Gonna dig myself a shallow grave
Where the heat of the sun never stops to pray
And then lay down 'til my body stays
Watch my soul get up and walk away
And we'll be together again
And we'll be together again

Gonna search everywhere for a face that's fair
For a heart that is free and a soul that cares
And there I'll stay 'til I learn to share
And give of my heart like the open air
And we'll be together again
And we'll be together again

Gonna plant myself in a garden of rose
In a place far away where the cold wind blows
And there I'll wait in the pale moonlight
'til my baby cries my name in the night
And we'll be together again
And we'll be together again

July 2000

Almost a ballerina but
She weighs three hundred pounds
And this world just won't accept
A ballerina that's soft and round
And she doesn't eat as much as
All the skinny girls would like to think
But then she doesn't bring it up in
Someone else's kitchen sink

Oh and this world is unfair
And this world is so unkind
Well if not in its deeds
Than at least in her mind
She's become the perfect victim
Because she never tries
So instead of a happy ending
Her dreams are pushed aside

Almost a heartbeat away from
The man she'd love to love
And if there were a heaven
She'd fit him like a glove
But he doesn't notice her beauty
So ample and so rare
So she figures if your not a rake
Then he don't even care

Oh and this world is unfair
And this world is so unkind
Well if not in its deeds
Than at least in her mind
She's become the perfect victim
Because she never tries
So instead of a happy ending
Her dreams are left behind

Almost a million miles from
The woman she'd like to be
And if she could only lose some weight
She knows she'd be happy
But she reads the signs that advertise
Be a new and thinner me
And she wonders if beauty is skin deep
Or is it just skinny

(or is it something you feel inside
That some people just can't see)

May 1998

Well she sits and she stares
And pretends that he cares
'cause if he don't then nobody will
And she'll be left alone
Until the cows have come home
And she is long over the hill

She says "he's better than nothing.
Well hell - ain't that something?"
And I say "No, I don't think it is
You see love is more than a promise
And you shouldn't have to pay homage
For the pleasure of a smile or a kiss
Take a closer look 'cause there's something you missed

She says "Maybe if I change than he will change too"
And I say "Maybe but will you still be you?"
She says "I love him too much"
And I say "Is that enough,
when the needs he fulfills are so few?"

She says "he's better than nothing.
Well hell - ain't that something?"
And I say "No, I don't think it is
You see love is more than a promise
And you shouldn't have to pay homage
For the pleasure of a smile or a kiss
Take a closer look 'cause there's something you missed

She says "It's easy to talk
But so much harder to walk
And my fears say just let it slide"
"Well I know the feeling well
'cause I've lived my own hell
And I know it does no good to hide"

She says "If I leave I'll have nothing!"
I say "No! You'll have you - ain't that something?"
And she says "No I don't think it is"
I say "Love is more than a promise
And there's a strength and inner calmness
That only comes from a love that really fits.
Take a closer look 'cause there's something you've missed*

Well the last that I heard
She took me at my word
And she left him and struck out on her own
And I hope she has learned
From the times she's been burned
That the needs that matter most are her own

The way you atacked it was bitter
The smile that you wore it was cheap
The way that you spread drew the honey
from the door of the womb for the feast

And all of my brigadeer generals
Told me how and why to attack
And they guided each wave of my missiles
Through the valleys to swarm like a pack

And I shine like an old country bulldog
In the ragged cast light of the moon
And I smile at my own demolition
'cause I'm too **** tired to swoon

And I brace my soul for the battle
And the burden keeps me on track
And I'll rest whenever I get there
'cause I know there's no turning back

And I know that the seasons are endless
and the years too quickly are past
And the songs and the hearts that we marry
We marry to replace what we lack

Ah the memories you left were sheer torture
Discarded and left there to seethe
And the words of our last conversation
Must still hang like ice from your teeth

You convinced all the jurors with visions
of why - though you killed - you are sweet
Of why it was rightful to ******
A love had become far too neat

So why does the guilt grossly linger?
Why doesn't the shame fade away?
Why does the love that you killed for
Become less important each day

Well my dear have you learned your lesson
Or will you die still afraid?
Must you take your lies and deceptions
All the way to the hole of your grave?

She'll brew a *** of bliss and then she'll pour it in your cup
She'll dance around the room until the gloom is all drunk up
She's not your normal angel, boy and of that you should be glad
For she fills a parlour naked more than many girls do clad

She's an angel from Newfoundland and St. Andrews knew her well
She's certainly no Flatrock as Tickle Harbour's boys can tell
And Jackson's and Chapple's Arms they both have been in her's
She's even been to Merasheen don't tell the other girls

Her "H"s have an "H" in them and her voice a lilting sound
But if you want sincerity no better can be found
Her love's as pure as dynamite she'll blow you off the shelf
She'll make your whisker hairs stand up and your little man an elf

She's an angel now in Tor-onto, On-tar-i-ario
She moved there when her parents died and she didn't know where to go
Ah, Mississauga knows her well and so does Hamilton
But Toronto is the place to be when she is having fun

She says she works a fancy bar called the Iron Cross Cha-pel
Where pretty men come in all dressed up and cuss and kiss as well
She cannot find a boyfriend there but she has lots of dates
They give her lots of Ecstasy and tell her it's not ****

She's an angel from Newfoundland and St. Andrews knew her well
She's certainly no Flatrock as Tickle Harbour's boys can tell
And Jackson's and Chapple's Arms they both have been in her's
She's even been to Merasheen don't tell the other girls

Sep 1978*

She sits alone staring out the window
It's sad but it's sentimental
It's not what she sees that disturbs her
But the memory of one soft and gentle

It is twilight leaning into evening
Yet the daylight now seems to linger
As if the sunlight itself new the feeling
What it's like for the heart to be injured

And it's not the first time she's been left this way
And I know it won't be the last, 'cause it happens
Time and time again

It's the little things that destroy you
Like an empty bed in the morning
When you wake up and slowly turn over
To find you're alone without warning

And as much as I'd like to help her
There's not much I can do but to tell her
That in those days that slowly come after
Time again will bring back her laughter

She sits arms reach from a telephone
But the ringing goes unanswered
It's not me she wishes to hear from
But some one who long ago left her

Jan. 1997*

As sharp as a dagger her words how they pierce
She'a a small wounded creature that comes across fierce
But once and a while she let's her guard down
And the fierceness turns into a lip-trembling frown

Then she doesn't know where to turn to, or how
To face us as weak as she feels she is now
I look in her face - see the tears want to fall
The way she controls them - doesn't that say it all?

There's so much inside her. Oh there's so much untried
But her fear is a knot that her will won't untie
So I struggle to help her but am forced to look at myself
And see I am no different inside of my shell

So all I can tell her is that I'm the same
But that hope is an answer as well as a flame
And that every journey can be measured in steps
Unless you're at home and you never have left

I look in her face; feel my tears want to fall
The way I control them - doesn't that say it all?