( D G D G B D )
G       0 0 5 4 0 0
Gmaj7   0 0 4 4 0 0
G6      0 0 2 0 0 0
G open  0 0 0 0 0 0
D7      0 2 0 2 1 0
G       5 5 5 5 5 5
C       2 2 2 2 2 2


[Intro]
G   Gmaj7   G6   G   D7   G  (x2)  G


[Verse 1]
      G           Gmaj7       G6           G
Down by the river junior year walking with my girl
D7                 G
and we came upon a place
      G                  Gmaj7          G6             G
There in the tall grass, where a couple had been making love
C                          D7
and left the mark of their embrace
C                     Em
I said to her, "Looks like they had some fun"
A                            D7
She said to me "Let's do the same"
      G               Gmaj7           G6             G
And still I taste her kisses and her freckles in the sun
D7                   G    G  Gmaj7   G6   G   D7  G
when I play the poet game.


[Verse 2]
      G                 Gmaj7               G6      G
A young man down in the hill country in the year of '22
D7                      G
went to meet his future bride.
      G        Gmaj7                G6           G
She lived in a rough old shack that poverty blew through
C                   D7
And she invited him inside.
C                     Em
She'd been cooking, ashamed and feeling sad,
A                                      D7
she could only offer him bread and her name.
      G           Gmaj7        G6                G
Grandpa said that was the best gift a fella ever had
D7                        G    G  Gmaj7   G6   G   D7  G
and he taught me the poet game.


[Verse 3]
      G            Gmaj7               G6             G
I had a friend who drank too much and played too much guitar
D7                 G
Oh and we sure got along.
      G       Gmaj7          G6                  G
Reel-to-reels rolled across the country near and far
C                        D7
with letters, poems, and songs
C                                      Em
but these days he don't talk to me and he won't tell me why.
A                               D7
I miss him every time I say his name.
      G                Gmaj7    G6                 G
I don't know what he's doing or why our friendship died
D7                     G    G  Gmaj7   G6   G   D7  G
while we play the poet game.


[Verse 4]
      G            Gmaj7               G6               G
The fall rain was pounding down on an old New Hampshire mill
D7                     G
and the river wild and high.
      G              Gmaj7             G6                 G
I was talking to her while leaves blew down like a sudden chill.
C                             D7
And there was wildness in her eyes.
C                                   Em
We made love like we'd been waiting all our lives for this
A                 D7
Strangers know no shame.
      G              Gmaj7              G6              G
But she had to leave at dawn and with a sticky farewell kiss
D7                       G    G  Gmaj7   G6   G   D7  G
left me to play the poet game.


[Verse 5]
      G              Gmaj7       G6                   G
I watched my country turn into a coast-to-coast strip mall
D7                   G
and I cried out in a song.
      G                    Gmaj7                 G6      G
If we could do all that in 30 years, then please tell me whoa
C                            D7
Why does good change take so long?
C                                  Em
Why does the color of your skin or who you choose to love
A                            D7
still lead to such anger and pain?
      G                 Gmaj7        G6          G
And why do I think it's any help for me to still dream of
D7               G     G  Gmaj7   G6   G   D7  G
playing the poet game?


[Verse 6]
      G     Gmaj7             G6                G
Sirens wail above the fields, another soul gone down
D7                   G
another sun about to rise.
      G            Gmaj7            G6             G
I've lost track of my mistakes like birds that fly around
C                  D7
and darken half my skies.
C                             Em
To all of those I've hurt, Oh I pray you will forgive me.
A                           D7
I to you will freely do the same.
      G          Gmaj7               G6          G
So many things I didn't see, with my eyes turned inside,
D7               G    G  Gmaj7   G6   G   D7  G
playing the poet game.


[Verse 7]
      G                Gmaj7       G6             G
I walk out at night to take a leak underneath the stars.
D7                          G
Oh yeah that's the life for me.
      G               Gmaj7          G6                 G
There's Orion and the Pleiades and I guess that must be Mars.
C                          D7
All as clear as we long to be.
C                                    Em
I've sung what I was given, some was bad and some was good.
A                              D7
I never did know from where it came
      G         Gmaj7            G6              G
and if I had it all to do again, I am not sure I would
D7            G    
play the poet game.