As I Wander - Bill Callahan

Well, as I wander through the rooms of the world

Love archives me

The clarion call can get trapped in a horn in a case beneath the bed

The life of a magician’s dove I’ve led

And Paul rode horses on these roads

Writing the letters in his head

And I may have been wandering too long

In love with wandering, wandering, wandering love

Squandering offerings like the idol with it’s Mandarin

It’s just that I’m all of these things

Like water may freeze to break a ring

This bridge may cause this train to sink

The babies make me feel at ease with eyes like honey-drunk bees

As I wander the aisle between them

Tickets please

It’s times like these

That the forces at work begin considering me

As the link between death and dreams

For some sweet minutes, everyone is counting on me

To get them home

Say

Before the track ends

Through the wayward symphonies of steel on steel

As the city falls away to single bricks in the field

As if I were the conductor and this train were real