Greyhound Days

Greyhound starts crawling at quarter past nine,
Leaving this county now, so say the signs.
I look out my window but nothing I find
Can change my direction or settle my mind.

I’ve been wild and reckless and often been tame,
I’ve been proud and honest and sometimes ashamed,
Been clever and certain, free from all pain,
Sometimes so lost all I knew was my name.

The man sitting next to me chuckles and sighs,
Leans back his head and he fixes his eyes.
“Never trust comfort, it’s weak and it lies,
Have faith in the struggle, don’t rest till you die.”

The cross that he wears through a hole in his ear,
He says killed a prophet who the reappeared.
“Though I ain’t religious his message seems clear
Each eye that we meet, son, is only a mirror.”

Through Arizona the desert’s in bloom
At night all these cities seem haunted as tombs
Freight trains in Denver move down the line
While ghosts of the hobos drink red boxcar wine.

Depot to depot drifting along
Looking for somewhere to be and belong
Graced now and then with a phrase from a song
St. Louis this morning, by midday we’re gone.

The lands that I’ve traveled, the places I’ve been
Know all my secrets, my pleasures, my sins.
Weather vane forecasts lost in a spin
When life’s accidental and random as wind.

Lyrics By: Sam Misner
© Poor Player Records/Misner & Smith 2008