Fail Hard To Regain

Well, once I knew a railway girl
Her age was 17
I gave her all I had to give
But the baggage of my dreams

Stole me from the games we played
Scorned me for my mask
And if she's gone she lingers on
I beg you please don't ask

'Twas on a dark March evening
Southbound I did ride
My head was out the window
When I found her at my side

Asked where I was goin' to
I told but where I came
For the jails in which I've done my time
I fail hard to regain

Dark girl, dark girl it kills me so
To watch you so afraid
You know that you've been real to those
Whom realness should be paid

Her eyes gone wide, "Alive!" she cried
"Does pleasure ever last?"
We live to see but patiently
I beg you please don't ask

She took me in despite my sins
Fed me tea and such
And as she fell just like a child
I crumbled 'neath her touch

I held my breath and feared to weep
For the fragments of my brain
See, each day's but a moment that
I fail hard to regain

But as it goes the fiddler throws
Our values to the street
Whole world's pain stains his gaze
Impatience in his feet

And captives of this paltry trade
We curse our mortal task
Forgive us though, we all must go
And where to please don't ask

And now I am a misspent man
Who knows not where he's been
And oh-so-sapped with sufferin'
The worst is yet unseen

Renounce myself for further wealth
I take each breath in vain
Still haunted by that railway girl
I fail hard to regain