Brook And Branch

Where did you go?
By brook or by branch
Down a steep road

How did you go?
Like a ghost in the shipyard quarantined for foreign sins
And the mistakes of my youth

Why did you go to Parrsboro
When you could have stayed
Here with me?

I don't know
I was growing old
By brook and by branch
Every age must pass
Every age must pass
Silently
Like a spook in the woods
Or a crow at the window calling for meat

I saw your name at the bottom of an old love letter
It was dragging like an anchor
At the bottom of the harbor in Parrsboro
In Parrsboro