In the turn of a tide, I gasped for air
Hollywood to the south, drove north
To a highway side, too drained of despair
To consummate such a great divorce
Running car in the cold High Desert wind
Shelterheart from the neon signs
Bridegroom's love in three stars from Leonid
Flared a promise, forever mine
And His memory returns to me
Out on the Lancaster plain
Distant windmill lights near Tehachapi
"Keep looking north," they say
Couldn't dream another way
At the gates of the great St. Francis Dam
Just before the disaster came
I was camped out with my guitar in hand
With a flood like this, who needs rain?
Knew the wave words would come the day she died
But then that water succumbed to dirt
And like a second hand drowning, when it dries
I survive just to choke on earth
Said this one isn't like a broken leg
It's the grief of an amputee
I would take back that tangled limb instead
Where at least it was there to scream
Guess she thought it best that she leave us
But this year has proved her so wrong
So long as the clouds lay between us
They will keep me up to the last "How long?"
Till my eyes alight on a love so strong
What's the point of singing songs?
Eyes up from the highway side
Searching the stars for some God-given bravery
I'm messed up and I miss the fight
Like a post-Egypt Israelite longing for slavery
I drove up to that ruined dam
All my friends absent as I tried to understand
While they settled in for life
She wept in ICU, I stayed to hold her hand
Eyes up from the highway side
My friend was bent in a head-on collision
From one east to his westbound lights
But now he's walking and I hear them talking
Of wonders and the gift of life
Thanking the Savior and Subaru maker
While I drove through a canyon dark
Tempting the cliffside to jack-knife my story arch
Eyes down to the desert dirt
Manna from heaven offsetting my leaven
I take it because I know it's good
God in the valley; the one thing I've understood
Sure hands on my surest hurt
Lack of sensation, the numbness of nations
Or states where all the wells run dry
Till we'd do just about anything just to cry
Eyes up from the highway side
Running (or floating) on two phantom limbs
It won't change and it won't help to try
No pain or pleasure could grow those bones back again
But look, here's a wonder yet
Dismembered movement, I'm carried these miles in the dark
Child, He does not forget
Runs to the depths where we're reeling till nothing's too far
Enters the wound where it's healing till nothing's too far
Stands at the throne interceding where nothing's too far