In The City

Chalk one up for the street
Mark one down for the city
One more grown baby boy is sleepin' on the sidewalk tonight
Wide round eyes, wide round lights
Can be full but without substance
In an instant you can hear an angel
Spread its wings and fly away

You're in the city
Where you lay down your dreams
You can feel it, through the sidewalk
A heartbeat beneath your feet
Where they'll let you smell the water
Then tell you "you can't drink
You're in the city now"

There's a cry, there's a roar
There's a howl that never ends
There's a silence that runs wide as it runs deep
And unspoken, broken people
Lying in the doorways
The light within them sputters and flickers
Like it almost had never been

You're in the city
Where you lay down your dreams
You can feel it, through the sidewalk
A heartbeat beneath your feet
Where they'll let you smell the water
Then tell you "you can't drink
You're in the city now"

There's a light and it is you
There's a light and it is me
There's a hope that's round and hollow
As a paper moon on a string
We can be perfect, we can be stronger
Saints are sinners who just tried longer
I am certainly no saint
But I surely heard the call

You're in the city
Where you lay down your dreams
You can feel it, through the sidewalk
A heartbeat beneath your feet
Where they'll let you smell the water
Then tell you "you can't drink
You're in the city now"