LIVING THING

Silver Flame

shadow moving on a yellow moon / it’s been so long i still can’t prove it / where’s the silver flame i read about / coming down from so far out there / landing in the lonely desert / i guess they just came and turned around / everybody loves a savior / or just something that can explain it / standing in the rain or spinning out / something to defend the feeling / a story better than the real thing / a more heroic ending, than the one around us / satellites and angel voices / yesterday tried to destroy us / morning came up golden anyhow / maybe there’s a great creator / a far off planet trying to save us / but we just got each other for now / magazines and mindless movies / all the things we find to fool us / circling a vacant parking lot / speed of sound and blind belief / life is short and we’re all leaving / trying to find the meaning and then we’re off / satellites and angel voices / yesterday tried to destroy us / morning came up golden anyhow / maybe there’s a great creator a far off planet trying to save us / but we just got each other for now / prayer and planetary motion / the whole thing dangling in orbit / and we can’t ever quite get turned around / maybe there’s a spaceship coming / a cloudy figure breathing thunder / but we just god each other for now

Real Things

woke up the world was heavy, bright lights of blue and red / can’t fight the place we’re headed , can’t dream at two am / the neighbors are trying to party, hell bent on staying trashed / lynette and skinny charlie, passed out inside the van / the tv is interstellar, i go places from the couch / across the open water, escape to someplace else / coughing up hallelujahs, feeling grateful, feeling bad / as soon as i can do it, man i swear i’ll call you back / bright lights, in a dark room / i thought, i could fly through / all these feelings, all these real things / without needing anyone / open the window and let it all in / the howling of winter, the pounding rain / the harder you listen, the harder you break / and nobody told you that’s ok  / two crows out on the gutter, talking about the news / shaking their dark head feathers, what else can poor crows do / someday i’ll fly the ocean, someday i’ll play a show / someday i’ll pick that phone up, and finally give my friend a call / bright lights, in a dark room / i thought, i could fly through / all these feelings, all these real things / all these feelings, all these real things / without needing anyone

Bluebird

summer’s almost over, we made it to september / living off of tv, the twisted lives of others / trying to find the brightness, in a world of dying embers / walking late at night with all the junkies and dead flowers / the wind it bends the tall grass, a ghost, a breath, a feather / we’re terrified to ask and anyway there is no answer in shadow or in pale light, the promise of another / day beyond the daylight, we’ll wait for it together / bluebird, we flew right off the edge / for a new world, but we haven’t found it yet / struggling to say it, the truth goes down like poison / thousands in the street, the asphalt echoing their voices / change is like a raging fire in the forest / taking something old and turning anger into gold dust / bluebird, we flew right off the edge / for a new world, but we haven’t landed yet / up above the buildings, the color of the city / glowing like a halo in the haze, the sun is sinking / don’t it look like heaven, the great beyond or something / at least we can imagine, it’ll bring a kind of comfort / bluebird, we flew right off the edge / for a new world, but we haven’t built it yet

Kindness of a Liar

open up the window, tell me there’s a flower / every shade of yellow, shining in the rain / tell me there’s a rainbow, up above the houses / turning all the dark clouds, into sky again / hold me like you mean it, like we were in the garden / petals on the warm wind, covering our hair / tell me that we’ll make it, back to where we started / or at least to somewhere, other than here / lie to me, give me every color blooming / a kiss to end the movie’s final scene / i need something better to believe, so lie to me / point up at the ceiling, a stain is slowly growing / an angel or a stallion, a lion’s silhouette / tell me what i don’t see, say it with your body / move the bruise inside me, cause me to forget / leave me something special, something to hold on to / a photo in a dark room, starting to appear / something close to pleasure, a box fan blowing cool air / the kindness of a liar, to fool the burning fear / lie to me, give me every color blooming / a kiss to end the movie’s final scene / i need something better to believe, so lie to me

