Just get me there and one we will stay
The salt air and the sawmills
The house was bare of Christmas lights
It's long ago and far away
That I'd find a love and bring him home
While my heart is beating and my lilacs bloom
And the bars are full of songs and tears
Down narrow roads in autumn light
Now we're skimming stones and exchanging rings
It's long ago and far away
And I'm sitting in my back pew crying
And thoughts turn back to life
It came down hard that year
I just get home and then I leave again
A long time off and far away
And people with their big ideas
But who knew when I started
To the passing of the tugboats
Last year we were laughing
They're scattering and sailing from departure bay
Now we're skimming stones and exchanging rings
I won't miss all the glamor
They're scattering and sailing from departure bay
Now we're skimming stones and exchanging rings
We took the long way to get back like driving over the Malahat
I just get home and then I leave again
Trying to make things right, like my mother did
Now her perfume's on the bathroom counter
Going to the dairy queen at dusk
We sang in church so beautifully
Now a seaplane drones and time has flown
A song plays on the gramophone
Outside in our overcoats, drinking down to the bitter end
