Nathan la Franeer

I hired a coach to take me from confusion to the plane
And though we shared a common space I know I'll never meet again
The driver with his eyebrows furrowed in the rear-view mirror
I read his name and it was plainly written Nathan La Franeer
I asked him, would he hurry, but we crawled the canyons slowly
Through the buyers and the sellers
Through the burglar bells and the wishing wells
With gangs and girly shows the ghostly garden grows

The cars and buses bustled through the bedlam of the day
I looked through window-glass at streets
And Nathan grumbled at the grey
I saw an aging cripple selling Superman balloons
The city grated through chrome-plate
The clock struck slowly half-past-noon
Through the tunnel tiled and turning
Into daylight once again I am escaping
Once again goodbye to symphonies and dirty trees
With parks and plastic clothes the ghostly garden grows

He asked me for a dollar more, he cursed me to my face
He hated everyone who paid to ride and share his common space
I picked my bags up from the curb and stumbled to the door
Another man reached out his hand
Another hand reached out for more
And I filled it full of silver and I left the fingers counting
And the sky goes on forever without meter maids and peace parades
You feed it all your woes, the ghostly garden grows
You feed it all your woes, the ghostly garden grows