Has Anyone Seen Johnny

Has Anyone Seen Johnny

Has anyone seen Johnny tonight?

He left before the streetlights came on.

Said nothing, just slipped through the rain,

Like a thought that didn’t want to be known.

He used to sing when the nights were long.

Old songs that made no one sad but him.

Now the corners of his voice are gone,

And the silence wears his grin.

The shop girl said he came by late.

Bought cigarettes and stood outside.

Staring down the road a while,

Like he was waiting for his ghost to ride.

His mother’s kept the curtains drawn.

His coat still hangs behind the door.

She swears she hears him climbing stairs,

But the steps don’t sound the same no more.

The river’s high this time of year.

And some say that’s where he’d go.

He always liked the quiet places,

Where no one asked what hurt him so.

I think he’s walking still somewhere,

Between the rain and breaking dawn.

A man who tried to find his peace,

Before the world could drag him on.

Though why on earth he got depressed,

No one seems to really know.

They say his girl just went away,

Johnny’s inward tears wouldn’t stop, you know.