so here she’s actin’ happy inside her handsome home
and me i’m flyin’ in my taxi takin’ tips and gettin’ stoned
i got into town a little early
had eight hours to kill before the show
first i thought about heading up north of the bay
then i knew where i had to go
i thought about taking a limousine
or at least a fancy car
but i ended up taking a taxi
cause that’s how i got this far
you see ten years ago it was the front seat
drivin’ stoned and feelin’ no pain
now here i am straight and sittin’ in the back
hitting sixteen parkside lane
the driveway was the same as i remembered
and a butler came and answered the door
he just shook his head when i asked for her
and said she doesn’t live here anymore
but he offered to give me the address
that they were forwarding her letters to
i just took it and returned to the cabbie
and said i got one more fare for you
and so we rolled back into the city
up to a five store old brownstone
i rang the bell that had her name on the mailbox
the buzzer said somebody’s home
and the look on her face as she opened the door
was like an old joke told by a friend
it’d taken ten more years but she’d found her smile
and i watched the corners start to bend
and she said how are you harry
haven’t we played this scene before
i said it’s so good to see you sue
had to play it out just once more
play it out just once more
she said i’ve heard you flying high on my radio
i answered it’s not all it seems
that’s when she laughed and she said it’s better sometimes
when we don’t get to touch our dreams
that’s when i asked her where was that actress
she said that was somebody else
and then i asked her why she looked so happy now
she said i finally like myself at last i like myself
so we talked all through that afternoon
talking about where we’d been
we talked of the tiny difference
between ending and starting to begin
we talked because talking tells you things
like what you really are thinking about
but sometimes you can’t find what you’re feeling
till all the word run out
so i asked her to come to the concert
she said no i work at night
i said we’ve gotten too damn good at leaving sue
she said harry you’re right
don’t ask me if i made love to her
or which one of us started to cry
don’t ask me why she wouldn’t take the money that i left
if i answered at all i’d lie
so i thought about her as i sang that night
and how the circle keeps rolling around
how i act as i’m facing the footlights
and how she’s flying with both feet on the ground
i guess it’s a sequel to our story
from the journey ‘tween heaven and hell
with half the time thinking of what might have been
and half thinkin’ just as well
i guess only time will tell
Artist: Harry Chapin
Year: 1980
Decade: 80s
Language: en
Word Count: 241