Like a bird on a wire
Like a drunk in some old midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
Like a worm on the hook
Like a knight bent down in some old-fashioned book
It was the shape of our love that twisted me

If I have been unkind
I hope that you can find a way to let it all go by
And if I have been untrue
It's just that I thought a lover
Has to be some kind of liar too

Like a little babe stillborn
Like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me
But I swear by this song
I swear by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee

I saw this beggar, he was leaning on his wooden crutch
He says to me: "Come on Leonard, you just can't ask for all that much"
And a pretty woman, she was standing in her darkened door
She says to me: "Hey, why not ask for just a little bit more?"

Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in some old midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free