Chinatown Bus

I caught the bus in Chinatown
And slept the whole way up I-95
The driver cut and weaved so crazy
Just his luck kept him alive
And I guess I believed his rhythm on that morning after New Year's Eve

And I remember Shanghai
How I wasn't sure just what was safe to eat
The chickens pecked and wandered
At the barefoot ankles of the children hawking figurines of workers smiling
What's the Chinese word for cheese?

Watched a sidewalk butcher
His instinctive understanding made the carcass snap and clarify beneath his nimble hands
That held the knife so long, so many times
The handles' changed to ships just like his fingers and his palms

And I, I am a passenger tonight
I watch the world, from inside

It's 2 a.m. in Tokyo
And still too soon to call back to the people
Who will soon begin the day I polished off
And I will walk a mile amidst the neon lights that advertise
I don't know just what they sell

I tell the taxi driver
To the park, a higher tone
And his gloves are pristine white just like
The girls I used to know would wear to dance their first cotillion
Every single one of them named Jennifer

I clutched at the Saint Christopher
I picked up at some country abbey long ago
When I believed he'd keep me safe and make me happy
But it seems the luck he brings
Is not the common currency of penny in Japan

And I, I am a passenger tonight
I watch the world, from inside