Alleyway

Smoke against the windowpane, just the semis breathing on the interstate

A gray upon the graying of October

Hey honey it's been so long, I got so lost, so far down

The tracks of an old abandoned rollercoaster

See the wheels fell off, and the rails all rusted over

I remember you that night, in the noisy bar, in the yellow light

The radiating heat between our shoulders

And I know good things never last

Yeah I know that now but I didn’t then

And I let you lead me blind around the corner

But sometimes still at night I dream, an empty bottle in the alleyway

On a night so clear a billion stars are born

And each one is a world, I guess, of dust and flame and wishes cast

By lovers, hoping love will last till morning

We tried a while to make it good, you hid the cans, I played the fool

You got some work, I got sick in the mornings

But you lost that job, and we got kicked out

Hey babe, ain't nothing to cry about

And you said you'd send some cash from California

Now I got work, down the street, cleaning rooms at the super 8

Sometimes I take the path home by the river

I wonder what our daughter’s like

Yeah I hope that family treats her right

And gives her all the things we couldn't give her

Now a dream is all that's left of you

I guess some folks are born to lose

Some kids are born for someone else's cradle

And the days go by, I get along

Yeah the air grows cool and the leaves fall

And the smoke it moves and fades against the window