ISOBELLE
Copyright ©
Susan Werner
Description: Guitar
I wish like hell you had met Isobelle
Isobelle moved next door when I was fifty-four
Or maybe fifty-five
And life can change all at once, who can tell
And life was like a carousel to Isobelle
And my husband didn't like her
And he said she was a drinker
And he said she was a smoker
Like he was a saint
But then she started talking baseball
And she started talking horses
And before long he'd say, "Is Isobelle coming?
Is Isobelle coming?"
I wish like hell you had met Isobelle
Every night we'd sit here, playing gin, drinking beer
Laughing at the moon
And I'd lived all my life in a shell
But life was like a carousel with Isobelle
And her house was always filthy
Clothes were hanging from the TV
Dirty dishes on the counter
Piled to the sky
But then she'd call me in the morning,
Say, "Let's go to the casino"
And on the bus she'd sing, "Here's to the winners
Here's to the winners"
And now I never cry
When someone dies
But Isobelle
And I had lived all my life in a shell
I wish like hell you had met Isobelle
[September 1996]