Desperation

close your eyes and go somewhere, the windy coast, the forest floor / an airplane, another world, a dream / real life is far from fair, you tried and tried and got nowhere / it’s like somebody rigged the whole damn thing / bloody knuckles, empty hands / you want to fight, but all you ever had / is desperation / breathe it in and spit it out, you count the time in rolling clouds / in bruises and in other painful things / so when the storm comes crashing down, the kind your mama cried about you find familiar comfort in the rain / battling a thousand walls / you want to climb but all you ever saw / is desperation / running hard against the wind / you want to start without that old feeling / of desperation / close your eyes and go somewhere, the windy coast, the forest floor / an airplane, another world, a dream / disappear beyond the glass, where shadows lean and finally rest / and you don’t feel that desperation

Disposable Camera

before you come into the world, you should know / there are things that will hurt and things that won’t / like scraping your knees on the asphalt / and the freedom right before you fell / and nobody tells it like it is / they say isn’t it lovely, and buck up kid / but you learn how to breathe just by doing it / how to dream until you believe yourself / taking a picture to pass the time / a disposable camera and sore eyes / you’ll be leaning your head in the half light / what a feeling to be alive an impossible question the heart will ask / you’ll stumble around til the walls collapse / a bird hitting hard on the mirrored glass / looking for something  in someone else / and nobody tells it like it is / they say follow the good road and chin up kid / but you learn how to scream when the train comes in / and you feel a weight like you’ve never felt / taking a picture to capture it / a parade and the emptiness after it / you’ll be ultramarine and violet / what a feeling to be alive / nobody tells it like it is / they say don’t rock the boat and shut up kid / but that big black train is rolling / and that deep down scream is growing / a hurricane come howling / a shot heard from the mountain / a blessing and a burden / i swear this will be worth it / nobody tells it like it is / they say don’t blow around on a different wind / but you’re gone and you’re not even listening / they were wrong and the wind is a living thing / and you’re taking a picture you won’t forget / something real and the way you remember it / you’ll be everything, you’ll be riotous / what a feeling to be alive / before you come into the world, you should know there are things that will hurt and things that won’t / like scraping your knees on the asphalt / and the freedom right before you fell / and nobody tells it like it is / they say isn’t it lovely, and buck up kid / but you learn how to breathe just by doing it / how to dream until you believe yourself

Two Truths

maybe two things can be true / you feel so sad and your dancing / you’re smart and you don’t know the answer / it’s dark and you’re building a fire / put on a song you can feel / the record is forever changing / the whole damn thing is in motion / and you are at the beginning / maybe two things can be right / we’re kinder today than we once were / and hate is alive like a cancer / we’re trying, and we can try harder / put on a song you can feel / the record is forever changing / the whole damn thing is in motion / and you are at the beginning / maybe two things can be good / you listen and then you are talking / and then you can’t talk cause you’re laughing / you’re getting it wrong and you’re learning / put on a song you can feel / the record is forever changing / the whole damn thing is in motion / and you are at the beginning / put on a song you can feel / something that fills you with hunger / two truths breathing together / you’re dying and you can live better

Altogether Alone

silence descending, the last note of neon / still melting the ice in the glass / turn the key over and pocket three dollars / in quarters they might be your last / don’t be afraid as you’re walking away / in a quiet like you’ve never known / everything changing and all of these strangers are altogether alone / call up your brother, and tell him you wanted / to be there the last time he flew / to visit the family but you were still angry / and man you’d go back if you could / don’t be afraid, you’ve got so much to say / and he’ll stay like a friend on the phone / everything changing and all that remains is / you’re altogether alone / lay on the carpet, alive in the darkness / an animal starting to dream / this won’t be easy, a catch in the heartbeat / of everyone trying to breathe / don’t be afraid, there’s a feeling of safety / in knowing your struggle is known / everything changing and all of these strangers / are altogether alone / alive in the wake of a powerful wind / you will never forget how it moaned / everything changing, again and again / and it changes everyone / at the same time running / altogether alone

