john evereldown

 

Where are you going tonight, tonight

Where are you going, John Evereldown?

There's never the sign of a star in sight

Nor a lamp that's nearer than Tilbury Town

Why do you stare as a dead man might?

Where are you pointing away from the light?

And where are you going tonight, tonight

Where are you going, John Evereldown?

 

Right through the forest, where none can see

There's where I'm going, to Tilbury Town

The men are asleep, or awake, may be

But the women are calling John Evereldown

Ever and ever they call for me

And while they call can a man be free

So right through the forest, where none can see

There's where I'm going, to Tilbury Town

 

But why are you going so late, so late

Why are you going, John Evereldown?

Though the road be smooth and the path be straight

There are two long leagues to Tilbury Town

Come in by the fire, old man, and wait

Why do you chatter out there by the gate?

And why are you going so late, so late

Why are you going, John Evereldown?

 

I follow the women wherever they call

That's why I'm going to Tilbury Town

God knows if I pray to be done with it all

But God is no friend to John Evereldown

So the clouds may come and the rain may fall

The shadows may creep and the dead men crawl

But I follow the women wherever they call

And that's why I'm going to Tilbury Town

 

Lyrics: from the poem “John Evereldown” by Edwin Arlington Robinson; The Children of the Night (1890-97).  Music © 2017 by Paul Cough

 

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