Late For The Sky

Looking through some photographs i found inside a drawer
I was taken by a photograph of you
There were one or two i know that you would have liked a little more
But they didn't show your spirit quite as true

You were turning 'round to see who was behind you
And i took your childish laughter by surprise
And at the moment that my camera happened to find you
There was just a trace of sorrow in your eyes

Now the things that i remember seem so distant and so small
Though it hasn't really been that long a time
What i was seeing wasn't what was happening at all
Although for a while, our path did seem to climb
But when you see through love's illusions, there lies the danger
And your perfect lover just looks like a perfect fool
So you go running off in search of a perfect stranger
While the loneliness seems to spring from your life
Like a fountain from a pool

Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You've had to hide sometimes, but now you're all right
And it's good to see your smiling face tonight

Now for you and me it may not be that hard to reach our dreams
But that magic feeling never seems to last
And while the future's there for anyone to change, still you know it's seems
It would be easier sometimes to change the past
I'm just one or two years and a couple of changes behind you
In my lessons at love's pain and heartache school
Where if you feel too free and you need something to remind you
There's this loneliness springing up from your life
Like a fountain from a pool

Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight

You've had to hide sometimes but now you're all right
And it's good to see your smiling face tonight

Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You've had to struggle, you've had to fight
To keep understanding and compassion in sight
You could be laughing at me, you've got the right
But you go on smiling so clear and so bright

Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring
With their hearts they turned to each other's heart for refuge
In the troubled years that came before the deluge

Some of them new pleasure
And some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered
And in the end they traded their tired wings
For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow
For the glitter and the rouge
And in the moment they were swept before the deluge

Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by
By and by--
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge

Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by
By and by--
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

When we come to place where the road and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
They told me i was going to have to work for a living
But all i want to do is ride
I don't care where we're going from here
Honey, you decide

Well i spend my time at the bottom of a wishing well
And i can hear my dreams singing clear as a bell
I used to know where they ended and the world began
But now it's getting hard to tell
I could be just around the corner from heaven or a mile from hell

I'm just rolling away from yesterday
Behind a wheel of a stolen chevrolet
I'm going to get a little higher
And see if i can hot-wire reality

Now can you see those dark clouds gathering up ahead?
They're going to wash this planet clean like the bible said
Now you can hold on steady and try to be ready
But everybody's gonna get wet
Don't think it won't happen just because it hasn't happened yet

I'm just rolling away from yesterday
Behind the wheel of a stolen chevrolet
I'm going to get a little higher
And see if i can hot-wire reality

The words had all been spoken
And somehow the feeling still wasn't right
And still we continued on through the night
Tracing our steps from the beginning
Until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives has led us there

Looking hard into your eyes
There was nobody i'd ever known
Such an empty surprise to feel so alone

Now for me some words come easy
But i know that they don't mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
You never knew what i loved in you
I don't know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping i might be

Awake again i can't pretend and i know i'm alone
And close to the end of the feeling we've known

How long have i been sleeping
How long have i been drifting alone through the night
How long have i been dreaming i could make it right
If i closed my eyes and tried with all my might
To be the one you need

Awake again i can't pretend and i know i'm alone
And close to the end of the feeling we've known

How long have i been sleeping
How long have i been drifting alone through the night
How long have i been running for that morning flight
Through the whispered promises and the changing light
Of the bed where we both lie
Late for the sky