`` i tried to tell you , but you would n't listen . * * * voices behind the door , a brilliant shaft of light , a pair of young nurses . when i ride up the street of steel , i want to hear hammers ringing , night or day . he had been quiet so long brad wondered if he was still on the phone . a dark , slowly spreading stain circled the area around the point where the blade had entered his body just below the left shoulder . 