[Verse 1]
Down by the river junior year
Walking with my girl
And we came upon a place
There in the tall grass where a couple
Had been making love
And left the mark of their embrace
I said to her, "Looks like they had some fun"
She said to me, "Let's do the same"
And still, I taste her kisses
And her freckles in the sun
When I play the poet game

[Verse 2]
A young man down in the hill country
In the year of '22
He went to meet his future bride
She lived in a rough old shack
That poverty blew through
And she invited him inside
She'd been cooking, ashamed and feeling sad
She could only offer him bread and her name
Grandpa said that was the best gift
A fella ever had
And he taught me the poet game
[Verse 3]
I had a friend who drank too much
And played too much guitar
Oh, and we sure got along
Reel-to-reels were rolled across
The country near and far
With letters poems and songs
But these days he won't talk to me
And he won't tell me why
I miss him every time I say his name
I don't know what he's doing
Or why our friendship died
While we played the poet game

[Instumental Break]

[Verse 4]
The fall rain was pounding down
On an old New Hampshire mill
And the river wild and high
I was talking to her while leaves blew down
Like a sudden chill
And there was wildness in her eyes
We made love like we'd been waiting
All of our lives for this
And strangers know no shame
But she had to leave at dawn
And with a sticky farewell kiss
Left me to play the poet game
[Verse 5]
I watched my country turn into
A coast-to-coast strip mall
And I cried out in song
If they could do all that in thirty years
Then please tell me you all
Why does good change take so long?
Why does the color of your skin
Or who you choose to love
Still lead to such anger and pain?
And why do I think it's any help
To still dream of
Playing the poet game?

[Verse 6]
Sirens wail above the fields
Another soul gone down
Another sun about to rise
I've lost track of my mistakes
Like birds that fly around
And darken half my skies
To all of those I've hurt
Well, I pray you will forgive me
I for you will freely do the same
So many things I didn't see
With my eyes turned inside
Playing the poet game
[Verse 7]
I walk out at night to take a leak
Underneath the stars
Oh yeah that's the life for me
There's Orion and the Pleiades
And I guess that must be Mars
All as clear as we long to be
I've sung what I was given
Some was bad and some was good
I never did know from where it came
And if I had it all to do again
I am not sure I would
Play the poet game