New Year’s Day lyrics
by Mary Chapin Carpenter
[Verse 1]
We are sitting at a table in a bar in Baltimore
It's the last night of December and the room is nearly full
And the front door pulls a draft in every time it opens wide
And you are telling me a story from another time and life
[Verse 2]
And the waitress brings our order and we're tucked in mighty close
And I feel like we belong among the living and these ghosts
And I know that I am dreaming as I memorize each part
In the telling lies a reverie, in the details lie the heart
[Chorus]
Like the folds of summer dresses
Like the scent upon my wrist
Like the way you played guitar
Like a boxer punches with his fist
And taken or just lost to me
It's better now to say
I dwell in possibility
On New Year's Day
[Verse 3]
There's a jukebox or a bandstand and we're on another round
And the night's just getting started or the night's just winding down
And your stories are not clouded yet by the ale or by the gin
They just make me feel as if I've known you all my life again
[Chorus]
Like the folds of summer dresses
Like the scent upon my wrist
Like the way you played guitar
Like a boxer punches with his fist
And taken or just lost to me
It's better now to say
I dwell in possibility
On New Year's Day
[Verse 4]
And this is what it looked like when we started walking home
The night sky bleached to silver against the city's bones
In dreams or in our waking, it's just enough to say
Love and grace and endless flowers be ours on New Year's Day
[Chorus]
And the folds of summer dresses
And the bangles on my wrist
And the way you played guitar
Like a boxer punches with his fist
And taken or just lost to us
It's better now to say
We dwell in possibility
On New Year's Day