There's a hard moon rising in the streets tonight.
There's a reckless feeling in your heart as you head out tonight.
From the concrete canyons to the mid -town lights


Where the latest neon promises are burning bright.

Past the open windows on the darkened streets
unseen angry voices flash and children cry.

Past the phoney posers with their worn- out lines,
tired new money dressed to the nines,
Whole life dealers with their bad designs.

and the dilatents with their open minds,
Out on the town. Safe in the crowd
where do you go for the ride?
Searching the eyes,
looking for clues, there's now where you can hide.

Well you've been to the clubs
and discotecs where they deal one another
from the bottom of the deck of promises.
where the cautuous loners and emotional wrecks
do a acting stretch as a way to hide their ideas.
And the lights go down and they dance real close
for one brave instant they pretend they're safe and warm.

Then the beat gets louder and the mood is gone,
the darkness scatters as the lights flash on.
They hold one another just a little too long
Then they move apart
and then move on
on to the street,
on the next,
safe in the knowledge that they tried,
Faking a smile,
hiding the pain,
never satisfied.

Now the hour is late,
and he thinks you're asleep
You listen to him dress
and you listen to him leave,
as you knew he would.

You hear his car pull away in the street.
Then you move to the door and you lock it
when he's gone for good.
Then you walk to the window
and you stare at the moon,
riding high and lonesome
through a star-lit sky.

Then it comes to you
how it all slips away
youth and beauty are gone one day.
No matter what you dream or feel or say,
it ends in dust and disaray.

Like wind on the plains,
sand in the glass
waves rolling in with the tide,
dreams die hard,
and we watch them erode,
but we cannot be denied,
the fire inside.

Bob Seeger. It is a sad but true allegory repeated generation after generation.