Grief rides quietly on the passenger side
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Unwanted company on a long, long drive
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It turns down the quiet songs and turns up the din
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It goes where you go, it's been where you've been
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And pushing your empty cart mile after mile
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Leaves you weeping in the wilderness
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Of the supermarket aisle
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And in the late night kitchen light it sits in a chair
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Watching you pretend that it's not really there
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But it is, so it is and you ask
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Are you predator or friend
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The future or the past?
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It hands you your overcoat and opens the door
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You are learning the world again just as before
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But the first time was childhood
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And now you are grown
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Broken wide open, cut to the bone
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And all that you used to know is of no use at all
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The same eyes you've always had have you walking into walls
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And the same heart can't understand
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Why it's so hard to feel
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What used to be true
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What's now so unreal
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But it is, so it is and you say
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I wish I were the wind so that I could blow away
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Grief sits silently on the edge of your bed
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It's closing your eyes, it's stroking your head
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The dear old companion is taking up air
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Watching you pretend that it's not really there
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Learning The World
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Mary Chapin Carpenter |