Pictures in a thousand words

He walked in a foreign rain
And he heard that distant train
He came for love’s first breath
He came for love like all of us

And there upon a diverging path
He asked which way to life and which way death
And I suspect that the same as the sky
He held some of each in his eyes

And he asked:
When’s that songbird gonna sing,
Sing it like I wanna hear?
When’s that songbird gonna sing,
Sing it like I need to hear?
And make it all come clear

In accordance with all she hears
And all she stumbles on when she’s out there
Kindly her love called the way
Though what it showed all slipped away

Came a time for certain trail
She sat in the park silent awhile
And watched the last light take
And prayed for her heart to unbreak

She asked:
When’s that songbird gonna sing…?
And wash away these tears

He lost someone he was close to
His friends said let her rest inside of you
But now he can hear her fists on his ribs
Pounding out for to live

He got a job in a place downtown
He’s trying to turn it all around
But when they’re gathered on coffee break
His mind slips away

He asks:
When’s that songbird gonna sing…?
And help me climb these stairs

She turned the lamplight on
Made some dinner and played a song
On that piano her grandmother gave
Her on her 22nd birthday

When it was quiet she went to the porch
Stepped out and let slide the screen door
The warm evening didn’t tell her a thing
She wished she were younger again

She asked:
That songbird’s gonna sing…?
And take away this fear

Yeah so he was just a kid
But he didn’t want to do what his parents did
He set out on the long road
When it was too late he wished he could come home

He made a record that the company liked
They asked him to tour under stage lights
He was told he wrote like rivers run
But he could never write his most important song

He asked:
When’s that songbird gonna sing…?
And let me fly on out of here

She got a place in a hotel room
The same one they had for their honeymoon
She remembered him sitting there
Holding champagne in that armchair

She walked out to the balcony
Trying to follow that memory
Sometimes moments for years stay
Always years take moments away

She asked:
When’s that songbird gonna sing…?
Yeah and bring him back here

He stayed up late with the TV on
Wasn’t watching nothing just wanted to have something on
He turned down all the picture frames
One night last week when the bottle was drained

He went to his closet and opened the door
And picked out his old officer’s uniform
He put the slacks and jacket on
And fell asleep that way when the gin was gone

He asked:
When’s that songbird gonna sing….?
And give me back my good years

She was nine when her mother screamed
Knife in the shoulder brought down to the knees
She’s fifteen now and her father still comes around
Last night he broke a window to the house

She writes poetry when her sister’s asleep
Just to feel like someone’s listening
Last Friday night she took some pills
And gave herself to a kid across the hill

She asked:
When’s that songbird gonna sing….?
And get me outta here

He worked his two night turn
At the hospital emergency room
He had his hands in a stranger’s chest
When it was done he couldn’t get any rest

In the fluorescent glow of after life
And in that stench of blood well it was like he lost his sight
He walked out through the double doors
When he went home he could barely find the words

To ask:
When’s that songbird gonna sing…?
And help me see through the glare

She took a flight out to los angeles
Of all the beauty there she was the queen
They took pictures of her with that long black hair
And asked her questions about her famous love affair

She just smiled and brushed them off
Walked the red carpet and stopped
Just long enough to feel herself on display
She never wanted things to be this way

She asked:
When’s that songbird gonna sing…?
And let me feel something real

Now he’s living out on his family ranch
Mowing the grass and fixing the fence
And at that hour when the sunlight slims
Golden brushed and purple dimmed

He stands out in the open field
And lets his heart open to feel
Stories of those from his future and past
Holding their letters and writing back

He writes:
Your songbird’s gonna sing
Sing it like you wanna hear
Your songbird’s gonna sing
Sing it out I swear
Yeah your songbird’s gonna sing
Sing it like you need to hear
Yeah your songbird’s gonna sing
Sing it out I swear
And make it all come clear