Memphis Memphis

Memphis Memphis
by Tom Flannery copyright 2008

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I miss you more and more each day
more than a poor man's words can say
as I haul other's trash away
seeing in me what they portray

When we called you came you knew what for
we're all men and there's the door
no longer can we ignore
the gaping holes blown in the floor

Memphis Memphis
you broke my heart
but you left me nowhere to go
so I stayed behind
we've grown apart
and I've got nothing to show
in Memphis

My children look to me
and say daddy you remember when
Dr King met his maker
can it happen again

Some nights you come to me in dreams
like water rolling down a stream
never running out of steam
with all that's never what it seems

And sometimes I try oh so hard
to stop my shaking and keep up my guard
against landscapes already charred
to the heap of what we disregard

Memphis Memphis
you broke my heart
but you left me nowhere to go
so I stayed behind
we've grown apart
and I've got nothing to show
in Memphis

was he really all they say he was
did you really shake his hand?
did he really pat us on the head
saying it's your turn to make a stand

The freedom business...well times are slow
marchers not sure where to go
people lashing out as though
what was certain now just ain't so

from Selma to Montgomery
Birmingham and Mississippi
I shudder at the things I see
and what others chose to let be

Memphis Memphis
you broke my heart
but you left me nowhere to go
so I stayed behind
we've grown apart
and I've got nothing to show
in Memphis