Letter to Alan

When it's time for your reflection As you wait till help arrives You see our good friend's face on the dashboard And you know you cannot leave that cab alive Don't you know I reach for you, from later times Once I knew Once I knew Now I'm walking Now I'm walking in the dark (come on) Like bells our dogs are yelling All across Centennial Park And the Sunday morning light just sends me blind And I'm only feeling useless 'Cause there's noone I can blame Every person, thing and circumstance That moves this perfect day You've left behind And I'm thinking Christmas 1982 (come on) Around this time a year ago Gaskill sold his boat And headed for the Cross to sink a few Never trust a Wayside Chapel crowd On Christmas Eve They must be entertained And if a stranger does the dying Then that's O.K.! And I'm sitting in this hotel room Along Rue St. Louis Dialing old phone-numbers down the line I measure my position To the obstacles we crossed The territory covered And the parties that we lost Those were the days And if I don't hang around Our old gambling grounds It does not mean that I've forgotten We believed, and I still do (One, two, three) Those were the days