Greg Brown: All the little places

Mary Beth is that fancy womanstanding over therethe expression on her faceis just like her underwearcarefully chosen, easy to see through2 a.m. when the game is uptempting to undo (?)but dawn breaks on her sad smileand I'll see you aroundall the little places around the townGabriel was paintera good one in his youthbetween poverty and a hustlehe chose a substituteTenure and a greenhouseand little trips to Mexicoan affair with a deep-eyed girlevery couple years or soWhen he looks inside at what he hasn't donehe comes tumbling downto all the little places around the townThe university poetsbuzz around in their little japanese carsthey hit the parties for the out-of-townersyou don't see them much at the barsAll their thin and stiff little booksnot too much to sayyaking at eachother in the APR (?)while the years slip awaythe horseman passes by the classroom sceneand a cold wind blows aroundall the little places around the townJulie and me we see eye to eyewhen we stand toe to toeand I surely will not soon forgetthat day in her studioThe colors all got brighterthan the corona of the sunit's action painted while we moved it (?)and still life when we was doneI'm always hoping I will run into herwhen I'm out catting aroundat all the little places around the townThe faculty wives they get gray and tatteredlike the books upon their shelvesthey're sitting around by their big bay windowsreading fiction about themselvesDreading the hour when they hearthat well-heeled step once moreand see those sad eyes through the glasseshe bought at the professor eyeglass storeCouldn't she have shopped around a little longerwhile she was out checking it outat all the little places around the town?Charley had a habit of goingtoo many rounds with the wallhe's drinking to celebrate the springhe's drinking to mourn the fallHe made it out to Coloradowhen he got tired of the flatI ain't too worried about that boyhe don't wear no cowboy hatI sure miss him on these winter nightswhen the blue snow settles downon all the little places around the townWhen you were here I never wentto any of these little jointswe spent all of our time outsidewhat else is the pointWhat else but the railroad tracksgleaming in the winter sunwhat else but the spring graveyardshowing the ghosts how it's doneBut you left like everyone doesand I found myself going downto all the little places around the townWell the lights go red, the lights go greentraffic moves on throughthe lights go up, the lights go downyou get a flash of who's whoWho is true and who is one (?)and who ain't really surewho has seen too many timeswhat they've already seen beforeWho is free to come and goand who will forever be boundto all the little placesall these little placesall the little places around the town