Emily Scott Robinson
If Trouble Comes a Lookin’
What is there in Little Rock at the Hilton Double Tree
Just a woman far from home a thousand miles out to sea
She walks over to the window to pull the curtain shut
Pours three fingers of whiskey in a flimsy plastic cup
Sits down on the bedspread, takes off her wedding ring
If she does something dark enough he might just set her free
It’s her mother’s mother’s diamond in a shining golden band
Another woman who spent most her life loving the wrong man
If trouble comes a’ lookin’ she won’t be hard to find
She’s sitting in the hotеl bar on her second glass of wine
Shе put a pretty dress on, wiped the tears out of her eyes
And if trouble comes a’ lookin’ she won’t be hard to find
Just two floors down is Brother John from Our Lady of Grace
He is older now but handsome still with such a lonely face
He picked a hotel off the Interstate where even God won’t find him
Runs his fingers through the rosary and locks the door behind him
How was Christ so perfect, how on earth did he resist
The perfume on a woman’s neck, the softness of her lips
He burned and burned for years with the fire of devotion
But some things are impossible to stop once they’re in motion
If trouble comes a’ lookin’ he won’t be hard to find
He’s sitting in the hotel bar on his second glass of wine
Across the empty room he glances up to meet her eyes
And if trouble comes a’ lookin’ he won’t be hard to find
At quarter til the bartender will make the final call
She’ll slip down off her stool and sway slowly down the hall
And he’ll kiss her like she always wanted, back against the wall
And she’ll step out of her dress looking like Eve before the fall
If trouble comes a’ lookin’ they won’t be hard to find
They’re tangled in each other’s arms in room 229
They’ve never strayed this far into the shadows of the night
And if trouble comes a’ lookin’ they won’t be hard to find
Not every infidelity is bound to end in shame
She’ll smile one month later when a letter bears his name
Brother John has gone to France and Italy to travel
Where all of his ideas of God will happily unravel