Telling It to a Stranger

I was sitting on the bus
Next to that crazy guy
Who always thinks
Somebody's trying to take his sandwich
And this woman walks up to me
You know, I'm sitting by the door
And she walks up to me
I'm thinking, like, to get off the bus
And she does, but before she does
She whispers to me

'I have cancer and nobody knows but you'

And I'm like--'What?'
But by that point, she's already off the bus
And I turn to the Bus Detective
That's what he calls himself
'They're Stealing My Sandwich' Guy
And I say--'Did you hear that?'
And he says--'Hear what?'
And I say--'That woman.  What she said.  Did you hear her?'

And he just sort of looks at me like--
Yeah, like I'm crazy

The guy who yells 'Thievery is afoot!'
On a public bus
Looked at me
Like I was nuts

And by that time, the bus is almost at the next stop
Which is mine
So I kind of shake off what happened
And just, you know, get off the bus
And start walking home

But the next day I'm still thinking about it
This woman, because--

What if she was telling the truth?

I mean, she didn't seem crazy
And she wasn't old and feeble or anything
And she did seem sort of sad
Until she whispered that to me
And then I saw this kind of...calm, like, come over her
And so what if it was true
And this was her unburdening herself

But also admitting
That she hasn't told anybody about what she's going through
Except for me
A complete stranger

I mean, isn't that sort of crazy?

So I start thinking
Should I find this woman?
Should I find her family?
Should I tell them they need to help her?

I think about putting out one of those
Missed connection ads
But what could it say?

'You--possible cancer patient
Me--total stranger?'

I didn't know what to do

So I just kept riding the bus
Hoping to see her again

But the thing is, now, every day that I don't see her
I can't help but think--

Is she gone?
Like, is she gone gone?

And if she is
Am I the only one who knows?

Now I have something
I feel like I'm carrying

Now I have this thing
That's bringing me down
That I wish I could just give
To someone else
A stranger
And then walk away