This is my favorite of my original songs.
Lyrics:
He saw it written in an old comic strip left in the shack where the hermit went
It said "Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent"
He said "I'll write that big and hang it on my wall
And you can use it for my epitaph if I should ever fall"
He said "I left my old life when I came here, but that don't mean it's left behind
All the moments of your past, they still haunt the pathways of your mind
My Sally’s been passed on now some fifteen years or more
Still I 'spect at any time to see her waltz right through that door
So add up all you've had, and all you've loved and lost
Do the sum, then tell me, weren't it worth the cost?
No matter how far out you go or how few folk you see
You’re still a member of a community"
He took that message to every farm and cabin all up and down the Northern wood
He said "You call this a mountainside, I call it my neighborhood
This year we've got some empty places at the table
All the reason more to gather up all those still able
And bring them to this glade for a jubilee
Let the music, laughter, and the wine flow free
Come on, my friends and neighbors, from both far and near
I may not know you, but I'm still glad you're here"
"I've savored every moment that I've drained from life's big cup
Even when it's spilling over, I kept shouting 'Fill 'er up!'
The barkeep'll cut you off long before you've had too much"
When I went round to gather him up for the party, he'd already left the place
Sitting in a chair, face to the window, empty eyes staring into space
I planted him out back beyond the willer tree
And hung up his epitaph for everyone to see
Then prop the cabin door open with a stone
Wish the spirits well and walk away alone
Nail a marker to the signpost where the road takes a bend:
"This way leads to the house of a friend"
