Standard (EADGBE)

So, so long ago

And so far away

When time was just a line

 That you fed me

 When you wanted to stay

We'd talk as soft as chalk

 Till morning came, as pale as a pearl

No time, no, no time

 Now, I have got all the time in the world

Say, honey, did you belong to me

 Tell me, honey, was your heart at rest when, darling

 All the mourning doves were howling us

 A song of love's oh god-awful lawlessness, law-less-ness!

Say, honey, did you belong to me

Tell me, honey, did I pass your test

 I lay, as still as death, until the dawn

 Whereupon I wrested from your god-awful lawlessness,

Law-less-ness!

 I roam around the tidy grounds

 Of my dappled sanatorium

Coatless, I sit amongst the moles, adrift

 And I dote upon my pinesap gum

 And the light, through the pines in brassy tines

 Lays over me, dim as rum

 And thick as molasses, and so time passes

 And so, my heart, tomorrow comes

I feel you, leaning

 Out back with the crickets

 Loyal heart marking the soon-ness darkness

 Tonight, still the mourning doves

 Will summon us their song

 Of love's neverdoneing lawlessness, law-less-ness!

 While, over and over

 Rear up, stand down, lay round

 Trying to sound-out or guess the reasons

 To sleep like a soldier, without rest

 But there is no treason

 Where there is only lawlessness, law-less-ness!

Middle section

faster

 In the last week

 Of the last year I was aware

 I took a blind shot, across the creek

 At the black bear

 When he roused me in the night

 And left me cowering with my light

Calling out

 Who is there

 Who's there

 Who is there

 I watched you sleep

 Repeating my prayer

 Give love a little shove

 And it becomes terror

 And now I am calling

In a sadness beyond anger

 And beyond fear

Who is there

 Who's there

 Who is there

 I glare and nod

 Like the character, God

 Bearing down upon the houses and lawns

 I knew a little bit,

 But, darling, you were it

 And, darling, now it is long gone

Sweetheart, in your clean, bright start

Back there, behind a hill, and a dell

 And a state line or two, I'll be thinking of you

 Yes, I’ll be thinking and be wishing you well

 We land, I stand, but I wait for the sound of the bell

I have to catch a cab and my bags are at the carousel

 And then Lord, just then, time alone will only tell

You morning dove