Long ago and far away
I was hitchhiking on a clear blue day
The cats-eyes broke in my feet, my tongue
Was dry as the hills where Jesus hung
And I lay
And wondered if he died for me
On a highway straighter than the barrel of eternity
My focus panned on the shattered stones
The shifting sand in the lizard bones
The withered skin on my hand was lined
Like a map of the land I’d left behind
Alone
A drifter and a Pharisee
On a highway straighter than the barrel of eternity
I’d long lost count to name the days
When a long black car came outa the haze
The door swung open
And the driver called
My name in a voice like a mama doll
And I knew
No matter what the game would be
This man’s staring down the barrel of eternity
Yeah this man’s staring down the barrel of eternity
He said I’m so tired, brother
And I’ve travelled such a long long way
And I’m running shy of water
Won’t you ride with me the highway on this day
I said I know you, I know you well
People talk, and I heard them tell
How you ate up the seed corn
All this side of the Sambatyon River
How the cattle died
How the pain of your fever
Spread out across the moon
Like a thunderhead
Like a lost Will,
A hole in the law,
Split the stone of the cathedral floor
I know the danger
But cannot close my heart
As a man of the Book, on those who’ve
Lost the battle
I’m hookin’ my thumb
Round a well-sucked bottle of Inner Circle Rum
And I’m handin’ it over
He’s whackin’ it down
His old man’s adam’s apple’s jumpin’ around
Kickin’ at a rope-burn under his chin
And I’m lookin at the sky
Like a sheeta hot tin
And I’m feeling so sick in the head
And I fall to one knee,
Then another
And all that I can see
Is highway straighter than the barrel of eternity
A highway straighter than the barrel of eternity
And in a dream I saw a woman
She was burying a thing in the sand
There are tales among these hills she whispered
Far beyond Jerusalem’s command
Long ago, and far away
I opened my eyes and attempted to pray
I opened my eyes on a land as frozen
Cold as the hole where Jesus rose
And I lay and wondered if he died for me
On a highway straighter than the barrel of eternity