Northeast Passage

(CHO)
Ah, for one more time I would make a northeast passage
And leave the land of Franklin for the cradle of liberty
Taking Amtrak's line, with guitar and little baggage,
To M A double-S F I L C.

North and east along the coast, 'tis there that I belong,
The region of so many happy evenings spent in song,
In tales of gold and glory, of love and foreign suns,
And a long-forgotten groaning chain of puns.

Three years ago I came to Philadelphia to stay
For work to feed my family, three hundred miles away.
And second to my longing for loved ones left behind,
The fellowship of distant friends was often on my mind.

There, as the hours rolled toward dawn, the room was ringing with
The verses of Kanefsky, of Nyrond, Fish, and Smith,
Of Lehrer and of Bogle, and Trad. and Anon. too,
And Rogers not the least among that crew.

How then am I so different from those harpers of renown,
Who'd spy a scrap of song in flight, and track the wild thing down?
For one of life's most precious gifts, to them as well as me,
Is making music in good company.