they all smile
they shake your hand
they want to know your name
you sit in your mothers room
look through the window pane

when they know you're not watching
they talk behind your back
they laugh about the loneliness
of your awkward attack

attack them in the fences
attack them in the schoolyard
wipe your sleeve across your head
when the canons fire

someday, many years from here
where no one else can see
you'll dig up the things they buried
and finally set them free
finally, set them free

now free them from the schoolyard
free them from the lunch tray edge
free them from the canons inside your head

i don't know why,
but for some people
an ordinary day
just rises up before them
and it sweeps the past away

and its a good life
from now on
when i look back at you
a good life,
look ahead
the sky is almost blue


rickie lee jones, 'the evening of my best day'