She reclines, closing her eyes
The sun that set is bound to rise
Night birds and fireflies settle round her
Days grow long, spring is here
Waterfalls shine again
Our minds have gone downstream
Shooting the rapids
Bright as gold, the arms you gave
Bright as the eye of a hurricane
We’re all just the sins growing children
Every moment is perfect, every sin is a jewel
Every man is a prophet at the mercy of a fool
Watch the seasons go, as sunshine turns to cold snow
Showers and rain
Numbers of tomorrow
The great globe spins, the music starts
Every beat knows its part
To keep it spinning in a circle
Every moment is perfect, every eye’s a jewel
Every man is a prophet with the mercy of a fool
Words and music by Phil Lesh
Studio recording: issued as an outtake from Terrapin Station (July 27, 1977) with the Beyond Description box set.
Never performed.
It is often called “Mercy of a Fool” in bootleg lyric lists.
Bob Weir gave this account of its origins:
One tune that took the longest to get was one that we didn’t use. Another of Phil’s originals. It was just too long, the song itself was too long to put on without crowding something else off the record. It was just very long and quite involved, and it was looking to require a good deal of work, and we only had so much time for what we could do on the record—you can only put about nineteen minutes per side on a record before you start losing fidelity. Phil’s tune was six minutes long or so, and it would have put both sides well over that, so we decided to axe it and bring it back some other time. We got a great basic on it. (Gans, Conversations) 81