Isabella

Let’s drink to Isabella in a room full of repairs
Cover the bruises and scratches from the wild and restless years
By the time those glasses reach our lips she’ll be wondering why we’re here
Confusion lurks through her mind like the light shines through her hair
She says I’m beautiful and wonderful in a fragile voice
Lived and learned every word on every worn out page
I was once the one you worried about, I was once that girl you craved
Now I’m standing here all by myself and I don’t need to be saved
Life’s long dirty roll of me had broke this heart in two
I smiled and frowned up and down the town and I heart my eyes were true
I found the places where you meet but people never leave too soon
They’ll wait till you’re weak and sick in your sleep in the cold, cold room
I was young when I left home, I wrestled with the winds
Panicked in the nighttime glare, I prayed I’d find a friend
Just to take me out of this life, out of those puddles of rain
I trusted anyone in any old slum who remembered my name
Then I fell for a cold-hearted stranger in May of '59
He pounded on my frail emotions, oh, he battered up my mind
But I left him stronger than before in a pale blue summer dress
And a coat for the cold summer nights with the Canadian crest
And I paid for a few whole dollars just to get me on that northern bus
And I traveled as long as I could through the greens and rocky rust
And I fell asleep for a long, long time, just hoping for something else
I’d rather be a bum than a slave in some rich man’s rattling house
I lived from couch to couch, floor to covered porch
Oh, I built my life back up, I knew what I was looking for
Some peace and quiet from living in a certain way
Not saying much and giving just enough and taking it day by day
Happy birthday ISabella, my sister of the west
I never meant to criticize you, just to give you all my best
I know you’re happy, I know you’re free
Midnight gives you its glare
I could learn through your twists and turns and tell you when I’m getting there