
that you wore for the world to look through
I showed my heart to the doctor
He said I’d just have to quit
Then he wrote himself a prescription
Your name was mentioned in it
Then he locked himself
in a library shelf
with the details of our honeymoon
and I hear from the nurse
that he’s gotten much worse
and his practice is all in a ruin
I heard of a saint who had loved you
I studied all night in his school
He taught that the duty of lovers
is to tarnish the Golden Rule
And just when I was sure
that his teachings were pure
he drowned himself in the pool
His body is gone
but back here on the lawn
his spirit continues to drool
An Eskimo showed me a movie
he’d recently taken of you
The poor man could hardly stop shivering
His lips and his fingers were blue
I suppose that he froze
when the wind tore off your clothes
and I guess he just never got warm
but you stand there so nice
in your blizzard of ice
Oh please let me come into the storm
HEY, THAT’S NO WAY TO SAY GOODBYE
I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm
Many loved before us
I know that we are not new
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you
But now it’s come to distances
And both of us must try
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye
I’m not looking for another
As I wander in my time
Walk me to the corner
Our steps will always rhyme
You know my love goes with you
As your love stays with me
It’s just the way it changes
Like the shoreline and the sea
But let’s not talk of love or chains
And things we can’t untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye
I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm
Yes many loved before us
I know that we are not new
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you
But let’s not talk of love or chains
And things we can’t untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye
MASTER SONG
I believe that you heard your master sing
while I lay sick in bed
I believe that he told you everything
that I keep locked away in my head
Your master took you travelling
at least that’s what you said
And now do you come back to bring
your prisoner wine and bread?
You met him at some temple
where they take your clothes at the door
he was just