Last Gull Over the Bay

Down on the water at sunset
Light three-quarters gone
Cops just checked my ID
Told me to move on
The wind cuts through my pea coat
I do like they say
But I look back over my shoulder
At one last gull over the bay
     Wheel and stoop and glide and rise up
     White against the gray
     The last gull over the bay

Up in the trash there's a tenor
Blowing twelve-bar blues
His face is lost in twilight
He's wearing prison shoes
The waves lap out a backbeat
Three arpeggios is all he can play
He hangs his high wild screeches
Like a last gull over the bay

There's oil and old tires in the water
Black grit in my eyes
The thugs with guns that rule us
Charge a heavy price
There's no one I can call on
Nowhere I can stay
I turn and loop and turn and ponder
Like a last gull over the bay

Heavy and slow and wingless
Sits this load of clay
If you can read the charges
You can make me pay
But I won't leave nothing behind me
Come that one fine day
If you look to find me
I'll be the last gull over the bay

           I'll wheel and stoop and glide and rise up
           White against the gray
           The last gull over the bay