“Oh, where have you been,
My blue-eyed son?
And where have you been,
My darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side
Of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled
On six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle
Of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of
A dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles
In the mouth of a graveyard

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Oh, what did you see,
My blue-eyed son?
And what did you see,
My darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby
With wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds
With nobody on it
I saw a black branch
With blood that kept drippin’
I saw a room full of men
With their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw a white ladder
All covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers
Whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords
In the hands of young children

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

And what did you hear,
My blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear,
My darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder,
That roared out a warnin’
I heard the roar of a wave
That could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers
Whose hands were a-blazin’
I heard ten thousand whisperin’
And nobody listenin’
I heard one person starve,
I heard many people laughin’
Heard the song of a poet
Who died in the gutter
I heard the sound of a clown
Who cried in the alley

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Oh, what did you meet,
My blue-eyed son?
And who did you meet,
My darling young one?
I met a young child
Beside a dead pony
I met a white man
Who walked a black dog
I met a young woman
Whose body was burning
I met a young girl,
She gave me a rainbow
I met one man
Who was wounded in love
I met another man
Who was wounded in hatred

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

And what’ll you do now,
My blue-eyed son?
And what’ll you do now,
My darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out
‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths
Of the deepest dark forest
Where the people are many
And their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison
Are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley
Meets the damp dirty prison
And the executioner’s face
Is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly,
Where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color,
Where none is the number
And I’ll tell and speak it
And think it and breathe it
And reflect from the mountain
So all souls can see it
And I’ll stand on the ocean
Until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my song well
Before I start singin’

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.”

Photo behind the Cafe Espresso in Woodstock, NY, by Douglas R. Gilbert (1964)

https://bobdylan.lnk.to/listenYD