This song is on Dan Fogelberg's posthumously released CD "Love In Time" in 2009-I have this CD
I had this song on a bootleg cassette tape in 1998
On July 12,2000 I saw Dan Fogelberg and the band perform this song in concert at Humphreys by the Bay In San Diego, California
I wrote this poem for Dan Fogelberg and I had it in a real nice frame and the Stage Manager put it in Dan's dressing room
After the concert I talked with one of Dan's band members and he said Dan took it with him when he left
A Poem For Dan Fogelberg
Once again I return to another world … A world only known to poets...
Inadequacy fills my soul… To eulogize the living…
The legacy we think we know… To paint on this page my feelings…
How can one, where does one begin… He commands the poets’ pen…
Cloaks our spirit with his verse… At what cost, at what cost…
His yearning for love forever fills the inkwell… But does the fire fuel the fire…
Does his mistress, the empty page, keep him from redemption…
If so, forget the sirens beckoning and take love…
His song, our song, the song of countless hearts since God’s first breath…
And we’ve been blessed by this, his curse and gift…
His songs make us cry, his tears write his song… For how long, for how long…
Would we trade his music, to set his heart forever free…
To love without restraint, or would one Judas him for a song…
Could I write what he feels when the door is left open…
As he awakens and turns to find only the empty page…
I will try to fill some space for him this time…
How many times must rose petals dry… Falling one by one to the floor…
How many times will hearts shatter… Yet return for the pain once more…
When will the love that is captured… Not change and need to be freed…
When will the need to feel love be fulfilled… Who will fulfill that need…
So now my painting ends… We’ve never met, but we are friends…
From myself and other fans… Thanks again… Thanks again…
Produced by Dan Fogelberg, Jean Fogelberg and Irving Azoff
Mixed by Dan Fogelberg
Photographs of Dan by Henry Diltz
Photography and drawings by Dan Fogelberg
Package design and layout by Jean Fogelberg
Art coordination by KOSH
Photo of Maine cove Copyright Dan Fogelberg
Photo of Dan Fogelberg Copyright Henry Diltz
Cover photo montage Copyright Jean Fogelberg
Dan Fogelberg acoustic guitar and vocals
Fools run where an angel fears to follow
We've come to a place no fool would go
The sparks fly and the truth rings harsh and hollow
It's the same old song we've sung so long
It's the only dance we know
Hard times when the threads of love unravel
The arms stretch but the hands don't ever meet
True love is a rocky road to travel
You better get out of the kitchen
If you cannot stand the heat
Bad blood hostile words get spoke in anger
Caught up in a game where no one wins
Our heads tend to disregard the danger
While our hearts hang in the balance
And the wheel of fortune spins
Why must every heart I trust desert me
Why does it always end the same
Fate deals the last one down and dirty
It's the cards you keep that make you weep
That's the nature of the game
Cold eyes stare at you across the table
The stakes rise with each moment you delay
Hang tough if you still believe you're able
Or else play your hand the best you can
And get yourself away
Why must every heart I trust desert me
Why does it always end the same
Fate deals the last one down and dirty
It's the hands you fold that make you old
That's the nature of the game.
