Lyrics Long Time Girl Gone By - Rodney Crowell, Mary Karr, Emmylou Harris

Long Time Girl Gone By

If I could live my life again awake
Think of all the chances I could take
I’d love with all abandon just the same
'Cause that’s the game
If I could cross a bridge from now to then
Open up my chest and let it in
I wouldn’t fight so hard against the pain
I’d let it rain
Long time girl gone by
I couldn’t take my loves the way they came
My eyes projected each one with a stain
And though they gave me more than I could spend
I wouldn’t bend
Hiding in my bridal veil of smoke
I sipped my lies until I thought I’d choke
Once there was nothing left that I could steal
I had to yield
Long time girl gone by
The seconds whisper circles off the clock
The ships go sailing past and never dock
The sea rears up, collapses and withdraws
The constellations wheel and never pause
The wind winds through the small bones in my ear
I start to hear
The trees look just as pretty when they’re bare
Black branches hieroglyphic in the air
The leaves they left are rotted into lace
It’s all grace
Long time girl gone by
Long time girl gone by