When I walk beside her, I am the better man
When I look to leave her, I always stagger back again
Once I built an ivory tower so I could worship from above
When I climbed down to be set free, she took me in again


There's a big, a big hard sun
Beating on the big people
In the big hard world

When she comes to greet me, she is mercy at my feet
When I see her bitter charm, she just throws it back at me
Once I dug an early grave to find a better land
She just smiled and laughed at me and took her blues back again



When I go to cross that river, she is comfort by my side
When I try to understand, she just opens up her hands



Once I stood to lose her when I saw what I had done
Bound down and threw away the hours of her garden and her sun
So I tried to warn her, I turned to see her weep
Forty days and forty nights and it's still coming down on me