Songs out of Clay

"Oh I know that you are an artist" she said

"For you make your songs out of clay

You carry the dust on your hands and your face

You never quite brushed it away

You were trying to chisel a perfect truth

When the instrument broke in your hand

Now you sit all alone on the greenhouse roof

With your shoes full of sand"

And the golden rays of the sun divide

In the slanting mists of the rain

And Maggie is on the road again

"Oh I know that you were a sailor" she said

"Till you came too close to the shore

And like any shipwrecked sailor now

You live by an open door

And when evening sails in the masts of the trees

Your feet seem to slip on the ground

And you long for the little ship

In which you can safely drown"

And the silver mounds of the waves divide

At the feet of the wind and the rain

And Maggie is far at sea again

"0h I know that you were an outlaw" she said

"And you robbed both the rich and the poor

Now you seek my bed like a sanctuary

But you keep one eye on the door

And you press my hand in the dead of the night

And say I can heal all your wounds

In the morning your eyes just look hunted again

You'll be leaving soon"

And the silver, rays of the moon divide

In the slanting mists of the rain

And Maggie is on the prowl again

"So I know that you are an artist" she said

"And you make your songs out of clay

For you carry the dust on your hands and your face

You never quite brushed it away

And you work with your back to an open door

While the light is beginning to fade

And the windows are liquid the sky is alive

And the night is jade"And the silver rays of the moon divide

In the slanting mists of the rain

And Maggie is on the road againAnd the silver rays of the moon divide

At the feet of the wind and the rain

And Maggie, I'm at your door again