Fool’s Gold on Main Street - Simon Joyner

Fool's gold on Main St from stop signs to dangling telephones
Children delivering newspapers all the grotesque and the hum-drum
I used not to worry but now it's all I do
I used to be in a hurry but now I'm dragging both my boots
Wondering how to get from Main to Meadow
From fisherman to fish to butcher the struggle is never ending
You can put your life down on paper but it's not the same as swimming
I dropped a hint and you were kind enough to retrieve it
You asked me where the trouble was and you were sweet enough to believe it
But it was such a sad lie I had to whisper
What happened to Blake and Eric Douglas Phil and Amanda
What happened to Jennifer the Great who loved me before anyone
They're flying into the ground or walking high around my city
While my head is just some town you wouldn't want to visit
It's crowded and the people all look ghostly
Fool's gold on Main St shuffling through orphan trash
The birds search for the sun at their feet in every crumb of shattered glass
I slipped on holy blinders as if I could turn my body in
If I'm guilty when I despair will hope make me innocent again
Or will it only get me through this winter
There are neon invitations where shameless billboards babble
You belong to nothing at all now since your pockets have unraveled
Your soul is just a drop of the dream we collected with pans in the stream
The streets of heaven are lined with it and the streets of heaven are clean
But everything you'll ever touch is dirty