COWBOY JUNKIES




RING ON THE SILL

A HORSE IN THE COUNTRY





COLD TEA BLUES

If I pour your cup
that is friendship.
If I add your milk
that is manners.
If I stop there,
claiming ignorance of taste,
that is tea.

But if I measure the sugar
to satisfy your expectant tongue
then that is love,
sitting untouched and growing cold.


-Michael Timmins


RING ON THE SILL


She placed her ring on the sill,
dishes piled high.
She's on the front porch step
and the air smells like snow.
She's thinking of the siege to come
and how she'll miss those weekends
in the park with the sun on her face
and her book by her side and that
lingering taste that he left on her tongue.

He lifts his glass from the table.
It leaves a ring where it stood.
He sees the light from the window
caress her like he knows he should.
He's remembering the first time he kissed her
and how he'd wake
and immediately he'd miss her,
like a spell, with each breath
he'd taste her breath like a haunting,
irritating as hell.

Do you remember when you'd pray
to never see the day
when someone whould make you feel this way.
'Cause you knew
they would cut right through you
and once inside, you were afraid they'd find
nothing to hold on to.

He puts her ring on her finger,
she brushes back his hair.
He takes a sip from his glass,
she inhales the cold fall air.
And they're thinking of the long road ahead
and the strength that they will need
just to reach the end.
And there in the silence they search for
the balance between this fear that they feel
and a love that has graced their lives.


-Michael Timmins


A HORSE IN THE COUNTRY


The money would be pretty good
if a quart of milk were still a dollar
or even if a quart of milk were still a quart.
And hours, well, I don't mind
how they creep on by like an old love of mine
it's the years that simply disappear
that are doing me in.

Guess I married too young,
yeah, nineteen was just too young.
But sometimes you meet someone
and your guts just burn.
It's not that I don't love him anymore
it's just that when I hear him
coming through that front door
my heart doesn't race like it did once before.

But I've got a horse out in the country.
I get to see him every second Sunday.
He comes when I call him,
yeah, he knows his name.
One day I'll saddle up
and the two of us will ride away.

This weather I could almost stand
if the sun would shine a little brighter
or even if the sun would shine at all.
But lately it just seems to me
that this life has lost its' mystery

And all my friends have settled down
become their mothers and their fathers
without a sound.
Except for Cathy,
she bought a one-way subway ticket
and left us all behind.

But I've got a horse out in the country.
I get to see him every second Sunday.
He comes when I call him,
yeah, he knows his name.
One day I'll saddle up
and the two of us will ride away.

This town wouldn't be so bad
if a girl could trust her instincts
or even if a girl could trust a boy.


-Michael Timmins