After All

AFTER ALL

We walked all night in the pouring rain

Made the coast by morning

Found an old abandoned carnival by the sea

There were no seats on the ferris wheel

And only one horse on the carousel

So I jumped on his back to get a ride for free

Free like the wind rising up the Eastern shore

Blowing back my un-tucked shirt tail

Filling up my empty pockets

And a song was coming to me

But by night I couldn't hear it anymore

Anymore

I've stopped dreaming of love

Anymore

I can't believe the things I'm thinking of

Anymore, anymore

Mirrah, she's a friend of mine

She gives her love to artists

It's her way of brushing her humanity

She stays long enough to feel the pain

And to fill up on their vision

When she's drunk she says she's still in love with me

Me, I spend my days singing new songs on the subway

For the ones who stop to listen

Who will pay me mind or money

And I go right on singing as the train rolls in

To take them far away

Far away

they miss the best part of the show

Far away

for a place they don't really wanna go

Far away, far away

Well I went to see this friend of mine

He lives down in New York City

Says that's the only place a poet needs to be

Says there's life outside the window pane

And benches by the river

And a song in every stranger's eyes you see

See me on the street with my pocket pad of paper

Making sense of all the madness

With my crisp iambic meter

And nobody dares to tell me

New York City doesn't need me after all

After all

I am just a mortal man

After all

I'm just trying to do the very best I can

After all, after all, after all