From the recording More Than Watchmen (1999)
(DADGAD / capo 2)
Written 12/6/96 in a Baton Rouge coffee shop. I had no real motive for the song other than wanting to write while my girlfriend (now wife) studied for exams. Stream of conscious words came, hand went to pen, pen to paper, and the end result was a song that was more a writing exercise than it was a songwriting effort.
Lyrics
Grip the wheel and press the pedal down
Adjust my seat and speed past this town
Some days this is not a pretty view
When you learn you’re just passing through
Humbled pride I make a very strange sight
A half-filled glass of melting ice
Sacrificial lambs and heavenly truth
Tough lessons when you’re passing through
Hold my hand and love my heart
Be my guide in passing through
Be my guide in passing through
Trim the hedge and pull the weeds
Grace is bigger than the laws I’ve breached
A spiral is straight when made true
Another thought for passing through
I wear the winter on my face
Swing the sickle and reap the race
I’m not far from where I grew
One more day in passing through
Yet another day in passing through
Hold my hand and love my heart
Be my guide in passing through
So I climb the cliffs and see the view
I’m glad I’m just passing through