When the Deal Goes Down

In the still of the night in the world's ancient light

Where wisdom grows up in strife

My bewildering brain toils in vain

Through the darkness on the pathways of life

Each invisible prayer is like a cloud in the air

Tomorrow keeps turning around

We live and we die we know not why

But I'll be with you when the deal goes down

We eat and we drink we feel and we think

Far down the street we stray

I laugh and I cry and I'm haunted by

Things I never meant nor wished to say

The midnight rain follows the train

We all wear the same thorny crown

Soul to soul our shadows roll

And I'll be with you when the deal goes down

The moon gives light and shines by night

I scarcely feel the glow

We learn to live and then we forgive

O'er the road we're bound to go

More frailer than the flowers these precious hours

That keep us so tightly bound

You come to my eyes like a vision from the skies

And I'll be with you when the deal goes down

I picked up a rose and it poked through my clothes

I followed the winding stream

I heard the deafening noise I felt transient joys

I know they're not what they seem

In this earthly domain full of disappointment and pain

You'll never see me frown

I owe my heart to you and that's sayin' it true

And I'll be with you when the deal goes down