SONGS & DREAMS
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TIME

by Jeffrey Murrell

OLD GREEN BOTTLE


I guess it was the clitter-clatter
In an old tin box,
Some things I had forgotten,
Old letters and magazines,
Some pictures from some younger days,
A bow tie and a watch,
A cassette with my mother's voice
From a telephone answering machine,

And a dusty green wine bottle
From a time and place so far;
It was the very best bottle of wine I'd ever had!

I really didn't enjoy it
With my favorite company.
I really didn't enjoy it
In the best of company.

But I did enjoy it
With some folks just like myself,
So far away from home and all alone.

And in our hearts we longed to love,
But we were unable to
For we feared the inevitable losses
That would ensue
Among us at that time in our lives,
But we survived.

Though it's been not years, but years
I still struggle with the thought
That people are so cruel,
Self-righteous and mean.
And like that bottle
We shared that thought
Like victims in a dream.
Though we laughed and sang together,
We still wept in privacy.

And how I'd like to see them now,
Yes, I'd like to see the change.
For today is yesterday's tomorrow,
And it's for them that I now sing,

I guess it was that clitter-clatter
In that old tin box
That made me find that old green bottle,
And give thanks for how things are.
I wouldn't trade in yesterday,
But I sure am glad it's gone!
And tomorrow may be better than today.

Who can say?
It just may!