Leaves And Kings

(album: Josh Ritter - 1999)

I met you at a party or on a crowded street
A silent singularity when glances chanced to meet
You looked into my glasses, said you'd seen a ghost
I tried my best to make you smile as we calypsoed close
I have been to Cleveland and you have been to jail
You seem to be recovering but I felt a little pale
Our house it was on seventeenth above a hardware store
And there we lived with seven cats all named for seven dwarves

But like leaves and kings, all things must fall
No diamond ring's gonna cut through it all

You were working as a graverobber, you could do your job at night
I was living hand to mouth just looking for a fight
The reason why we parted it ain't that hard to find
I was always busy, and you never had the time
well the reason why we parted it ain't that hard to see
But I was never sure if I left you or you left me

[chorus]

And when it was all over I lost myself in work
You got married to a lawyer painting murals in New York
(You got married to a dentist building bridges in New York)
And though it seems a million miles ago since I saw the light
The hours flowed by nervously like warships in the night
Many times I've been corrupted but I've never been in love
I began to realise that that's just where I was
So I packed up my possessions and caught an east-bound train
met you in Ohio sleeping in the rain

[chorus]

So now we're going back again to start where we began
With rules and regulations but no real kind of plan
I've learned my lesson well with no mistakes at all
Once you find yourself true love you just keep holding on

Like leaves and kings, all things must fall
No diamond ring's gonna cut through it all

but now out of the dark, out of the blue,
like leaves and kings I've fallen in love with you