Michael McGuire Fate Borrows Time
FATE BORROWS TIME
© Electric Babylon Music Author: M.M.
The judge handed down my sentence, so I went to commit my crime, I
drank away two fifths of my guilt, then went back to serve my time,
I’ve sat under the hangman’s tree, watched my life fall like a leaf, I
didn’t rejoice when I had a winning hand, because I know you cant
beat this ancient thief, I stood tall when I felt like crawling, the wolves
always howling at the back door, I knew what I had to do but I never
knew what for, my lady she tried to sooth my fever, and only made it
that much worse, I couldn’t embrace her evil blessings, and she
couldn’t lift this holy curse, even if tomorrow could have saved me,
even if today had passed me by, if I hadn’t tried so hard for the truth, I
might not have got caught up in this lie, too some folks sad things are
kind of funny, I must admit I’ve laughed at a few, but you cant feel
nobody’s pain, and nobody can feel your pain for you, and when your
at odds with this world, seems like you were born to lose, blinded by
this obligated worship, I built an alter for these blues, nothing seems
to make things easier, I’ve had money and been poor as dirt, I’ve never
really known how to handle happiness, but I sure know how to hurt,
but this gravity never did a job on me, I’ve stood here struggling with
this weightlessness, not sure whether or not to cut this anchor, and
confused further still by this faithlessness, but these doubtless demons
spur me on, but in concentration I lost my thoughts, till I scorned my
virtues, and I praised my faults, seemed like there could be no better
way, and these gloomy gods seemed so divine, so I gave them my best
prayers, and I drank their self righteous wine, it took a while to get
used to this intoxicated state, so with my head kind of cloudy, I didn’t
fall for the trap but I feel for the bait.
When your hanging in the balance, your scared to move at all, cause
either way you go, there’s bound to be a fall, but I long just like a
sailor, for some land beneath my feet, but the minute I hit the harbor I
already miss the sea, the spirit becomes so weak, and the flesh
becomes so strong, you cant recognize the right, so you familiarize
the wrong, where the angels rush right in, I so fear to tread, where
most look with anticipation, I look so with dread, these white washed
dreams give way, to this nightmarish waking sense, the once dormant
nerves of huger, rise up sharp and tense, then the innocence you use to
innocently lean on, melts into a block of ice, and you become a man
with a future, you become a man with a price, and the answers come
so easy, it’s the right questions that are hard to find, it’s only when
there aren't any choices, you cant seem to make up your mind, for
years time made the difference, now the difference has been made,
used to just carry the weight, never worried about how much it
weighed, I cant believe all has come to this, but this has come to all,
what once seemed so immense, has grown to be so small, but I’ve
never looked back, though my memory serves me well, the story has
been told, and there wasn’t that much to tell, I never did get anywhere,
but somehow I guess I went to far, I started out staring at the moon,
and ended up wishing on a star, now there’s a ghost in my head, that
haunts my dreams in a rage, and there’s a skeleton in my closet, and a
broken sparrow in my cage, and one more thing before I go, oh baby I
don’t want to make you cry, just be sure you don’t forget me when I
go, and don’t put a rose on my grave until I die.
july 86