Joan Baez — Mercy Bound lyrics

(M. Addison)

Late last night I awoke in a dream
To the sound of a voice that was almost a scream
Oh oh oh
From out of the city and out of the street
Out where the wind hits the cold concrete
Oh oh oh
It's cold outside
Darkness your enemy
No place to hide
The voice said this to me
In your doorways I have shivered
In your alleys I have gone to ground
But I will be delivered
Someday I will be mercy bound

I dreamed again it was west L.A.
On a crowded street on a hot summer day
She was alone
Three months late and beginning to show
In a midriff blouse she would soon outgrow
She had no one to call
And no way home
And in my mind
I knew I'd seen myself
But in our blindness
It always seems like someone else
There I was a rag a bone
A remnant in your lost and found
I was for once truly alone
Longing to be mercy bound

And I knew that I would wander as child in the forest
Till they found me
And I called out to them but I could not penetrate the silence
All around me

And when I wake I know you'll comfort me
And I won't sleep again for an eternity
But others lie awake at night
In desperation more profound
And the coming of the morning light
Will not see them mercy bound

And some will never dream again
From sleeping on the ground
Just longing to belong
And dying to be mercy bound
Oh please don't stop your dreaming
Someday we'll all be mercy bound