Pictures In A Thousand Words

He walked in a foreign rain

And he heard that distant train

He came for love’s first breath

He came for love like all of us

And there upon a diverging path

He asked which way to life and which way death

And I suspect that the same as the sky

He held some of each in his eyes

And he asked:

When’s that songbird gonna sing,

Sing it like I wanna hear?

When’s that songbird gonna sing,

Sing it like I need to hear?

And make it all come clear

In accordance with all she hears

And all she stumbles on when she’s out there

Kindly her love called the way

Though what it showed all slipped away

Came a time for certain trail

She sat in the park silent awhile

And watched the last light take

And prayed for her heart to unbreak

She asked:

When’s that songbird gonna sing…?

And wash away these tears

He lost someone he was close to

His friends said let her rest inside of you

But now he can hear her fists on his ribs

Pounding out for to live

He got a job in a place downtown

He’s trying to turn it all around

But when they’re gathered on coffee break

His mind slips away

He asks:

When’s that songbird gonna sing…?

And help me climb these stairs

She turned the lamplight on

Made some dinner and played a song

On that piano her grandmother gave

Her on her 22nd birthday

When it was quiet she went to the porch

Stepped out and let slide the screen door

The warm evening didn’t tell her a thing

She wished she were younger again

She asked:

That songbird’s gonna sing…?

And take away this fear

Yeah so he was just a kid

But he didn’t want to do what his parents did

He set out on the long road

When it was too late he wished he could come home

He made a record that the company liked

They asked him to tour under stage lights

He was told he wrote like rivers run

But he could never write his most important song

He asked:

When’s that songbird gonna sing…?

And let me fly on out of here

She got a place in a hotel room

The same one they had for their honeymoon

She remembered him sitting there

Holding champagne in that armchair

She walked out to the balcony

Trying to follow that memory

Sometimes moments for years stay

Always years take moments away

She asked:

When’s that songbird gonna sing…?

Yeah and bring him back here

He stayed up late with the TV on

Wasn’t watching nothing just wanted to have something on

He turned down all the picture frames

One night last week when the bottle was drained

He went to his closet and opened the door

And picked out his old officer’s uniform

He put the slacks and jacket on

And fell asleep that way when the gin was gone

He asked:

When’s that songbird gonna sing….?

And give me back my good years

She was nine when her mother screamed

Knife in the shoulder brought down to the knees

She’s fifteen now and her father still comes around

Last night he broke a window to the house

She writes poetry when her sister’s asleep

Just to feel like someone’s listening

Last Friday night she took some pills

And gave herself to a kid across the hill

She asked:

When’s that songbird gonna sing….?

And get me outta here

He worked his two night turn

At the hospital emergency room

He had his hands in a stranger’s chest

When it was done he couldn’t get any rest

In the fluorescent glow of after life

And in that stench of blood well it was like he lost his sight

He walked out through the double doors

When he went home he could barely find the words

To ask:

When’s that songbird gonna sing…?

And help me see through the glare

She took a flight out to los angeles

Of all the beauty there she was the queen

They took pictures of her with that long black hair

And asked her questions about her famous love affair

She just smiled and brushed them off

Walked the red carpet and stopped

Just long enough to feel herself on display

She never wanted things to be this way

She asked:

When’s that songbird gonna sing…?

And let me feel something real

Now he’s living out on his family ranch

Mowing the grass and fixing the fence

And at that hour when the sunlight slims

Golden brushed and purple dimmed

He stands out in the open field

And lets his heart open to feel

Stories of those from his future and past

Holding their letters and writing back

He writes:

Your songbird’s gonna sing

Sing it like you wanna hear

Your songbird’s gonna sing

Sing it out I swear

Yeah your songbird’s gonna sing

Sing it like you need to hear

Yeah your songbird’s gonna sing

Sing it out I swear

And make it all come clear