Desire is Waiting (1987)

Listen:

The rain came late this year, it waited ‘til the last
Surprised the people who were waiting on the grass
A woman and her daughter under a tree, and as I pass
She tells her, “Honey, we’ve got to wait until it’s over”
Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you came?
Or did you ever turn around when no one’s called your name?
Well that’s how I feel today—just half-displaced with nobody to blame
It’s just cold, and we’ve got to wait until it’s over

Four Quartets in my pocket and some loose change in my hand
Is all it took to get me to the place where I stand
Staring at the clouds, waiting for some divine reprimand
That never comes—but I keep looking over my shoulder
It’s not that something’s died in me from wounds too harsh or deep
Or that there’s some intriguing secret left for me to keep
But something in me has been teased into a light and fitful sleep
And I know I’ve got to wait until it’s over

Desire is waiting
Desire, desire is waiting

The train was late tonight, but it took me all the same
The seat’s too short to sleep on and my forehead’s on the pane
We barrel through the darkness where the stops all look the same
But in the morning all our blindness will be over
This cup of wine our only drink, this bread our only food
And even so we bow our heads and call this Friday good
Three days later he does just exactly what he said he would
And he promises to wake us when it’s over
And we know he’s going to raise us when it’s over

Desire is waiting

Composed: Eugene, Oregon, November 1987

Notes: T. S. Eliot’s poem “East Coker” meets an uncomfortable train ride from Eugene to San Francisco…

Recording: Lee Krähenbühl, Thirsty (1994)

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