From the recording The Ruins of Our Age
An update of the song originally published in Not Every Member of a Chain Gang Sings the Blues
Lyrics
Before the Light of Morning (2020)
Michael R. J. Roth
It’s almost dawn, and the engine’s getting warm
Down at the loading dock
The men don’t laugh and they don’t talk
One more load, and then I’ll be on the road
Like a tumbleweed that’s at the mercy
Of the wind
You’ve got me on the run, and I feel a little stunned
I hear you whisper in the night
“We never even had a fight”
Another man would have tried to force your hand
But I don’t like to gamble with
The things I love
Chorus: But who the devil lights your fire?
I’d like to know, but God I’m tired
of losing everything
before the light of morning.
Truck stop, pull up, oh, please fill my cup
With electric light to blind my eyes
And idle time to idolize
One’s sweet, one’s glazed, one is filled and slightly dazed
My cup is full, but a waitress stirs
My appetite
(Chorus)
The moon I see looks so cool and so free
And I swear the world must be in love
But love’s a word don’t rhyme with me
And though you know I’d like to love you tonight,
The sun is rising on the road
Ahead of me
(Chorus)