Unforgiven
I don’t need to be remembered
I don’t care if I’m believed
I’m not waiting in my cell
to be condemned or be reprieved
I was told I came out crooked
so I walked a crooked line
now the judgement may be final
but it’s mine
I will live unforgiven
I will rise among the brave
and I won’t ask for permission
to lie in my own grave
I will fly and I will fall
and I will live unforgiven
all the promises I’ve broken
all the hearts I couldn’t hold
all the truths I left unspoken
just to keep away the cold
now the wind is like a talon
and my skin is raked with grace
the grin I wear goes well beyond
my face
I will live unforgiven
I’m not hiding anymore
and if I built my own prison
I can damn well build a door
I will howl and I will sigh
and I will live unforgiven
there’s a poison I can’t swallow
a regret I can’t allow
our mistakes are never hollow
anyhow
I have made all my excuses
now I have to make my way
if you can’t take me that’s ok
I will live unforgiven
I will make my world mine
and I may not get to heaven
but it won’t keep me from trying
I will smile and I will storm
and I will live
I will live unforgiven
I will die among the brave
and I won’t ask for permission
to lie in my own grave
I will fly and I will crawl
and I will live
I will try and I will fall
and I will live unforgiven
after all
Back to Eden
there’s a blackbird on the bar
picking cherries from a tin
there’s a scream of daylight
every time the door swings
someone in
there’s a gleaming copper pool of warm
can wash away my sin
if I ask where I went wrong
I hear a thousand voices yell
the air itself will clamor
and the ground begin to swell
I never sleep in silence
but I mean to live to tell
so raise your glass
and your voice in song
gonna drink me back to eden
‘fore too long
I rolled in with my misdeeds
my remorse my fear and doubt
such a crowd we need a bouncer
or the walls will buckle out
but redemption is upended
and comes singing through that spout
to drown these ghosts
and end their moan
gonna drink me back to eden
all alone
I know how you all look at me
I grow tired of what I can’t be
I glow why doesn’t someone see
I glow
when I get back to the garden
I’ll be silent and serene
I will lay my ageless nakedness
upon the whispering green
ain’t no snake can show me anything
I ain’t already seen
so wave goodbye
and cry amen
gonna drink me back to eden
once again
so wave goodbye
and cry amen
gonna drink me back to eden
once again
Big Giant Me
what if I wake up tomorrow
bigger than my bed
what if try standing and I
crack the ceiling with my head
what if I come over
and you open your front door
and find me looking in your bedroom
window on the second floor
would you laugh
would you scream
and pray it was a dream
or could you be
glad to see
big giant me
s'posing I keep growing till I
don't fit on my lawn
move on up the mountainside
with only rocks for sleeping on
would you build me a bed
or stay in yours instead
could you be
glad to see
big giant me
I know you like your peace and quiet
I know pride goes before a fall
I know the villagers might riot
but I might try it after all
I might wake up much too tall
I could get chased out of town
'cause everyone's afraid
but I think I'd be gentle
and I know I'd help the tourist trade
so think about it
I'm not saying
I won't stay this size
I only know a thing keeps growing up
or else it up and dies
and I think
maybe you
could be a giant too
and you'd be glad to see
how we'd live enormously
you would be glad to see
big giant me
Break the Skin
I’m lost inside your cries
you tremble over me
I blush until I bruise
I claw through twisted limbs
just shy of victory
we only play to lose
I did the best I could
with the way things were
and I’ll never look back in anger
I could with a wicked wild grin
I could if I burned all night
could I earn this fight I started
I could never look back again
you swim and push so hard
I’m pinned in ribboned silk
I bend to fight the tide
cool water trickles in
relieved and unfulfilled
won’t say we never tried
I did the best I could
with the way things were
and I’ll never look back in anger
I could with a wicked wild grin
I could if I burned all night
could I earn this fight I started
I could never look back again
my words are breaking out
my heart is breaking in
I’ve got a wanderlust
I wanna break the skin
my heart is breaking out
your words are breaking in
I wanna break the skin
I did the best I could
with the way things were
and I’ll never look back in anger
I could never look back again
I could if I burned all night
could I earn this fight I started
I could never look back again
I could never look back again
Three Legged Dog
every step is labored
every sprint's a jog
but still I say that fortune favors
that three-legged dog
leaning on one forepaw
With two firm feet behind
got himself a sense of balance
that most folk never find
had to fall a few times
when it first was gone
but he got up and he got up and
man he's walking on
and he ain't fast
but he ain't frail
and he don't waste his days
chasing his tail
he's walking on
barking at the weather
and hopping up to beg
doesn't spend a moment asking
where’d they put my leg
all the field critters
that he loves to chase
they outrun him but he don't mind
‘cause he ain't in a race
and he ain't fast
but he ain't frail
and he don't waste his days
chasing his tail
he's walking on
we live beyond our losses
we count more than our faults
if you've got three when they've got four
if you’ve got less when they’ve got more
if you've got three when they've got four
everything's a waltz
Love Song
I got coffee in my cup
I got chickens in my yard
I got time to watch
the sun start waking up
I got books I mean to read
I got dishes I'll just leave
I got love
and coffee in my cup
I got love
this is a love song
I got work when I need work
I got plans and then I don't
I got friends to lean on
when I start to lean
I got stories I can tell
and a few I never will
and a checkered dress that
makes me feel sixteen
I got love
this is a love song
I get blue
the garden starts to wither
where it grew
the rains will never come
but then they do
and I get through
well I guess I've got a soul
and I guess it has a mate
but that isn't something
I been thinking of
'cause there's currants growing wild
underneath that old stone bridge
and they're warm against my palm
and I got love
I got love
this is a love song