Forty Years Ago - Forty Years From Now

I say sorry
thank you
for the lines I steal
and write on a scrap of paper
my limo waits in the street
to take you wherever you want to go
New Hampshire
I think you said when we met
I recall the show a night ago wistfully
some of the songs sounded better then others
like the records I make
that seem so much more important then they really are
what a wonderful perk you turned out to be
when you make your getaway
I'll be relieved
down the road I might remember
your semi-gaped tooth smile
that against the odds
only enhances your perfect nose
your tie-dyed peasant dress
you take off
throw on the floor
put on to fetch cigarettes in the lobby
take off
toss on a chair
when you find a real man
and are raising two or three kids
you will always have my voice on record or cassette
I hope my songs make you laugh
smile
dance
cry your eyes out
in the middle of the night
I'll throw you a toast
or you can throw one at me
to the night we listened to the storm
when we were almost young
a long time ago
won't seem so long ago
when we think about it
forty years from now

El Dorado

if my love was a song
the sun would walk beside her across oceans of time
I chased her
across a bridge over the Missouri
into a valley
she vanished
she may have been a ghost
the train was on time
I couldn't catch it
the sun walked beside her across oceans of time
I followed her shadow
into a cave
I sat on a rock
she hovered above
I swam to a cove
laid in the sun
waited for something more dependable
when the moon rose over the horizon the sun still walked beside her
I followed her path across oceans of time and a field
over a cliff
into the great whatever
if my love was a song
the sun would walk beside her across oceans of time
all the way to El Dorado