A Night This Side Of Dying

I remember one young sister with rainbows in her eyes Standing on the corner with the afternoon's supply She spoke of other places, perhaps a better road Then she asked if I could tell her where they Kept the mother lode Like a night this side of dying Her day's inside the dropper on the shelf When she hears her lifeline crying Not a thing you say can stop her When she just can't stop herself I remember that July, the panic and the heat The savage shine of summer, the strychnine in the street The way they sold each other for a favor in glassine The best of friends sold brothers for a Dime of quinine dreams Like a night this side of dying Her day's inside the dropper on the shelf Like the shelter she's been buying Not a thing I've got can save her When she just can't save herself She just can't save herself