The Cover

Your jacket sports a photograph impossible to pass
Cuts like glass, that expression warm and kind
The other side's a face that's brought out famous crowds en masse
Stop to ask, how much of what I've bought is blind

Got time to fall through rabbit holes and fall in love somehow
Got nothing in the present, so I'll fall back on you now
Then gather me some sanity, as much as is allowed
I judged you by the cover and I'm thrilled with what I've found

Your sleeve's frayed at the edges in a faded red and green
A time machine, easy to romanticize
And underneath, those inked-up phrases on loneliness and greed
Bring out the need, to lay down and empathize

Now look at what I've done, look what I've done to your songs
I hung my head and sung as if you heard me sing along
And as those six strings rung, hope you're impressed no notes were wrong
I judged you by the cover, only wanting to belong

Your peers lived folklore lives designed for documentaries
Society's hooked on what's on the marquee
The TV brought you questions as you stumbled in your seat
Assuringly, feeling the same nerves as me

Born to be at different points in time's natural flow
Pointless to plot it, but don't let this ego know
The wine left over rotted half a century ago
I judged you by the cover, seems a lovely place to go

I've dug through all the rabbit holes; they're hollowed out for good
Every stop, get a little more charmed than I should
Does this align beyond this record player's busted wood