Quarter Carousel

I was a toddler on a horse outside a small town grocery store
Begging for another quarter from my mother
She picked me up and said
"Now, now today we get one time around"
And that's how disappointment was discovered
Come seventeen, I was as green as that girl’s copper mezzanine
Where I used to hide away from her father
And we plied those precious ores, listening for footsteps near the door
Two glowing embers trying not to catch fire

How do I stand still on this quarter carousel?
I am on my way

Turn, turn, turn
Time will take the wisdom out of me
Turn, turn, turn
The starry fields will heal a cabin fever

And the troubles started hard as disappointment traced its arc
As the clockwork stars turned through the darkness
She said she had to go, under her mama's portico
And she left me with the ghost of a sunset
In the back of a whiskey bar I found the world's saddest guitar
I changed a couple strings and started playing
I had to sing a thousand songs before a stranger came along
Forever closed my old handbook of lamentation