Shelter from the Storm

'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood,

Blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud,

I came in from the wilderness a creature void of form:

"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

If I pass this way again, you can rest assured,

I'll always a-do my best for her, on that I give my word:

In a world of steel-eyed death and men who are fighting to be born¹,

"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

I was burned out from exhaustion, I was buried in the hail,

Poisoned in the bushes, blown out on the trail,

Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn:

"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Suddenly I turned around, she was standing there

With silver bracelets on her wrists, flowers in her hair,

She walked up to me so gracefully and she took my crown of thorns,

"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Well, I've heard newborn babies wailing like a mourning dove

And old men with broken teeth, stranded, without love –

Do I understand your question, man, is it hopeless and forlorn?

"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

The deputy walks on a-hard nails and the preacher rides a mount,

Nothing really matters much, it's doom alone that counts

And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn:

"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

In a little hilltop village they gambled for my clothes,

I offered² for salvation and they give me a lethal dose,

I offered up my innocence, got repaid with scorn:

"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

I'm living in a foreign country, but I'm bound to cross the line,

Beauty walks on a razor's edge, someday I'll make it mine

If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born:

"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

¹ If "born" is the correct transcription, it marks an interesting change in the lyrics of this live version from that of the album version, where it is "warm". The one problem is that the word is supposed to rhyme with "storm" in the next line; however, it's not uncommon for Dylan's rhymes to be off in terms of the coda.

² Almost certainly anticipating using "offered" in the next line, Dylan substitutes "offered" for "bargained" in the first line of this verse.