If I could live my life again awake,
Think of all the chances I could take,
I'd love with all abandon just the same,
'Cause that's the game.
If I could cross a bridge from now to then,
Open up my chest and let it in,
I wouldn't fight so hard against the pain,
I'd let it rain,
Long time girl gone by.
I couldn't take my loves the way they came,
My eyes projected each one with a stain,
And though they gave me more than I could spend,
I wouldn't bend.
Hiding in my bridal veil of smoke
I sipped my lies until I thought I'd choke,
Once there was nothing left that I could steal,
I had to yield,
Long time girl gone by.
The seconds whisper circles off the clock,
The ships go sailing past and never dock,
The sea rears up, collapses and withdraws,
The constellations wheel and never pause,
The wind winds through the small bones in my ear,
I start to hear.
The trees look just as pretty when they're bare,
Black branches hieroglyphic in the air,
The leaves they left are rotted into lace,
It's all grace,
Long time girl gone by,
Long time girl gone by.