When They Come Looking for Me
When They Come Looking for Me
(Scene: A Graveyard: In the foreground, a hooded figure sits against a headstone. Mournful string music plays. He begins to sing softly)
I’ve never been famous—
but some in foreign lands know my name
And I wasn’t a jet setter—
but I have friends across the ocean just the same
I’ve spoken before crowds, and I’ve spoken before few;
And I’ve heard people say, “Oh, it’s good to see you!”
But things fell apart, and my world went so dark—
And now sometimes I don’t know what to do.
I wander through corridors deep in my mind
Clinging to faith but it’s so hard to find
When people don’t care, and sometimes I think God doesn’t care either—
Off somewhere in the ether
So I put on my mask and I go face the world
Though I feel like a hypocrite just mouthing words
But I know in my heart I’m doing the best that I can—
For a broken man
(Music swells)
And maybe someday they’ll come looking for me,
Yet that is a day I know I’ll never see
But I’ll bet you I know
Just how it will go—
On that day they will be searching to find
The man that they all left so far behind
A day that will live in infamy—
Because I won’t be here—
By the time they come looking for me
Endless black hallways that split into more—
All of them lined with great oaken doors
The choices seem many, but the doors are all shut
The locks all encrusted in cobwebs and rust
But I try every door and hope one will give way—
‘Cause I’m tired of this prison, I need freedom today
But there are chains on my heart, bars in my mind
And I wonder if there’s anything out there to find…
Constantly rolling the boulder uphill
Existing on prayer and the force of my will
Ducking and dodging the arrows and slings
While the dragon of madness sits and gnaws at its chains
Angry heat melts the feathers from my wings of wax
And my nerves go up in smoke like a thread made of flax
But should the chain break or the stone roll back down
I'll still fight every moment that I'm still around
(Music swells)
And maybe someday they’ll come looking for me,
Yet that is a day I know I’ll never see
But I’ll bet you I know
Just how it will go—
On that day they will be searching to find
The man that they all left so far behind
A day that will live in infamy—
Because I won’t be here—I won’t be here—
I won’t be here—
(Music stops)
(The singer slides over to reveal his name on the tombstone he's leaning against)
(Music)
By the time they come looking for me...
10/29/2022
Pendragon
