Sailboat in a still sky. Tadpole in a puddle.
Alone in a hayfield looking for trouble.
Trying to make love from whiskey and rolls.
Waking up late, two worn out soles
stepping down higways and off to the side.
Looking for traps, some place to hide.
Shooting your poison and chasing it with pride.
Chasing it down and casting your line.
Casting your play with whoever you find.
On a gambling thumb, just letting it ride.
In the next town do that dance just right.
For a dyin’ man’s diamond is a hell of a night.
Next time around I’m leaving blank spaces.
You can fill ’em in later. That much I’ve learned.
I piled my youth up in a desert night,
torched it, howled Coyote as it burned.
Now I leave a turn behind me. One I’ll take some night alone.
When the whiskey will blind me and nothing’s in stone
except all that stone swallowed since last night,
but don’t worry little fella, you’ll sink just right.
Like the sun in the sky, falling from sight,
brings the stars that were always there to light.
That’s what we do with all our might.
For a dyin’ man’s diamond is a hell of a night.