The Chinatown Bus

I caught the bus in Chinatown
And slept the whole way up I-95
The driver, cut and weaved so crazy, just his luck kept him alive
And I guess I believed his rhythm on that morning after New Year's Eve

And I remember Shanghai
How I wasn't sure just what was safe to eat
The chickens pecked and wandered at the barefoot ankles of
The children hawking figurines of workers smiling
What's the Chinese word for cheese?

Watched a sidewalk butcher
His instinctive understanding
Made the carcass snap and clarify
Beneath his nimble hands that held
The knife so long, so many times, the handles changed to
Shapes just like his fingers and his palms

And I, I am a broken glass
Shards upon the floor
Won't hold nothing anymore

And I, I am a passenger tonight
I watch the world
From his side

It's 2AM in Tokyo
And still too soon to call back to
The people who will soon begin the day I polished off and I will
Walk a mile amidst the neon lights that advertise but
I don't know just what they sell

I tell the taxi driver
To the park, a higher tone
And his gloves are pristine white just like the girls I used to know would wear
To dance their first cotillion
Every single one of them named Jennifer

I clutched at the same Christopher
I picked up at some country abbey
Long ago when I believed he'd keep me safe and make me happy
But it seems the luck he brings
Is not the common currency of penny in Japan

And I, I am a broken glass
Shards upon the floor
Won't hold nothing anymore

And I, I am a passenger tonight
I watch the world
From his side

And I, I am a broken glass
Shards upon the floor
Won't hold nothing anymore
Anymore