Cars rolling in the ditch outside, along I-96 The warmth from our fireplace keeps getting dimmer But a flash of bright red streaks across the barren white There’s a cardinal in winter A cardinal in winter We’re wrapped up in our blankets, huddled on the couch Even in the cold, your arms feel tender Looking out the window, through drifting swirls of snow There’s a cardinal in winter We see a cardinal in winter It seems like all the world Is barren, white, and still And the hope of sunshine’s warmth Is just a glimmer But landing on the frozen branches Beneath the window sill There’s a cardinal in winter Cardinal in winter Cold creeps in through the window panes, the fire’s down to embers Your soul feels like it’s frosting at the center When it seems the sun will never come, try hard to remember There’s a cardinal in winter There’s always a cardinal in winter In these days of whipping winds, I try to do the best I can I try to be more saint than rambling sinner I still need reminders that spring is coming on You’re a cardinal in winter You know that you're my cardinal in winter It seems like all the world Is barren, white, and still And the hope of sunshine’s warmth Is just a glimmer But landing on the frozen branches Beneath the window sill There’s a cardinal in winter There's always a cardinal in winter

It goes on forever So many shades of blue It can hold you close The way a lover might do Or give you space to run Through the clouds of gray Then call you back home When you’ve been too long away The Midwestern sky So deep and wide You can lose yourself You can forget your pride She said it was time For her to say goodbye But what does she know ‘Bout the Midwestern sky That sky seems to know Everywhere you’ve been It keeps stretching out Doesn’t close you in Once I’ve picked myself up Once I’ve dried my eyes I’ll find someone who knows The Midwestern sky The Midwestern sky So deep and wide You can lose yourself You can forget your pride She said it was time For her to say goodbye But what does she know ‘Bout the Midwestern sky Tell me what does she know 'Bout the Midwestern Sky

Black coffee in the morning A little honey on wheat bread Your fingers brush against my hand My lips against your head Watching rain fall from the front porch After the sky clears up a walk A few minutes from our busy day To sit and talk That’s how I get by That’s how I get by Dreams can seem so far away Sometimes you wonder why The little things get us by Kids coming home from school Telling me about their day Sunday dinner with my parents Listening to my mother pray That’s how I get by That’s how I get by Dreams can seem so far away Sometimes you wonder why The little things get us by That’s how we get by That’s how we get by Find something to love each day It’ll get you by

My father and his father spent a summer Building a boat with their hands Moving along with the grain Yielding to the wood’s demands They soaked the plywood to bend it Around the hull’s oaken ribs Guiding the form of the pieces With time and tools and all they had to give It carried them over the waves That rolled on the face of Lake Michigan Carried them through wind and rain And brought them home again The only work I can build Are these songs that my fingers shape Bending ‘round the neck of my guitar Moving across its face My father’s father died forty years ago That boat rode the waves for its last time But I'm searching for a craft With chords of oak and plywood rhymes To carry you over the waves That roll on the face of Lake Michigan To carry you through wind and rain And bring you home again

This airport here in Reykjavik Looks just like any other Coffee on cold benches With faded leather covers Announcements on the loudspeaker Monitors above us Timetables of planes Leaving for Paris or for Brussels And here we are Everything reminds me Of some otherwhere I’ve been Three hours in this waiting room, Then on the plane again I’m sure this is a great town, But we’re only passing through Don’t let me be a stopover for you Part of who we are Is the sum of where we’ve been These places all combine in us Until they’ve blended in Some are brightly colored Others fade away Bleed into each other with A palette dull and gray But here we are Everything reminds me Of some otherwhere I’ve been Three hours in this waiting room, Then on the plane again I’m sure this is a great town, But we’re only passing through Don’t let me be a stopover for you We buy ourselves a drink At a duty-free waystation Kronars, dollars, euros, pounds, all legal tender We’re glad to have a place to sit But that’s all this means to us By tomorrow, there’s nothing we’ll remember But here we are Everything reminds me Of some otherwhere I’ve been Three hours in this waiting room, Then on the plane again I’m sure this is a great town, But we’re only passing through Don’t let me be a stopover for you