Tom: Em
( D G D G B D )
G 0 0 5 4 0 0
Gmaj7 0 0 4 4 0 0
G6 0 0 2 0 0 0
G open 0 0 0 0 0 0
D7 0 2 0 2 1 0
G 5 5 5 5 5 5
C 2 2 2 2 2 2
[Intro]
G Gmaj7 G6 G D7 G (x2) G
[Verse 1]
G Gmaj7 G6 G
Down by the river junior year walking with my girl
D7 G
and we came upon a place
G Gmaj7 G6 G
There in the tall grass, where a couple had been making love
C D7
and left the mark of their embrace
C Em
I said to her, "Looks like they had some fun"
A D7
She said to me "Let's do the same"
G Gmaj7 G6 G
And still I taste her kisses and her freckles in the sun
D7 G G Gmaj7 G6 G D7 G
when I play the poet game.
[Verse 2]
G Gmaj7 G6 G
A young man down in the hill country in the year of '22
D7 G
went to meet his future bride.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
She lived in a rough old shack that poverty blew through
C D7
And she invited him inside.
C Em
She'd been cooking, ashamed and feeling sad,
A D7
she could only offer him bread and her name.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
Grandpa said that was the best gift a fella ever had
D7 G G Gmaj7 G6 G D7 G
and he taught me the poet game.
[Verse 3]
G Gmaj7 G6 G
I had a friend who drank too much and played too much guitar
D7 G
Oh and we sure got along.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
Reel-to-reels rolled across the country near and far
C D7
with letters, poems, and songs
C Em
but these days he don't talk to me and he won't tell me why.
A D7
I miss him every time I say his name.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
I don't know what he's doing or why our friendship died
D7 G G Gmaj7 G6 G D7 G
while we play the poet game.
[Verse 4]
G Gmaj7 G6 G
The fall rain was pounding down on an old New Hampshire mill
D7 G
and the river wild and high.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
I was talking to her while leaves blew down like a sudden chill.
C D7
And there was wildness in her eyes.
C Em
We made love like we'd been waiting all our lives for this
A D7
Strangers know no shame.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
But she had to leave at dawn and with a sticky farewell kiss
D7 G G Gmaj7 G6 G D7 G
left me to play the poet game.
[Verse 5]
G Gmaj7 G6 G
I watched my country turn into a coast-to-coast strip mall
D7 G
and I cried out in a song.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
If we could do all that in 30 years, then please tell me whoa
C D7
Why does good change take so long?
C Em
Why does the color of your skin or who you choose to love
A D7
still lead to such anger and pain?
G Gmaj7 G6 G
And why do I think it's any help for me to still dream of
D7 G G Gmaj7 G6 G D7 G
playing the poet game?
[Verse 6]
G Gmaj7 G6 G
Sirens wail above the fields, another soul gone down
D7 G
another sun about to rise.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
I've lost track of my mistakes like birds that fly around
C D7
and darken half my skies.
C Em
To all of those I've hurt, Oh I pray you will forgive me.
A D7
I to you will freely do the same.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
So many things I didn't see, with my eyes turned inside,
D7 G G Gmaj7 G6 G D7 G
playing the poet game.
[Verse 7]
G Gmaj7 G6 G
I walk out at night to take a leak underneath the stars.
D7 G
Oh yeah that's the life for me.
G Gmaj7 G6 G
There's Orion and the Pleiades and I guess that must be Mars.
C D7
All as clear as we long to be.
C Em
I've sung what I was given, some was bad and some was good.
A D7
I never did know from where it came
G Gmaj7 G6 G
and if I had it all to do again, I am not sure I would
D7 G
play the poet game.
