Not Over By Half - Joan Shelley

You’ve torn your shirt

You’ve outgrown this town

Your friends are all scattered and you’re lonesome

But you’re still searching for music in the sounds

It’s a tame world would leave you unbroken

Oh lady, oh Mother, bring your garden to me

Pull it around my body so the world cannot see

The blue of my veins and the tracks on my cheeks

But leave the tulips for when I go under

But it’s not over by half

There’s a gold in your eyes blooming out through the black

And you’re still standing, your hand on the map

No it’s not over

Not over by half

When that day comes and the lights go dim

The weight off your shoulders, the sun off your skin

And the ones who have known you

Your lovers and friends

Will be marked by the spark that was taken

Here on the mountain I’m thinking of you

The birds are all singing, screaming of youth

And here I am holding, keeping a room

Just a place you can lay when you’re older