Floater (Too Much To Ask)

Down over the window Comes the dazzling sunlit rays Through the back alleys—through the blinds Another one of them endless days Honey bees are buzzing Leaves begin to stir I’m in love with my second cousin I tell myself I could be happy forever with her I keep listening for footsteps But I ain’t hearing any From the boat I fish for bullheads I catch a lot, sometimes too many A summer breeze is blowing A squall is settin’ in Sometimes it’s just plain stupid To get into any kind of wind The old men ’round here, sometimes they get On bad terms with the younger men But old, young, age don’t carry weight It doesn’t matter in the end One of the boss’ hangers-on Comes to call at times you least expect Try to bully ya—strong-arm you—inspire you with fear It has the opposite effect There’s a new grove of trees on the outskirts of town The old one is long gone Timber two-foot-six across Burns with the bark still on They say times are hard, if you don’t believe it You can just follow your nose It don’t bother me—times are hard everywhere We’ll just have to see how it goes My old man, he’s like some feudal lord Got more lives than a cat Never seen him quarrel with my mother even once Things come alive or they fall flat You can smell the pinewood burning You can hear the school bell ring Gotta get up near the teacher if you can If you wanna learn anything Romeo, he said to Juliet, “You got a poor complexion It doesn’t give your appearance a very youthful touch!” Juliet said back to Romeo, “Why don’t you just shove off If it bothers you so much” They all got out of here any way they could The cold rain can give you the shivers They went down the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee All the rest of them rebel rivers If you ever try to interfere with me or cross my path again You do so at the peril of your own life I’m not quite as cool or forgiving as I sound I’ve seen enough heartaches and strife My grandfather was a duck trapper He could do it with just dragnets and ropes My grandmother could sew new dresses out of old cloth I don’t know if they had any dreams or hopes I had them once though, I suppose, to go along With all the ring-dancing Christmas carols on all of the Christmas eves I left all my dreams and hopes Buried under tobacco leaves It’s not always easy kicking someone out Gotta wait a while—it can be an unpleasant task Sometimes somebody wants you to give something up And tears or not, it’s too much to ask