Them, they want to take patronage over you.
Become a river, you, I am your jade cowboy.
They will not catch you as long as you’re a river
and in the flood-plain of your waters centuries will find peace.
There, you are the river, and I am the jade cowboy.
I will bring a horse down to you to drink
by the river valley, burst your banks,
touch my hand instead of a stream of words.
Them, they want to take patronage over you.
But you're the river, and I am the jade cowboy.
At your feet there’s sand, a broad between the rifts,
And meander bends of your tears weave kisses,
Fish sleep amid your hair, and the fingers of the dead
lead far out, where no one ever swam before,
where an inquiring gaze of a star won’t reach,
and there is where you and me can hide away from them.
It is only there that we can hide from them, you and me,
because you are the river, and I am the jade cowboy.
A jade cowboy, it is impossible to understand,
Until one becomes a river. But you have to become her.
Them, they want to take patronage over you,
You know, sweet-heart, I'm not quite myself sometimes.
Them, they want to take patronage over you.
But you're the river, and I’m the jade cowboy.
What happened to you on the way from school, dear boy?
And how did you turn out to be a soldier, boy?
And how did you end up despising every toy?
What happened to you on your way back home, dear boy?
Them, they want to take patronage over you.
Them, they want to take patronage over you.
Them, they want to take patronage over you.
Them, they want to take patronage over you.