Sleep Time

For a hundred years now I have been holding up the ceiling
Waiting for the support beams to be placed
I watched thousands of days darken and the paint chips peeling
I can't recall how many truths that I've faced

It's not for me to argue or to try and point fingers
I am patient and accepted my place
But just for a moment while this thought still lingers
Can you see the consternation on my face

I've given up riches and never really wanted
More than I need to survive
I've tried to care for children and I never even hunted
Except that time I pretended when I was five

I travelled enough to see that everyone's Brother
Is exactly the same as me
I lived long enough to stop bringing worry to my Mother
By being the biggest fool that I can be

The mistakes I have made though many were huge
Faded into time with the past
I often think of life as a man on a luge
Racing toward the finish too fast

If you sit back on the porch like an old Georgia farmer
And watch them hustle here and run there
You chuckle to your wife cause nothing will alarm her
Except that shirt with the holes that you wear

And now I lay me down in my thick cotton britches
Looking for another dream to appear
When I think about heros and mean old witches
And all the things that I used to fear

Cause something about time and spending it together
That seems to take the anguish away
You live through so many nights and different kinds of weather
That you're rewarded with another new day

All rights reserved to James M. Cox