A Day Too Long

Missouri River, North of Bismarck
April 2007

Every step of the way we walk the line
Your days are numbered, so are mine
Time is pilin' up, we struggle and we scrape
We're all boxed in, nowhere to escape

* * *


Got nothing for you, I had nothing before
Don't even have anything for myself anymore
Sky full of fire, pain pourin' down
Nothing you can sell me, I'll see you around

* * *

Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feeling like a stranger nobody sees
So many things that we never will undo
I know you're sorry, I'm sorry too

* * *
The steamship "International," Waterton Park, Candada
September 2005

Well my ship's been split to splinters and it's sinking fast
I'm drownin' in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it's light and it's free
I've got nothin' but affection for all those who've sailed with me


* * *

Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay
You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

"Mississippi," from the album "Love and Theft." Bob Dylan (2001).

"The International"

Dream Street

In the Clearing Stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade,
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down,
Or cut him til he cried out in his anger and his shame,
I am leaving, I am leaving.
But the fighter still remains.

"The Boxer," Paul Simon

Fargo, North Dakota, Civic Center
April 2007

I saw the champ running down by the river
With his trainer and his stretch limousine
I don't recall the year but it was late in his career
When he was featured in those glove magazines

They never leave the ring until it's too late
They never seem to quit in their prime
I guess you take it as a given that a champion is driven
So he can always win one more time

Chorus:

So there's a new reservation on Dream Street
With a room with no view of before
It takes years for some to check-in, but Dream Street will beckon
Till they're mumbling their names at the door

Some do it out of pride, some do it for the dough
Some do 'cause it's the only thing they're ever gonna know
Promoters take the money, the fighters take the pain
They find a new sucker and they do it again, whoa.... whoa...

From the time before he won the title
Till the referee stopped his last fight
Oh, I swear there was greatness there
Till those younger guys put out the light

Now he's in his ever after
With money to last all of his days
Oh but the price makes you shiver, fate's an indian-giver
She giveth and she taketh away

"Dream Street," John Gorka
Land of the Bottom Line, 1990