Phil Ochs
Flower Lady
[Verse 1]
Millionaires and paupers walk the hungry streets
Rich and poor companions of the restless beat
Strangers in a foreign land
Strike a match with a trembling hand
And learn too much to ever understand

[Verse 2]
Lovers quarrel, snarl away their happiness
And kisses crumble in a web of loneliness
It's written by the poison pen
Voices break before they bend
The door is slammed, it's over once again
But nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady

[Verse 3]
Poets agonize, they cannot find the words
The stone stares at the sculptor, asks "Are you absurd?"
The painter paints his brushes back
Through the canvas runs a crack
Portrait of the pain never answers back

[Verse 4]
And soldiers disillusioned come home from the war
Sarcastic students tell them not to fight no more
And so they argue through the night
That black is black and white is white
And walk away both knowing that they're right
But nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady
[Verse 5]
Smoke dreams of escaping souls are drifting by
Dull the pain of living as they slowly die
Smiles are changed into a sneer
Washed away by whiskey tears
In the quicksand of their minds they disappear

[Verse 6]
Feeble aged people almost to their knees
Complain about the present using memories
They never found their pot of gold
And wrinkled hands pound weary holes
Each line screams out you're old, you're old, you're old
Still nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady

[Verse 7]
Flower lady hobbles home without a sale
Tattered shreds of petals leave a fading trail
Not a pause to hold a rose
Even she no longer knows
The lamp goes out, the evening now is closed
And nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady

[Outro]
From the flower lady
From the flower lady
From the flower lady