IF I'D ONLY COME AND GONE
(Shel Silverstein)

Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show - 1972
Tompall Glaser - 1972
Earl Scruggs - 1973


If I'd only come and gone
The way I'd always done
With summer girls before
Shared one night with you
And never reached for more
Then we wouldn't face this long
And painful righting of the wrong
If I'd only come and gone 

If I hadn't stayed so long
But merely parked my dusty boots
Outside your door
Tracked no footprints 'cross
Your polished hardwood floor
I'd have left you in your doorway
Smilin' drowsy at the dawn
If I'd only come and gone 

And I'd be on a shinin' silver plane
Dippin' into Denver
Or on a schooner blowin' down
To Biscayne Bay
And you'd be safely tucked away
Among the pleasure I'd remember
'Stead of lyin' here beside me
Fearin' restless thoughts inside me
That might awaken with the breakin'
Of each new day 

If you'd only stopped to read
Cold hard words I carved
On other bedroom walls
And heard the mornin' coffee truths
I told 'em all
I'd still be on your lips
Like some unfinished
Half-remembered song
You'd have never loved me
If I'd only come and gone 




(Contributed by Mel - July 2004)