The Wishing

i should have married nancy
it's five years to the day she said:
you face and choose me
instead i turned and walked away
i did not understand
what happened to those plans could have happened to them all

the wishing's not enough to make a dream come true
i'm going somewhere don't know where but the wishing's not enough
wishing's not enough, wishing's not enough
and it never was

i could have been a sailor, the ocean set me free
wear my trousers inside out and golden earrings in both ears
i'd drift the wide pacific the harbours and the bars
making friends of sickness with the dockside whores and stevedores
a tattoo on my shirt, the kind that doesn't hurt: Johnny could have had it all

the wishing's not enough to make a dream come true
i'm going somewhere don't know where but the wishing's not enough
wishing's not enough, wishing's not enough
and it never was

now i'm a stranger to the razor
a stranger to myself
and when i look in the mirror i see someone sitting on a shelf