Gold Web

if you were a tall pine, in an old park, leaning / or some bright flower dying, a wild rose, an iris / if you were an airplane, or the clear sky, or the jet stream / then you wouldn’t have to ask why / wake up, in the morning, in the wild wind, of your dreaming / a scarecrow scared of wanting, so afraid to be reaching / but out there in the tall grass, a bright future, you can build it / but still you will have to ask why / forever guessing, the gold web of your questions / a world made of confusion, that you always feel lost in / but under every eyelid, every heartbeat, every white rib / is someone who is asking why / under every eyelid, every heartbeat, pumping red blood / is someone who is asking why

OUTSIDERS

Outsiders

imagine the very first man on the moon, watching the earth rising up / out of the darkness cerulean blue, water and thunder and dust / floating like magic alive in the air, his body a weightless machine / farther away than a plane or a bird or a dreamer had ever been / outsiders, look up / it turns out we are not so different /gray and deserted, the landscape is strange, holes on a desolate road / holding the camera, he pauses to say, “would you look at our beautiful home” / all of the angry and all of the lost, painting a circle of blue / only a moment to lean back and watch the silvery rise of the moon / outsiders, look up / the night is dark but brilliant and it turns out we are not so different / imagine the very first man on the moon, watching the earth rising up / out of the darkness cerulean blue, water and thunder and dust / hundreds of thousands of miles away, the endless expanse of a dream / pausing the burning of cities to say we are beautiful when we believe

Black Umbrella

under a black umbrella, you were keeping to yourself / and the rain came down like diamonds on the sidewalk where you stood / another lonely town across the endless bible belt / nothing big enough for headlines ever happened here until today / looking like a stranger in your older brother’s coat / you were watching from the corner, as the day slowly unfolded / a ringing bell against the door of frank’s savings and loan / and you saw it all, the teller ducking down, the gun exploding like an old bronze statue, you were frozen there in place / one man slumped on the counter while the other filled a pillowcase / and suddenly your feet were running, rain all in your face / across the street, the ringing bell, the door, the engine roaring / blood was on the floor, the teller reaching out his hand / you felt his pulse, you called for help, you tried to stop the bleeding / sirens on the boulevard, a rush of blue motion / like a wave came on, their weapons drawn, the teller’s soul just leaving / hands over your head they said, and you tried to tell the truth / the pillowcase, the getaway, the car, the blood and you / in your older brother’s coat, your stocking hat and worn out shoes / but to them, you were just some punk kid cracked out and skipping school / anger like a freighter pulling punches in your head / and you tried to push your way past all the uniforms and the dead man / but they pulled you to the ground your face pressed on the wet cement / like an animal, spread-eagle, the umbrella in your waistband / gun, somebody cried, and you kicked your legs and broke the window / in a chaos of confusion, raining glass like diamonds loosed and you were / on your feet again and then a bullet danced right through you / and the ground came up like some great flood and then you were not moving / under a black umbrella, you were keeping to yourself / and the rain came down like diamonds on the sidewalk where you fell / and nothing in the headlines even mentioned you at all / just a corner note about a cracked out kid who broke the law

Astrovan

i love you, i’m nervous, my heart beats imperfectly, sometimes i act like a clown / in bright colored makeup, to hide my mistakes and the fear that you’ll figure me out the deep purple sadness that washes my eyelids / i lift them up trying to look at you now / with love on my fingers, i move to deliver, the powerful thing that i felt / i love you, don’t worry, it’s just temporary, my back turned against you at night / a magnetic heat, it released all my demons, i dream that my dreams are on fire / the cool of your breath pulling in pulls me back, i uncurl like a flower in the yellowing light / your eyes slowly open, two bluebirds arriving to land on the branch of my mind / i love you, forgive me, my suitcase is empty, i lost all the things that i am / like kissing you tenderly, right off the highway, the back of a gold astrovan / the best that i have are all things that you gave me, i’ll find a way baby to give them all back / the sky up above and the kindness of love and the truth even when it hurts bad

