The Bear

Well, there's a big blind bear who roams this road late at night, they say
You'll see her in the shadows as she walks her lonely way
Through the backyard beehives and woodpiles
She goes looking for her long-lost children
Or at least that's what they say

So, I sit here at my window where I dream someday she'll pass
I see rhododendrons I planted and I think how time moves so fast
Like the moonlight and the electric light
Projecting paisley patterns on the grass

And I look down at the scar on my hand
And I 'member the first time I got drunk
And I think of my best friend back then, mmhm
How he slept with my girlfriend, that punk
And I don't know, no, I don't know
Where my memories should go
Good and the bad I cherish them so

Well, I had a dream that I was in a mid-level rock 'n' roll band
Played every shit-hole nightclub across this entire land
When I woke up I was glad to see that I'd left that life behind
But by then I was bald, broke and thirty-nine
Wasn't exactly my plan, no no no

So, I left the city lights and now I'm living my own dream
Married the local beauty queen, built ourselves a home
Watching wavy water running down the stream
Making babies and raising chickens out here where the buffalo roam
But late at night as the tall trees sway, our weary world weeps
And the fire in the hill scared all the birds away
And oh, so restless we sleep

And I don't know, Lord, I don't know
Oh, Lordy, I don't know how the story should end
And as I look up at that night sky, music begins

And stars are everywhere
Come on, come on, come on, just take a look up there
They fill the darkest corners of the darkest air
And they go where satellites would never ever dare
And then suddenly over there I see the bear