Track 12 of the album Evening, Gently · 2023
Nothing Left to Do but Wander
“Forty years of the morning bell, and now the morning is mine. I chose it to close the record because it's the quietest kind of freedom.”
acoustic · retirement folk · hopeful acoustic · 3:31
Lyrics
Forty years of the morning bell Now the morning's mine No register, no timetable No queue for the photocopy line I made a cup and sat down slow And waited to feel strange But the clock on the wall just ticked along And I felt the weather change Nothing left to do but wander Down the lane and back Nothing left to do but ponder Why the hedgerows look so black With berries, with berries, I never saw them before Nothing left to do but wander And I'm happy to be sure Walked the long way past the school Heard the children at their play Waved at the gate, and kept on going It's someone else's day My shoes are soft, my pockets light There's bread to buy at ten I'll talk to the man who sells the paper And walk back home again Nothing left to do but wander Down the lane and back Nothing left to do but ponder Why the hedgerows look so black With berries, with berries, I never saw them before Nothing left to do but wander And I'm happy to be sure They said you'll miss it, you'll miss it And maybe now and then But I've a pocket full of Tuesdays And I'm spending them again And again The light comes slanting through the oaks Like chalk dust in the air I take my time, I take the stile I've all the time to spare And when I'm home I'll make some tea And sit and watch it rain And thank the years that taught me well To walk out once again Nothing left to do but wander Down the lane and back Nothing left to do but ponder Why the hedgerows look so black With berries, with berries, I never saw them before Nothing left to do but wander And I'm happy to be sure Nothing left to do but wander And I'm happy to be sure