Birmingham Shadows

Bruce Cockburn

Birmingham 
Just behind the mountain 
Sparse streelamps glow in hot half-moon haze 
Shadows shorten into little black pools that elongate behind 
We walk, talk some, laugh some 
Worked hard, now wired, and hanging out 
I'm curious what you might be all about 
Curious, too, what that dark-shape in the hard shining cruiser might do 
And you have no idea what you're getting 
out of of your own curiosity and tense energy 
Tattoo on chest like the key to the puzzle of your pumping heart 
Wearing your shadows all over your sleeve 
Wearing the role of young upstart 

Birmingham shadows fall 
You show a little, I let something show too 
It's now or not at all 
Out on the road, it's always instant get-to-know-you 

Under velvet trees, towering like the sides of a well 
Before the empty two office blocks 
Which we're admonished not to enter 
Policeman studies us, finds us confusing 
More amusing than threat 
Moves on, bemused 
Pavement spirals down ahead like the fossil of a giant shell 
Along the kingdom's midnight marches 
I wear my shadows where they're harder to see 
But they follow me everywhere 
I guess that should tell me that I'm travelling toward light 
I guess something you sang made me remember that 
I guess I'm saying thanks for that 

Birmingham shadows fall 
You show a little, I let something show too 
It's now or not at all 
Out on the road, it's always instant get-to-know-you 

Got a head full of horrors and a heart full of night 
At home in the darkness, but hungry for dawn 
I only remember scenes, never the stories I live 
The good things about that is, it's easy to forgive 
Can't make assumptions about any of this 
We're nomads following our own songlines 
Who knows what could strike before we meet again? 
But if I fall down and die 
Without saying goodbye 
I give you this: you'll have lost a friend 

Birmingham shadows fall 
You show a little, I let something show too 
It's now or not at all 
Out on the road, it's always instant get-to-know-you