Mary Gauthier

There's knots in your stomach Tightness in my throat Half the things we say these days Get hurled back as a quote We came together easily But something has gone wrong The air has gotten heavy 'Cause I'm leaving But I'm a different kind of gone Leavi...

You're crying cause I'm not crying you're crying while I sit here looking strong you're sad 'cause I don't feel the pain you're feeling but my turn's coming after you're gone You're angry for the good years you wasted You're angry 'cause you wat...

I shook my fist at my father's rage I cursed my mother's sadess Whatever home I tried to call my own Washed in to that river of madmness The raging surge the stagnant mire Taste of bread embittered Disconnected highway lines Where souls like ours lay l...

Tell me that you love me one more time Before you leave, before you leave Wrap your arms around me hold me tight Before you leave, before you leave Whisper to me softly in my ear Before you leave, before you leave Tell me that you'll miss me when you're...

Well, the grasses are swaying, the suns going down Music is playing, you’re weaving through town Pull into the drive way, toss it in park You stare out of the windshield, out into the world It was all for the love of a wayward girl Who left you with a sec...

Clouds are spreading like bruises on the evening sky I walk the streets alone again tonight It starts to rain still I search each passing face Blood is blood and blood don't wash away Blood is blood and blood don't wash away When I was a child They told...

He's lying on the double bed acting self assured in his t-shirt and his underwear he's barely said a word she pours a cup of coffee lights the day's first cigarette picks up the phone and calls her kids from the motel kitchenette There's two guys moving s...

This is not my street This is not my house That is not my bed This is not my town Another day another night Another night another day I wanna go home I can’t find the way The levee broke the water came Went all the way up to my roof I crawled up the...

Davey stole a Christmas tree from K-Mart last night red ribbons and silver bells, angels dressed in white he tied it to the bridge rail so passing cars would see he danced a little dance up there, looked down and smiled at me My bed is a lawn chair, cushi...

I hated high school, I prayed it would end The jocks and their girls, it was their world, I didn't fit in Mama said, "Baby, it's the best school that money can buy Hold your head up, be strong, c'mon Mary, try" I stole mama's car on a Sunday and left home...

Happy Anniversary, baby It's been a year now since you moved away Even though I asked you to go I miss you every day I miss you in the evenings Alone in the bed where I lie I miss you in the morning Before I open my eyes I went and sold everything tha...

Silly me, what was I thinking I coulda sworn you still loved me But I'm a fool born to chase rainbows I could never hold you to what you said with your eyes You and me, hey, weren't we something? You're holding my hand in that picture hanging in the hall...

She said, "You are not my lover" So don't look at me that way Just 'cause I let you touch me Don't mean I'll let you stay She said, "Lovers try to change me The minute I care" But baby when I'm dancin' I dance on air, I dance on air And all the other...

It's a cheap hotel, the heat pipes hiss The bathroom's down the hall, and it smells like piss It's another night in another town And I'm another blues traveler headed down Falling out of love is a dangerous thing With its slippery slopes and its weighted...

A warm wind blows across my windowsill tonight like a ghost, like a ghost soft and low in this other-worldly light I dream of Rose Common time never ceases, never yields it comes and it goes now I find I lost the pavement 'neath my wheels when I lo...

Born a bastard child in New Orleans to a woman I've never seen I don't know if she ever held me All I know is that she let go of me I passed thru like thunder I passed thru like rain Passed out from under Good-bye could have been my family name Every...

Broken on the inside, that’s what I used to say Then I’d pack my bags, raise a white flag and drive away I thought that’s what made me strong Well, I was young and I was wrong, and I ain’t leaving any more I’m not walking out that door No more running a...

He'd get home at 5:30, fix his drink And sit down in his chair Pick a fight with mama Complain about us kids getting in his hair At night he'd sit alone and smoke I'd see his frown behind his lighter's flame Now that same frown's in my mirror I got my d...

There's a big storm a coming Of this I've no doubt That storm's gonna blow your little world inside out When the wild winds let up When the violence wanes You'll think of me then, when you're watching it rain It ain't the wind, it's the rain When the r...

There's a tiny village with its landscape painted green A firehouse, a general store, all the streets are clean The people at the depot love to hear that whistle sound And they all wave at Jackie when the engine comes around. He says roll train roll The...

When they ask about us As friends always do Remember the good times Honey, we had a few I'll never condemn you I'll take all the blame You got a good answer When they speak my name Just say she's a rhymer And rhymers get restless Just say that she's...

A little girl lost, her world full of pain He said it feels good, she gave him her vein The dope made her numb and numb felt like free Until she came down, down, down to a new misery A junkie, a whore living for the next high She'd lie cheat and steal, s...

Steam Train Maury died last night His wife Wanda by his side Caught the Westbound out of here Hopped the high irons to the by and by They say he jumped ten thousand trains Rode a million miles for free Helped out at VA hospitals and penitentiary’s Dandy...

Under water, under the well under glass, under a ground swell chasing bliss, chasing my tail chasing desire, straight down to hell I couldn't love, could not forgive didn't know how to live and let live my choices were few on the ledge, looking up at yo...

I felt the flames on my face when I found the nerve to meet your eyes, so green I stumbled towards your elegance I tumbled, wide awake into a dream and there you stood, so beautiful destiny seduces, after all I fell into the fire that's a long way to fa...

You throw me that look again We both know what it means Packing bags and tying up loose ends Lettin' go of busted dreams Silence fills the room tonight You've never been this cold To leave me sliding down your icy look With nowhere to grab a hold I k...