Heroes

in the back of a downtown dive bar, on a wooden stage in the corner / you stand with your beat-up guitar, already halfway gone / the din of the drunken dreamers who staggered in from the real world / they lift their glasses skyward, and turn the tv on / you’re singing about a bar fight, a shot and a can of high life / the tears of a girl you just might leave before too long / a lonesome crying coyote, a sweaty held out high note / a cowboy riding backroads away from everyone / but who are you gonna become if all of your heroes died young / you wake in a stranger’s bedroom, awash in last night’s cheap booze / and she don’t pretend to know you, she just pulls her work clothes on / you stumble through the weekend, til you finally call your girlfriend / i guess it’s just not working, i guess i’m just a dog / you sit at the kitchen table, a six-pack and a capo / an artist and an asshole, you write all of your wrongs / and your heroes grow unruly, they overdose or just leave / their lives are fucked up movies and you’ve studied every one / but who are you gonna become if all of your heroes are gone / who are you gonna become if all of your heroes died young

Two Dark Horses

two dark horses just appearing, early morning fog / breath like engines overheating, rising up and gone / holy light across the pasture, barbed wire fences built to trap them / two dark horses running faster than they’ve ever run / two dark horses, sweating, leaning, thunderous and wild / flanked in low mist slowly leaving, red sun on the rise / scars where darker forces whipped them, filled their mouths with blood and bit them / two dark horses flying, lifting, weightless just this once / two dark horses, hallelujah, watch them disappear / powerful as dancers moving, low against the air / thunder on the black horizon, rolling wild electric skyline / two dark horses, storm behind them, freedom finally come

Royal Blue

emily, i finally found the edge / no one could’ve told me but i knew it when i saw it so i leapt / the air was cool across my chest / falling was so beautiful, i brushed my spirit off and fell again / emily, i think i am in love / everything i ever knew is woven through the fabric of a touch / i lie awake and wait for god / a weary unbeliever finally feeling something greater taking off / what if flying doesn’t take, will i always feel this way / emily, i cannot be alone / something deep inside of me is full of straining wire and bullet holes / i lay down on that sinking boat / land on the horizon but the doves are blind and flying way too low / emily, it’s everything at once / bad news in the morning and an orchid blooming by the wall out front / it’s looking down, it’s looking up / a mattress by the highway or a mansion, marble lions line the walk / what if flying doesn’t take, will i always feel this way / emily, the rain is on the roof / the corrugated metal and the rattle of each drop it tells a truth / a morse code, a royal blue / a letter to a lover lost somewhere between together and just you / emily, i’m scared of growing old / losing every battle with a body slowly growing still and cold / i want to free my fearful soul / climb above the buildings til i’m filled up with a heaven i can hold / but what if flying doesn’t take, and we’re alive only to ache / running wild and tempting fate / a brilliant fire, a silver blade / will I always feel this way, will I always feel this way, will I always feel this way

Ruins

the old house is vacant, the tall grass has taken the last of the garden away / holes in the windows where kids throw in stones just to hear something shudder and break / it’s hard to say sorry, it’s humbling and scary, a gust of wind tearing your mask away / leaving you lonely inside of your body, a ghost in a hollow embrace a crumbling table, a broken cup handle, an animal running the walls / it’s hard to believe we were dreaming and graceful, or that we were lovers at all / a burn on the counter where, moving in anger, you danced like a stranger all strange and small / then covered in blankets and holding me later, you said it was nobody’s fault oh, the whole thing down in ruins, alone, a ghost in an empty room / walking on eggshells and dust on the bookshelf, and catching your face in the glass / an angry destroyer, a hurt little boy, a man in an iron mask / forgiveness is easy, you just have to kneel, and then promise to take it all back / but beautiful words are not real without something to heal where the glass is cracked / oh, the whole thing down in ruins, alone, a ghost in an empty room / a vase with no flowers that burn on the counter, the curtains all dirty and worn / a crack in the staircase and birds in the fireplace and paint peeling off of the door / all out of chances, a sorry ghost dancing a pattern of dust on the floor / forever a memory, a lonely house empty, where nobody lives anymore / oh, the whole thing down in ruins, alone, a ghost in an empty room

