On the Corner

it’s rain today, yesterday was sun

you can stand on the corner without meeting anyone

with they turn-up collar coats, they turn-down hat brims

you can watch ‘em walk away never knowing where they’ve been

you can’t predict the past

how it’s written down at last

can’t question all that’s gone

though you’re standing on the corner

of how where why & when

now the world is round and all things come undone

sun betrays the moon betrays the sun and the clock strikes none

and in the wink of an eye, the hand you held today

turns to water & wind & words, and the hour sails away

you can’t predict the past…

and I mix one part pleasure with one part pain

that I’ll always be your never again

lover of my life, now you drift away

into the moving plan, the poem of chance & change

(hired by the clock, to hold another’s hands

my own will drift like doves looking for a place to land)

you can’t predict the past…

love of my life, you drift away but then

you touch my uncovered head by turning into rain

lover of my life, I’ll see you again

at the corner of here & there, the corner of now & then

will come again all that’s gone

at the corner of here & there, the corner of now & then

1987