by Bob Dylan



Seems like only yesterday

I left my mind behind

Down in the Gypsy Cafe

With a friend of a friend of mine

She sat with a baby heavy on her knee

Yet spoke of life most free from slavery

With eyes that showed no trace of misery

A phrase in connection first with she I heard

That love is just a four-letter word



Outside a rambling store-front window

Cats meowed to the break of day

Me, I kept my mouth shut, too

To you I had no words to say

My experience was limited and underfed

You were talking while I hid

To the one who was the father of your kid

You probably didn't think I did, but I heard

You say that love is just a four-letter word



I said goodbye unnoticed

Pushed towards things in my own games

Drifting in and out of lifetimes

Unmentionable by name

Searching for my double, looking for

Complete evaporation to the core

Though I tried and failed at finding any door

I must have thought that there was nothing more

Absurd than that love is just a four-letter word



Though I never knew just what you meant

When you were speaking to your man

I can only think in terms of me

And now I understand

After waking enough times to think I see

The Holy Kiss that's supposed to last eternity

Blow up in smoke, its destiny

Falls on strangers, travels free

Yes, I know now, traps are only set by me

And I do not really need to be

Assured that love is just a four-letter word