Lyrics Hejira - Joni Mitchell

Hejira

Im traveling in some vehicle
Im sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shock love away
Theres comfort in melancholy
When theres no need to explain
Its just as natural as the weather
In this moody sky today
In our possessive coupling
So much could not be expressed
So now Im returning to myself
These things that you and I suppressed
I see something of myself in everyone
Just at this moment of the world
As snow gathers like bolts of lace
Waltzing on a ballroom girl
You know it never has been easy
Whether you do or you do not resign
Whether you travel the breadth of extremities
Or stick to some straighter line
Now heres a man and a woman sitting on a rock
Theyre either going to thaw out or freeze
Listen…
Strains of benny goodman
Coming thru the snow and the pinewood trees
Im porous with travel fever
But you know Im so glad to be on my own
Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger
Can set up trembling in my bones
I know — no ones going to show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
Between the forceps and the stone
Well I looked at the granite markers
Those tribute to finality — to eternity
And then I looked at myself here
Chicken scratching for my immortality
In the church they light the candles
And the wax rolls down like tears
Theres the hope and the hopelessness
Ive witnessed thirty years
Were only particles of change I know, I know
Orbiting around the sun
But how can I have that point of view
When Im always bound and tied to someone
White flags of winter chimneys
Waving truce against the moon
In the mirrors of a modern bank
>from the window of a hotel room
Im traveling in some vehicle
Im sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
Until love sucks me back that way