Got a bottle of California champagne
Hefting its heaviness in the pouring rain
I had a vision or maybe just a memory
Or a dream of something that you said to me
You said I’d succeed if I stuck to my guns
You said that I’d find — and be — someone
Not a dollar in my pocket and plastic wearing thin
Nowhere to go and forgetting where I’d been
Answers are easier in the light of hindsight
Not so tangible in the center of the night.
You said I’d see it for what it is someday
You said I’d be glad at what I had to pay
Lonely, alone — sometimes it’s hard to tell
At the time, it seemed like a kind of Hell
Not even looking for what I knew I could find
Poking and prodding at the seams of my mind
You said that no one else was quite so driven
You said I should take the chance I was given
Trudged in the dark like I didn’t have a choice
Sulking silently ‘cause I couldn’t find my voice
Walking the low road with a failure to thrive
Never knew how glad I would be to just be alive
You said soon we’d be finished with the hard part
You said I didn’t always have to be so smart
Prophetic moaning in the fog before dawn
Knowing that no conclusion is already foregone
Knowing I couldn’t forget what I already knew
That I’d wasted too much time looking for you
You said there’s still plenty left to climb
You said I should look around; there’s still time
You said that life sometimes happens too fast
You said you were happy to find me at last
Somehow in my mind, my high school days and my North Little Rock days got all mixed up.
The title refers to the date/time: 2013, 12th month, 11th day, 10:09 p.m.