By the second verse, dear friends
My head will burst, my life will end
So I'd like to start this one off by saying
Live and love
I was young and at home in bed
And I was hanging on the words some poem said in '31
I was impressionable, I was upsettable
I tried to make my breathing stop
Or my heartbeat slow
So when my mom and John came in I would be cold
From a bridge on Washington Avenue
The year of 1972, broke my bones and skull
And it was memorable
It was half a second in, I was halfway down
Do you think I wanted to turn back around and teach a class
Where you kiss the ass that I've exposed to you?
And at the funeral, the university
Cried at three poems they'd present
In place of a broken me
I was breaking in a case of suds at the Brass Rail
A fall-down drunk with his tongue torn out
And his balls removed
And I knew that my last lines were gone
While, stupidly, I lingered on
Oh, but wise men know when it's time to go
And so I should, too
And so I fly into the brightest winter sun
Of this frozen town, I'm stripped down to move on
My friends, I'm gone
Well, I hear my father fall
And I hear my mother call
And I hear the others all whispering, Come home
I'm sorry to go
I loved you all so
But this is the worst trip I've ever been on
So hoist up the [John B.] sail
See how the mainsail sets
I'm full in my heart and my head
And I want to go home
With a book in my hand
In the way I had planned
Well, this is the worst trip I've ever been on
Hoist up the [John B.] sail
See how the mainsail sets
I'm full in my heart and my head
And I want to go home
With a book in each hand
In the way I had planned
Well, I feel so broke up, I want to go home