(Mary Chapin Carpenter)



The stars are out tonight, the breeze is warm and light

As I'm walking right back to you

Along the dreaming road, the only way to go

When I'm travelling by our code that north is true

Once upon a time these same bright stars did shine

Down the center line leading here

Nearly thirty years ago, now the map is stained and old

But on the dreaming road the coast is clear

I loved you more than life and I guess that's why I died

When you would not love me back I couldn't survive

And so the girl I was turned into someone else

Keeping to myself and from the light

I wasn't odd or strange, just quietly rearranged

Sometimes the biggest change stays out of sight



So without plot or clue I ran away from you

I was twenty-two and drunk in Amsterdam

Got robbed in Paris, France, got home on one last chance

And without a backward glance I began again

And the days just kept on rolling and I just kept on going

Without a thought of ever slowing down

I made this long road mine but it was not the dreaming kind

Too many lost souls trying to get found

But beneath this ancient sky, one night we did collide

And the hole I thought was scaled opened wide

I tried so hard again not to fall back in

But you had me then by the throat

And a strange futility came washing over me

Almost peacefully I felt the rope



A million miles goes by in the blink of an eye

And so I cannot try to slow time down

And years are made of sand slipping through my hands

Even faster than the speed of sound

The stars are out tonight, the breeze is soft and light

As I'm walking right back to you

With nothing left to hide, the tears have all been cried

And the girl who died is walking too

Down the dreaming road, where the light is always gold

The air is never cold and always fine

And north is always true and you are always you

And I'm that girl you knew once upon a time