Anthony Joseph - He Was Trying

He was trying to change his ways

He was trying to make amends

For all the promises he never kept

For all the wounds that would never be mended

For those rows of sorrows that had no ending

For the way some men steal love with lies

For always depending

On the backbone of a woman

To be strong enough to rise

Rise above what he had broken

To fix and forgive him, to give him a home within her arms

He had sent a message, and he had telephoned

But she had already left those rooms of darkness

cnd was on her way back home


But that Sunday when she walked out

That Sunday, when his heart burst into flames

He was trying, trying, he was trying

Trying to change his ways

He was trying, trying, he was trying

Trying to change his life


She said it's like we are on

Either side of a magical thorn bush

cnd she was trying

To cut through, to show me how brave she was

To show me her fortitude

To show me her faithfulness

cnd meanwhile I'm just sitting

On the other side calling out to me

Saying, wow, it's so hard

It's so hard to cut through

Maybe you don't have the strength

I'm pretty sure you're gonna give up

cnd she's thinking well, maybe you could try

To cut through a bit from your side

cnd maybe we could meet in the middle, somewhere

Maybe you could find a way to love

Maybe you could keep trying


But that Sunday when she walked out

That Sunday, when his heart burst into flames

He was trying, trying, he was trying

Trying to change his ways

He was trying, trying, he was trying

Trying to change his life


Sixteen years after they have separated

She will arrive in Enterprise Village

deep east of the island, on a Sunday afternoon, and walk between the men who had been drinking

She will call him out of that shack he had been building with bachelor galvanise and crate wood

cnd he will come down, into the yard, barebacked and grinning in the government sun

cnd from just the sound of his slipper slapping, she could tell that he had nothing left but his name

So he comes come down into the yard, and the sun hits him in his chest, he puts his hands on his hip and he ask

"How you find me here, where you come from?"

Same time the ravine dry, same time blue flies buzzing around the swine pens in the neighbour's yard

But after all these years, when he really sees his first love

That wild and vibrant love

He will assess her at arms length, he will search her face for the limits of her smile

Then embrace her, her beating heart to his, and they are together again

For a moment

Like old fire stick

But is divorce papers the woman bring to serve him

cnd is just so, right there in Enterprise Village

Right there on the gravel road, on that Sunday, in the new settlement, on land the government either forget, don't care about, or abandon to poor people children, that the whole dream turn upside down


But that Sunday when she walked out

That Sunday, when his heart burst into flames

He was trying, trying, he was trying

Trying to change his ways

He was trying, trying, he was trying

Trying to change his life


They are there on his veranda when the night settles in

cnd the cane fields rustle gently in the distance

One coffee becomes a reconstitution

Then they listen to the radio

In this village night, they will talk as old friends in the paraffin glow of his lamp

Two years later when she dies

It is he who reads her eulogy, before they put her in the ground

Written by:
ANDREW SINCLAIR JOHN, ANTHONY DEREK JOSEPH, JASON CHRISTOPHER YARDE

Publisher:
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave

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