The Boxer Lyrics - Traveler - Jerry Douglas

I am just a poor boy 

Though my story's seldom told 

I have squandered my resistance 

For a pocketful of mumbles 

Such are promises 

All lies and jests 

Still a man hears what he wants to hear 

And disregards the rest 

When I left my home and my family 

I was no more than a boy 

In the company of strangers 

In the quiet of the railway station 

Running scared 

Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters 

Where the ragged people go 

Looking for the places only they would know 

Lie la lie... 

Asking only workman's wages 

I come looking for a job 

But I get no offers 

Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue 

I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome 

I took some comfort there 

Lie la lie... 

Then I'm laying out my winter clothes 

And wishing I was gone 

Going home 

Where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me, 

Leading me, going home. 

In the clearing stands a boxer 

And a fighter by his trade 

And he carries the reminders 

Of every glove that laid him down 

Or cut him till he cried out 

In his anger and his shame 

"I am leaving, I am leaving" 

But the fighter still remains 

Lie la lie