Lyrics

Down by the river, junior year, walking with my girl
We came upon a place
There in the tall grass where a couple had been making love
And they left the mark of their embrace
I said to her, "Looks like they had some fun"
She said to me, "Let's do the same"
And still I taste her kisses and her freckles in the sun
When I play the poet game

A young man in the hill country, the year of '22
Went to see his future bride
She lived in a rough old shack that poverty blew through
And she invited him inside
She'd been cooking, ashamed and feeling sad
She could only offer him bread and her name
Grandpa said that it was the best gift a fella ever had
And he taught me the poet game

I had a friend who drank too much and played too much guitar
And we sure got along
Reel-to-reels rolled across the country near and far
Filled with letters, poems, and songs
But these days he won't talk to me, and he won't tell me why
I miss him every time I hear his name
I don't know what he's doing, don't know how our friendship died
While we played the poet game

The fall rain was pounding down on an old New Hampshire mill
And the river wild and high
I was talking to her while leaves blew down with a sudden chill
There was wildness in her eyes
We made love like we'd been waiting all of our lives for this
Strangers know no shame
But she had to leave at dawn, and with a sticky farewell kiss
She left me to play the poet game

I watched my country turn into a coast-to-coast strip mall
and I cried out in a song:
If we could do all that in thirty years, please tell me you all
Why does good change take so long?
Why does the color of your skin or who you choose to love
Still lead to such anger and pain?
And why do I think it's any help for me to still dream of
Playing the poet game?

Sirens wail above the fields, another soul gone down
Another Sun about to rise
I've lost track of my mistakes, like birds they fly around
And darken half my skies
To all of those I've hurt, I beg you to forgive me
I to you will freely do the same
There were just so many things I didn't see, with my eyes turned inside
Playing the poet game

I walk out at night to take a leak underneath the stars
Yeah, that's the life for me
There's Orion and the Pleiades and I guess that must be Mars
All as clear as we long to be
I've sung what I was given, some was bad and some was good
And I never will know from where it came
And if I had it all to do again I am not sure I would
Play the poet game