Basinets and babies St. Vincent's Infants Home Orphaned in limbo Helpless and alone Paradise receding Paradise withdrawn A tiny heart is beating Mama here Mama gone Mama gone Cut loose and falling Thru the crevasse cradle crack Rock a bye baby M...

Hello this is Mary, oh yeah, march 11, 1962 It took me 500 dollars and 40 years to find you I know it's almost Christmas, I don't mean to make you cry Now you ask me why I called, I don't know why Hello, hello, say something don't leave me hanging here...

My father could use a little mercy now The fruits of his labor Fall and rot slowly on the ground His work is almost over It won't be long and he won't be around I love my father, and he could use some mercy now My brother could use a little mercy now H...

From the painful rays of daybreak Ripping darkness out your eyes To every kiss with bourbon breath you daddy didn't hide, he didn't hide From the crack of his backhand slap To your mama's blue veined hands That held her rosary desperately Cause she did...

Black clouds blowing 'cross the blustery sky Black clouds blowing 'cross the blustery sky South of Highway 7, all alone and crying Oh soul, I sold you away When you sell your soul, it opens a deep dark hole When you sell your soul, it opens a deep dark h...

Our Lady of the Shooting Stars was that you last night? Did we dance a whispered waltz, did I hold you in my sight? When morning came with open arms she lifted you from me The sunlight burned my eyes away now I cannot see Our Lady of the Shooting Stars as...

4 nights alone in Amsterdam, and I missed you every one I wish the trip was over and it’s only just begun I don’t know when I’ll see you again, I can’t think of it, it’s more than I can bear I know I only kissed you once but I hold on my on my lips like a...

Packing vagabond visions and a dream drenched hunger for a home Swaddled in road dirt, blood stained blankets and poems On a stormy suitcase Sunday I awakened to the scream of the birds They held their high notes and offered prayer without words Sinking i...

My silence betrays me Let’s the demons take a hold The truth always saves me When there’s nowhere else to go When you flirt with shadows Darkness snakes under your skin The only way back home Is let the light of truth back in I know you see it in my e...

People stare and then they walk away But there's always a few who'll stay From the state I watch 'em close their eyes Like a little kid trying to hide Like they're somewhere ain't supposed to be Watching something they ain't supposed to see Giving in to...

Honey sit down I've got something to say Last night I drowned I got carried away Swept up in the feelings the words poured out of me This morning I'm so scared I don't know how to be My heart moves With the morning sun It's not ready to set for anyone...

The children are crying, they never got their supper Where would you run to, in the darkness of the night? Even shadows fear to wander They gather round me in the candlelight Your crucifix lies broken, bloody, sharp and shattered I smashed it to pieces o...

Look at me, on the high wire As I attempt to balance safety with desire Step right up, get your tickets here What you see should have you trembling with fear Without a net, here I go Ladies and gentlemen I promise you a show As I’m crashing through the...

Good morning, my darling, I'm telling you this to let you know that I'm sorry you're sick Tears of sorrow won't do you no good, I'd be your doctor if only I could. What do want from the liquor store? Something sour or something sweet? I'll buy all that...

Mama said she don't give a damn what those people say cane smoke can't be good for you day after day every year at harvest time when the black smoke filled the sky she'd pick me up and take me home and make me stay inside From Thibodaux to Raceland there'...

I don't trust my eyes any more They don't know what they're looking for Thinking back on what they didn't see I think my eyes were blinding me Some people never really love They don't mean the sweet words they say Other people can't see the truth I did...

We stood in a long line waiting for the doors to be unlocked Out in the cold wind, ‘round the razor wire fenced in cellblock Young mama’s with babies, sisters and other kinds of kin At Tallulah State Prison on Thanksgiving Day, we’re waiting to get in You...

A baby A FOUNDLING Unwanted LOOKING Unloved and unblessed FOR Left on a doorstep HOME An unbidden guest WANDERS A shivering shadow THROUGH A child with no name DARKNESS Severed AND Surrendered TRAVELS Sinking in pain ALONE Conceived in the...

My mama had held me one time then kissed me goodbye Bu I still believe in love She never came back and I don't know why But I still believe in love She passed me her crown on her way out of town But I still believe in love She left me this kingdom to wea...

We lie here and we lie here awaiting the return of the passion that has left us with the patience we've learned sinking in the ashes of the red night's final swing the sun fades the color of everything we lie here and we lie here without much to say...

You tell me you're sorry THE COLD And it lands like a blow WINDS BLOWING You leave me stranded 'CROSS SKY With nowhere to go DULL AND GREY Your eyes are beaten I'M GONNA WALK Weathered and sore IN THE WATER And I know you TILL MY HAT Don't love m...

In the darkness it finds me the terrible fire it don't matter how much I pray the flames leap and burn me there's nothing I can do to make the fear go away I try to keep moving try not to look back push really hard on the stone but I walk through the fire alon...

The parade of souls is marching across the sky Their heat and their light bathed in blue as they march by The All Stars play "When the Saints Go Marching In" A second line forms and they wave white hankies in the wind Satchmo takes a solo, and he flashes...

She didn't get mad She didn't even cry She lit a cigarette Then she said goodbye I must have missed a sign I missed a turn somewhere When I looked in her eyes There was a stranger there. It's the way she's made It's a natural fact Once she's really...

Well, I stared out of the windshield into the rain so light And I turned on my dims, and somebody flashed me their brights And I reached over and turned the radio way down low Your sister cried all the way home Lightening crashed, and the road shone like a...