GOODBYE

(song version forthcoming on this site)

I was born in New Jersey

on a cold winter’s night

Knew something was wrong there

but I knew you’d make it right

So you offered to take me away

but I couldn’t decide that day . . .

So you left for your promised land, and I stayed behind

And didn’t ask why, as you said goodbye.

(then you showed me)

Rivers without water

and clouds without rain

And a clear starry sky

so I came there to stay.

You showed me canyons and forests, and valleys and mountains

and a desert you’d never forgotten . . .

We drove across the country

in a little white car

Travelled every road

saw every star.

We saw battlefields and monuments and historical places.

You showed me America’s faces.

It was a fortune, without money; and stories without lies.

Then I went off to see the world, and I said goodbye.

Now I look on those days, through the rubble and rust;

Still I hear you clear in my mind – “In God We Trust.”

Now your photograph graces the hall,

with the writing there on the wall:

I held your hand the day that I watched you die;

Then I said our last prayer together – then we said goodbye.

Fortunes without money

come without fame.

You just hope that someone

remembers your name.

So I’ll tell all your grandsons about you.

It’s the least – and really all – I can do.

. . . I stayed behind,

and I didn’t ask why – I just said goodbye.