There's a storm rolling in from out of the east
The riverbank ain't no place to be
But I'm sitting right here so let it rain
Cause this river is all that remains
Of the love I'll never know again
I know one day it's gonna call your name

I'm listening to the poem of the river
Watching the ghosts on the shore
(retreads, dead baby carriages
Souvenirs of teenage marriages)
Wash into the past forever more

The river washes to the sea
And takes a lovesick memory
Of the first time you stared into the icy black
And those afternoons you kept comin' back
Sometimes I'd hear the river laugh
And then it tore my life in half

I'm listening to the poem of the river
Watching the ghosts on the shore
(a picture frame with broken glass
I wonder who's baby was in it last)
Wash into the past forever more

And the river sings such a sad song
About a guy on the top of the world
But it's all long gone
And the river tells such a funny rhyme
About a fool who returns to this spot
Time after time
Wasting away waiting for a sign

I followed her trail, it led me here
At the river her tracks just disappeared
I realise I may never know
Where she went or why she'd go
Now I'm waiting and waiting and going down slow
And the rain has soaked me to the bone

I'm listening to the poem of the river
Watching the ghosts on the shore
Empty beer cans pots and knives
There's nothing stainless in our little lives
The past is waiting just outside my door

I'm listening to the poem of the river
watching the ghosts on the shore
I'm listening to the poem of the river
watching the ghosts on the shore