On The Edge Of A Cliff

(album: Everything Is Borrowed - 2008)

"I'm really OK, thanks, there's nothing to witness"
I said as I looked back from the edge of the cliff
The old man looking down leant over the ridge
Just looked with a grin as if a blessing had hit him
I slumped on the jut of the cliff
"Just leave me alone, this is none of your business"
"I will", said the old man, "but just one thing"
And what he said was so lovely it stunned me

He said, "I lay right there once at the edge of the rock
I was ready to jump, I was ever so lost
But this gentleman stopped and said something I never forgot"

For billions of years since the outset of time
Every single one of your ancestors survived
Every single person on your mum and dad's side
Successfully looked after and passed onto you life
What are the chances of that, like?
It comes to me once in a while
And everywhere I tell folk, it gets the best smile

And then the old man walked away and out of sight
'Til the sound of him hiking turned into the sound of silence
I just froze in a profound surprise
And from down on my pride, I found a smile to my eyes
And for many days again, I've been passing the same cliff
And on many occasions, I'd chance on the same thing
Laying in the moss, in the same way I was
Would be another man looking like he needed a change of luck

So I'd say, "I lay right there once at the edge of the rock
I was ready to jump, I was ever so lost
But this gentleman stopped and said something I never forgot"

For billions of years since the outset of time
Every single one of your ancestors survived
Every single person on your mum and dad's side
Successfully looked after and passed onto you life
What are the chances of that, like?
It comes to me once in a while
And everywhere I tell folk, it gets the best smile
For billions of years since the outset of time
Every single one of your ancestors survived
Every single person on your mum and dad's side
Successfully looked after and passed onto you life
What are the chances of that, like?
It comes to me once in a while
And everywhere I tell folk, it gets the best smile