Man On the Mountain

The man on the mountain
he doesn’t come down but once a week
the man on the mountain
he’ll buy his supplies and never speak
the man on the mountain
he’s too lost to find, too blinded to seek
She died in the winter
when their baby boy was barely weaned
he couldn’t even touch her—
she and the child were quarantined
and then when he lost them
he knew that he’d never see the spring
Way up there upon the mountain
the air is thin as it can be
but he wants to get as close to Heaven
as a man in Hell can ever be
You have to dig deep there
to find enough water just to drink
you have to climb higher
to find enough space just to think
but memory is painful
it only leads him to the brink
Way up there upon the mountain
the air is thin as it can be
but he wants to be as close to Heaven
as a man in Hell could ever be
Life on the mountain,
it’s not so romantic as they say—
whether you’re banished
or you choose to go away—
if your only companions
are the ghosts of yesterday
Way up there upon the mountain
the air is thin as it can be
but he wants to be as close to Heaven
as a man in Hell could ever be