What Is a Life?

I've lived in this town for 13 years,
I've been around.
You see that window in that tower?
That was mine.

Under that fluorescent light
where I made cold calls through the night
to houses deep in suburbs I will never go.

And then in Chinatown
I'd get something and hang around.
How does that busker know each day from the next?

See that man who just brushed past me?
Well I know him, but don't ask me about him.
I wonder, is he still with his wife?

What is a life?

The ferries pull up in the evening warmth.
I used to give out papers here
as they rushed on their way home.
The streets are full of plaques.
Just where that park is used to be a den of wailers, Jesus Christ!

What is a life?

Of all the jobs I've had,
I can't say they've turned out bad,
Its just funny when you think that guy was you.
A waiter on his break,
he smokes a cigarette and takes a long look at a repaired paring knife.