Jackson Browne

The papers lie there helplessly
In a pile outside the door
I've tried and tried, but i just can't remember what they're for
The world outside is tugging like a beggar at my sleeve
Oh, that's much too old a story to believe

And you know that it's taken its share of me
Even though you take such good care of me
Now you say "morocco" and that makes me smile
I haven't seen morocco in a long, long while
The dreams are rolling down across the places in my mind
And i've just had a taste of something fine

The future hides and the past just slides
England lies between
Floating in a silver mist so cold and so clean
California's shaking like an angry child will
Who has asked for love and is unanswered still

And you know that i'm looking back carefully
ôcause i know that there's still something there for me
But you said "morocco" and you made me smile
And it hasn't been that easy for a long, long while
And looking back into your eyes i saw them really shine
Giving me a taste of something fine
Something fine

Now if you see morocco i know you'll go in style
I may not see morocco for a little while
But while you're there i was hoping you might keep it in your mind
To save me just a taste of something fine

I am a child in these hills
I am away
I am alone
I am a child in these hills
And looking for water
And looking for life

Who will show me the river and ask my name?
Is there nobody here who'll do that?

Well i have come to these hills
I will come to the river
As i choose to be gone from the house of my father

I am a child in these hills
I am a child

Chased from the gates of the city where no one had touched me
I am away
I am alone
I am a child in these hills
And looking for water
And looking for life

Who will show me the river and ask me my name?
Is there nobody here who'll do that?

Well i have come to these hills
I will come to the river
As i choose to be gone from the house of my father

I am a child in these hills
I am a child
I am a child
I am a child

Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now i want to understand

I have done all that i could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you can

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong
Was i unwise to leave them open for so long

'cause i have wandered through this world
And as each moment has unfurled
I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams
People go just where there will
I never noticed them until i got this feeling
That it's later than it seems

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see
I hear their cries
Just say if it's too late for me

Doctor, my eyes
Cannot see the sky
Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry

Well i looked into a house i once lived in
Around the time i first went on my own
When the roads were as many as the places i had dreamed of
And my friends and i were one
Now the distance is done and the search has begun
I've come to see where my beginnings have gone

Oh the walls and the windows were still standing
And the music could be heard at the door
Where the people who kindly endured my odd questions
Asked if i came very far
And when my silence replied they took me inside
Where their children sat playing on the floor

Well we spoke of the changes that would find us farther on
And it left me so warm and so high
But as i stepped back outside to the grey morning sun
I heard that highway whisper and sigh
Are you ready to fly?

And i looked into the faces all passing by
It's an ocean that will never be filled
And the house that grows older and finally crumbles
That even love cannot rebuild
It's a hotel at best, you're here as a guest
You oughta make yourself at home while you're waiting for the rest

Well i looked into dream of the millions
That one day the search will be through
Now here i stand at the edge of my embattled illusions
Looking into you

The great song traveler passed through here
And he opened my eyes to the view
And i was among those who called him a prophet
And i asked him what was true
Until the distance had shown how the road remains alone
Now i'm looking in my life for a truth that is my own

Well i looked into the sky for my anthem
And the words and the music came through
But words and music can never touch the beauty that i've seen
Looking into you -- and that's true

A lady stands before an open window
Staring so far away
She can almost feel the southern wind blow
Almost touching her restless day

She turns from her window to me
Sad smile her apology
Sad eyes reaching to the door

Daylight loses to another evening
And still she spares me the word goodbye
And sits alone beside me fighting her feelings
Struggles to speak but in the end can only cry

Suddenly its so hard to find
The sound of the words to speak her troubled mind
So i'm offering these to her as if to be kind:
There's a train everyday leaving either way
There's a world, you know
There's a way to go
And you'll soon be gone -- that's just as well
This is my opening farewell

A child's drawings left there on the table
And a woman's silk lying on the floor
And i would keep them here if i were able
Lock her safe behind this open door

But suddenly it's so clear to me
That i'd asked her to see what she may never see
And now my kind words find their way back to me
There's a train everyday leaving either way
There's a world, you know
You got a way's to go
And i'll soon believe -- it's just as well
This is my opening farewell