After the War Songtext

von Joe Henry

A dog-eared mind sniffed my heart
Like a pocket full of German marks
Long after the war was through

Stood me on a rusted rail
Turned my face and kicked my tail
Up toward the yonder blue …
Threw a fish up on the bank
And watched him dance from the air he drank
And then my hunger knew

That sparks will fly around my head
When I stir the coals down in my bed
Like I was walking back to you
Time slips out of the leaning fence
That lost the border ever since
Our beloved war took to the road

With caravans and mocking birds
And painted girls with twisted words
Whose knees and ankles showed …
Now, I sit and watch the failing moon,
The shower-stars and, coming soon,
The whole thing will look new

When blessedly I will forget
The ways of God and all regret
Like I was walking back to you