The Dial

sometimes i get to thinking there’s a hand upon the dial / every time i move forward something turns me back around / a warpath worn into a soft white cloud / a dream catcher lying on the roadside shoulder / the state line comes again, i pass through flying / got to keep on top of it, it’s almost night / the gas station hopping and the motel light / flicking on and off again, a flare before me / it just keeps turning around / feedback burning in a dark blue sky / the theater curtains and the bar crowd forming / sweat on the microphone, i lean back blind / in a state of unraveling a stolen story / oh my god i go around again / there’s a heavy wind and the rain keeps coming / sing it soft so they all lean in, give them everything, give them all you got / it just keeps turning around / sometimes i get to thinking there’s a hand upon the dial / turn it down, let the truth come crashing / if i don’t believe it then no one will / so i brace myself, til the next town passes

Invisible Man

invisible man, you’re an asphalt dancer / cinematic, backward talking fool / don’t reach for my hand with your madman laughter / i am scared to become like you i awoke, in the early morning, in my own apartment, up above / where you stood, in a bed of flowers, telling no one real to shut up / get out, get out, i don’t want you in my brain / a seed, of doubt, it gets planted anyway / invisible man, you’re a radiator / burning up the pavement in the dark / don’t reach for my hand, i am not your neighbor / i am scared to be like you are / i got up, made a cup of coffee, got my shoes and car keys and i left / to my job, down the elevator, out the door where you were yelling / get out, get out, you’re not welcome in my brain / a seed, of doubt, well it haunts me like a plague / invisible man, you’re a tightrope walker / an obscene applauder in the street / don’t reach for my hand, i am not your brother / you are not a thing like me / invisible man, your electric laughter / running addled circles on the loose / and the truth is that I’m just another madman / and i see myself in you

The Basement

i’m alright, just working, what a trip, to see you again / that night, in the basement, i’ve been trying to forget / how’s life, or whatever, i’m not sure what to say / are you still in that apartment, by the freeway / sweet disbeliever, you’ll never change, and i guess that it’s not you i blame / i’m just trying to get through the day / it’s fine, it happens, and we both had too much / you know, i’m not mad, i just have to run / you laughed about it after, said you always get what you want / and i left, while you were sleeping, and that’s the last we talked / sweet disbeliever, you’ll never change, and i guess that it’s not you i blame / i’m just tired of feeling this way please believe that it’s not a game, and you got all of the cards anyway, and i hate you for making me hate

The Bell

you came in like a roll of thunder, trying to change the shape of love / looking for somebody to believe in you for once how’d the world get so confusing, how’d the ache inside your chest / go from something beautiful to something dangerous / but now i guess the rain is coming, and it’ll rain like hell / but nothing ever changes til you ring the bell / lit up like a firecracker, you’ve been burning out for years / nothing left but ruined plastic shells and helpless tears / but once you were a brilliant flash, a crash of silver light / don’t forget the way you felt, all hungry and alive / but now i guess the rain is coming, and it’ll rain like hell / but nothing ever changes til you ring the bell / i know you’re a crazy dreamer, i know that you still believe / something good is just beyond the darkness of this dream / and time will tell a softer story, how you climbed above the wire / held that hammer high above and made the damn thing chime / but now i guess the rain is coming, and it’ll rain like hell / but nothing ever changes til you ring the bell

