Along the Road

There are people wrapped in rags All along the road Some are laughing, some are crying Some are young and some you know Some are mystics and magicians Don't leave them behind Some are traveling musicians Best to treat them kind Some are telling stories Tall tales of falls from grace Some are going nowhere Some are desperate to escape Oh my mother Oh my father Are you still awake? I have been here many years But some nights I'm still afraid Some are worried about the future Of the working class Some are troubled by the thunder Some are transfixed by the flash Some are staring at the stars As they cross the sky Some are tracing all their patterns To help them steer at night Some are rambling, some are rollin' Some are loved in vain Some are building fires Some are digging graves Oh my mother Oh my father Are you still awake? I have been here, many years But some nights I'm still afraid Some are dancing in a trance and Some are keeping time Some are searching for some meaning In some very ancient lines Some are silently observing The movements of their mind Some are happy just to be there Thanking someone they're alive Some are prisoners of a war That they never waged Some are praying there's another world Where some of them are saved Oh my mother Oh my father Are you still awake? I have been here, many years But some nights I'm still afraid Everybody walking How far no one knows Some are mothers, some are fathers All are children of the road