In a manner of speaking
I’m twisting my tongue
As out of the ashes I come
A phoenix in pokermark
Casting a chain
From all these here
Dreams in my brain

Oh, I can’t be asked
To be more than a word
That falls from her lips
When a secret is stirred

She says fools only bother
With answers like me
So lashed in the mind
To what will never be

But I’ll meet the right one
Too soon or too late
That one rule in love
That’s making me wait
As here I fall entranced again
With someone sweet
And just my friend

So don’t ask a pilgrim
To pay for a bed
She’s honest enough in her head
And oh don’t she own that one favour
You’d like her to meet
As she laughs to herself at your feet

You know she carried
His body, boy, down to the shore
And tied off a stone
To that life she’d adored
And then turned to the city
To set herself free
And chased all kinds of devils
Up all kinds of trees

Oh, I’ll meet right now
Too soon or too late
That one rule in love
That’s making me wait
As here I fall entranced again
With someone sweet
And just my friend

That night we came
Just to leave and to make up our minds
Not to let such a moment be blind
For my part, I said, “Baby, I cannot be true
To someone as perfect as you”

“No, I need a serpent
A bird that had flown
A leaf fallen from the tree
A queen turned to stone
For it’s only to her
That I can release
My time and my memory
My patience, my peace”

She said, “I’ll meet right now
Too soon or too late
That one rule in love
That’s making me wait
As here I fall entranced again
With someone sweet
And just my friend”