Long As I Can See The Light

I was eating Jambalaya
With old Cross Tie Walker
He was an aging musician,
And an old school rocker!

He talked about the years he played
In a Travelin’ Band.
They called him a Fortunate Son,
With a talented hand.

But he was Born On The Bayou,
Out past that Graveyard Train.
A place so wet, the folks would pray,
Dear God, Who’ll Stop The Rain?

But he was filled with wanderlust;
The boy was Born To Move!
With a musical Commotion,
He’d strum a catchy groove!

On Gloomy days, when Feelin’ Blue,
He would Keep On Chooglin'!
Come morning everything he heard
Sounded like buglin’!

It rang like a Sailor’s Lament,
Through cobwebs in his head!
It would cast a Tombstone Shadow,
And felt like he was dead!

Buried beneath those Cotton Fields,
Down on that southern plain.
He could feel a Bad Moon Rising,
And it brought only pain!

He could see that Midnight Special,
And hear the beating drums!
God would give him no more “somedays”
For Someday Never Comes!

This Ramble Tamble life he led,
Was gonna have to end!
The future he was searching for
Was Up Around The Bend!

At a gig, one night in Lodi,
He met his Suzie Q.
She said: “I Put A Spell On You”,
And he knew that was true!

They bought a horse ranch in Utah,
Near Green River, they say.
And I Heard It Through The Grapevine,
It’s their love Hideaway!

And then we heard some joyous news,
It Came Out Of The Sky!
They were going to have a baby,
The apple of his eye!

He prayed to Jesus every night,
“You Walk On The Water!
It’s Just A Thought … if Glory Be,
Please give me a daughter!”

And then, “Good Golly Miss Molly!”
The Lord made it com true.
Holding his child, he smiled and said:
Well, Hello Mary Lou!

But father time kept marching on
Its passing never slowed.
His girl grew up and met a man,
On The Side O’ The Road.

He saw her Down On The Corner,
Her car had broken down.
He picked up this Sweet Hitch Hiker,
And drove her home from town!

Their romance bloomed as time marched on,
For love doesn’t tarry.
Dad walked her down the isle and said:
“You’ve made me Proud Mary.”

“I was a Penthouse Pauper who
Did the Poor Boy Shuffle,
And I lived on the road with my
Guitar and my duffle.”

“I couldn’t be The Working Man,
I just wanted to play!
I Wrote A Song For Everyone,
And got drunk every day!”

“And then a Rude Awakening,
Made me think I was dead.
I went Lookin’ For A Reason
To change the path ahead.”

“I thought: I Need Someone To Hold!
And your mom was just right!
I asked when she would marry me,
And she said: Hey Tonight!”

“Girl, Have You Ever Seen The Rain,
Fall on your wedding day?
Well, it fell on your mom and I,
Which blew us both away.”

“We couldn’t go out on the town,
A bad sign, we believed.
But The Night Time Is the Right Time,
That night you were conceived.”

“You barely gave us a reason
To ever once doubt you.
And I never had to wonder:
What Are You Gonna Do?”

His daughter made him very proud,
And does to this day still!
She lives not far from Bakersfield,
A town called Porterville.

He sat Looking Out My Back Door
God’s peace upon his face,
Said: “If you RUN Through The Jungle,
You’ll never see its grace!”

“I was Tearin' Up The Country,
As blind as I could be!
I lost myself out on that road,
Became an Effigy.”

“And you can Call It Pretending,
A Bootleg kind of life,
I lived like a Chameleon,
Until I met my wife!”

“But Before You Accuse Me of
Renouncing what I earned.
Allow me to impart to you
The wisdom that I learned.”

“As Long As I Can See The Light,
God’s truth is in my view.
Before the day you Sail Away,
I hope it’s in yours too.”