With a Sort of Grace I Walked to the Bathroom to Cry

My friend Theresa, she's been in a lot of pain

Was there recently, had took up all the space in my brain

She lives there, by a cornfield

So was it the spray or was it the medication she took to get herself through her day

We got into her car and we drove around

The Ohio roads that were flooded with rain on the ground

We got into a car and we drove around

“Teaser and the Firecat” and “Tea For the Tillerman” were in the background

When I was a kid, I kept toads and garter snakes

In the window well and they drowned when it rained

Before the snow came down in the winter

I dug a hole for my box turtle

He'd hibernate until Spring I'd come and get him

And I took her picture near a red fire hydrant near an old barn

And then we ate at Eadie's Fish House in North Canton

And that night we watched Jimmy Buffet on Jimmy Fallon

And I went to sleep on her couch while she walked off to her bedroom

And I kissed her goodnight

And I looked at her tired eyes

With a sort of grace I walked to the toilet to cry

Because I remember when we were just young

Just young, young little kids

Before the heaviness of life took over every fucking thing

Because I remember when we were just young

Young, young little kids

Playing the Ouija board on a yellow card table in her mother's basement

And when I'm walking down the Ohio roads

I remember all the turtles and snakes and the frogs and the toads

And all the ponds and lakes, the records and 8-track tapes

I loved Emerson Lake and Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery but Eric Clapton's Slowhand gave me a fucking headache

And as I walk around the block that you live on

I see poetry in every inch of it

I see lightning bugs flicker at dusk

In the overgrown weeds at house being foreclosed on

And I walk over to the church at the intersection

Fluorescent blue painted handicapped parking spaces

And at the side of the road I see a dead groundhog laying on his back

And I walk over to him and there's another groundhog nearby in the weeds

Breathing fast like he's having a panic attack

My friend Theresa she's been in so much pain

When I visit her, I do my best not to bitch or complain

So I goof around and I like to tell her dumb jokes

But underneath it all I've got a gnawing fear deep in my bones

Because someone I love is so sick and so tired and weak

I want to make her laugh because everything's been so goddamn fucking bleak

But I'm here to give her my love when and while I can

Because I gotta go back to work like any other working man

And I went out tonight and I got her Kraus' pizza

Anything I could do for my beloved friend Theresa

And I got her a brand new bed cause her back's so fucking bad

I went to a department store and picked it out with my dad

I love you, love you, love you, love you Theresa

And I'm really sorry that I gotta leave you

I always knew you wanted to play and sing

I always knew you'd leave Ohio and cross a bunch of oceans and seas

But there is no sound I love more or that is more healing

Then when I close my eyes and you sing personally to my kids and me

And as I walk around the block you live on

It smells so much like our childhood

It smells so much like our old neighborhood

I remember when I first heard Led Zeppelin's "Tea For One"

Laying by my bedroom window on Valium soaking up the warm afternoon sun rays

And in those minutes, hours, I was totally content

And I'll take that memory to my grave as one of my happiest moments

And I remember you swimming at Turkeyfoot

Me and my dad were up in his fishing boat

Tossing our lines out onto the lake

With the minnow bucket hanging by a stringer off the edge of the boat

And I remember watching the bobbers and waiting for a bass to take the bait

And I remember your big happy smile

While you were wading out there in the water

And that smile still graces your face

And the faces of your beautiful young daughters