Tugboats and Tumbleweeds - Bill Callahan

Some time alone when you are young is good

High, high time, and drunk old time, sober time

I advise all three when your brain is at least twenty-three

Take a tumbleweed year or two

And find an eye that’s true

But don’t let yourself get so blue

That you make rash decisions for two

Else you’ll harm yourself and another

Who mistook you for a guide

When you’re still a rogue tide

Fools learn from fools

The wise learn from the wise

And always be prepared to revise

And when you get older, find a quiet time

To ride on ahead or fall behind

And take a good look inside your mind

Morning can be godmotherly

To stretch, walk, and wander through

Or the wee small hours when the whole world is asleep, but you

Afternoons are okay too

To take an ocean view

And always look for the tugboats

Already attached to you

And you, you’re a tugboat too

Yeah, you, you’re a tugboat too

You’re my tugboat

You’re my tugboat

You’re my tugboat