New Year's Day lyrics

We are sitting at a table in a bar in Baltimore

It's the last night of December

And the room is nearly full

And the front door pulls a draft in

every time it opens wide

And you are telling me a story

From another time and life

And the waitress brings our order

And we're tucked in mighty close

And I feel like we belong among

The living and these ghosts

And I know that I am dreaming

As I memorize each part

In the telling lies a reverie

In the details lie the heart

Like the folds of summer dresses

Like the scent upon my wrist

Like the way you played guitar

Like a boxer punches with his fist

And taken or just lost to me

It's better now to say

I dwell in possibility

On New Year's Day

There's a jukebox or a bandstand

And we're on another round

And the night's just getting started

Or the night's just winding down

And your stories are not clouded yet

by the ale or by the gin

They just make me feel as if I've known you

All my life again

Like the folds of summer dresses

Like the scent upon my wrist

Like the way you played guitar

Like a boxer punches with his fist

And taken or just lost to me

It's better now to say

I dwell in possibility

On New Year's Day

And this is what it looked like

When we started walking home

The night sky bleached to silver

Against the city's bones

In dreams or in our waking

It's just enough to say:

"Love and grace and endless flowers

Be ours on New Year's Day."

And the folds of summer dresses

And the bangles on my wrist

And the way you played guitar

Like a boxer punches with his fist

And taken or just lost to us

It's better now to say:

"We dwell in possibility

On New Year's Day."

• Artist:Mary Chapin Carpenter
• Album:Ashes and Roses