Long ago and far away
I was hitch-hiking 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 o’ your fever spread out
Across the moon like a thunderhead
Like a lost Will, a hole in the law,
Split the stone o’ 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