Night Train - Bruce Cockburn
Not a knife throw from here
you can hear the night train passing
thats the sound somebody makes
when they're getting away
leaving next weeks hanging
jury far behind them
prisoner only of the choices
they have made
Night Train
Night Train
Ice cube in a dark drink shines
like star light
the moon is floating somewhere
out at sea
on an island in the blur of
noise and color
Alcatraz, St. Alina, Patmos
and the Chateau D'if
Night Train
Night Train
And everyone's an island edged
with sand
a temporary refuge where somebody
else can stand
till the sea that binds us
like the forced tie of a blood oath
will wear it down, dissolve
it, recombine it
Anyone can die here they do
it every day
it doesn't take much effort
though it goes against the grain
and the ultimate forgetfulness
of violence
sweeps the landscape like
a headlight of a train
Night Train
Ice cube in a dark drink shines
like star light
starlight shines like glass
shards in dark hair
and the mind's eye tumbles
out along the steel track
fixing every shadow with its
stare
Night Train
Night Train
And in the absence of a vision
there are nightmares
and in the absence of compassion
there is cancer
whose banner waves over palaces
and mean streets
and the rhythm of the night
train is a mantra