from Lifelines - The Place of No Undo

I used to work with teenage kids, an English teacher then
We’d look inside Macbeth’s head for what turned him south and when
And why he killed the king, and about the point of no return
I wanted them to see themselves, to question and to learn

But in retrospect I can’t believe that I believed I knew
I was so far away from you

See I’d conjured up this theory, pulled it right out of the blue
All about this threshold to place of no undo
All about the breaking point beyond which there’s no way to turn around
Time to face the music, hear the silence or the sound

But in retrospect I can’t believe that somehow, well, I knew
That I had to turn to you

Then one late night this teenage boy, in writhing pain, that ill
I drove him to the hospital, the air was thick and still
Just someone’s kid I barely knew, but I waited there all night
Sure can’t say I liked it much, could have cared less about his fight

But at 4 a.m., a bathroom mirror, I saw my father’s eyes
And that kid, well, he survived

So I stand up here and deeply breathe the marvel of my life
Macbeth, he lost his soul and all that power and his wife
And my theory of the breaking point, well it’s in the Lost and Found
Caused I’ve faced the music, heard the silence in the sound

And in retrospect I do believe that place of no undo
Well it led me right to you

Cause in present time, the king’s alive, and I say “Howdy do.”
And I bow my head to you