American Novella

margaret doesn't leave the house, she's almost at the end / of an American novella, an exhausted heroine / she watches tv in a tracksuit on a metal rolling bed / waits for someone to come back with orange juice and medicine / she doesn't fall asleep and when she does she has a dream / an endless stretch of beach and something rotting at the end / she walks forever just to lay beside that seal in the sand / drags her feet and makes a pattern, lets the ocean draw it in / just across the fence, we're planting flowers, making love / our naked bodies full of breath and big ideas and pumping blood / we watch the ambulance come over to get margaret once a month / from the floor where she has fallen on the white linoleum / hours stretching out across the yard and down the street / i want a baby but I'm scared to let it grow inside of me / where there's been only emptiness and truths i struggle to believe / ah but emptiness is easy, i know there is more to be / margaret in the halflight, all the kids around the bed / the walls all full of photos, faded corners, fingerprints / breathing slow and even slower, telling jokes and holding hands while a thousand words unspoken break like waves over their heads / margaret, listen, don't be frightened, don't be sad to finally go / i see your wild eyes and your white hair, and i'm hoping that you hold / all that magic i imagine weaving through an older soul / silver strands of silver memory, all that struggle, all that love / i hope it finds you when you're sleeping, something easy, something warm / walking down that stretch of beach to find the seal finally gone / swimming out toward the horizon, with the barnacles and foam / leaving you beside the water, feeling free and beautiful

Good Fight

if tomorrow never comes, if none of it was real / just the dreams of angels, and the devil's deals / if nobody begins to sing another prayer / a wild dog howling something only hearts can hear / if the clouds are coming over, and the storm is rolling in / i still meant what I told you, i’d do it all again / if tomorrow never comes, if this was just a test / a marble in the ether, a temporary fix / if nothing ever happens, if nobody awakes / to kiss another lover, to love so hard it hurts / if the curtain's really closing, and the crowd begins to stand / i still meant what i told you, i'd do it all again / if we don't ever make it, if we never become / something to remember, a legendary love / if everything is stardust, and we burn and disappear / no one leaning toward us, struggling to hear / if none of it is lasting, and if nobody believes / in real understanding, forgiveness and release / if we don't ever find it, a truth so briefly held / what's the use of kindness, in such an ugly world / what's the use of laughing, at such an awful hour / what's the use of asking god for something more / maybe in this moment, everything is kept / gilded light and darkness, loving and regret / the battle and the brake lights, the flashing of a hand / reaching with a jackknife, or comforting a friend / then i guess that it's alright if i don't know how it ends / the battle is a good fight and i'd do it all again

THE QUESTION

The Question

in my dream you were beautiful, backlit, noble / in the lowlight of the window, you were leaning on the edge / the high rises and billboards, for perfume and call girls / the steam above the dark road, the smoke around your head / i knew you by description, the tall tales, the pictures / your short hair and your lipstick, the smell of coming rain / i wanted to remain there, a voyeur, a stranger / below you in the night air, just waiting to be changed / eyeliner and nylons, the calm upon your face drawn / revealing next to nothing, a deal you don’t believe / the bible in a locked drawer, the past you gave it up for / the hymnal and the comfort for the in exchange for living free / lined up with the laundry, your slacks and all those stockings / suit jacket and the soft things you dance in when you dream / the neighbors never mention, the woman they see leaving / is the man who works the morning shift selling gasoline / in my dream you were stone still, shadowed, half built / a masterpiece of pure will, just waiting on the world / to gaze upon your body, a razor on a rough cheek / a blaze of burning beauty, the saved and the worth saving a hallelujah waiting to raise the heavy curtains / a play with no good ending, a prayer that never mentioned / the glory of the question and the answer is the same

Fenceline

alone in the dark at the edge of the border / a coyote calling the moon from the sky / the bright shining eye of a circling vulture / and holes in the old fenceline / traveling far from the land of my father / the red cactus flower and the weight of a crime / the faraway barking of dogs by the water / and holes in the old fenceline oh angels look away / unbar the heavy gate, unblock the road / cause down here at the border, the dogs are getting close / all of my dreaming, a house by the river / a small bit of land for my beautiful wife / something to show for a lifetime of labor / and holes in the old fenceline / and i crawl in the dirt to the edge of a country / my hammering heart and the dust in my eyes / i traded the night for the last of my money / and holes in the old fenceline / oh angels look away / unbar the heavy gate, unblock the road / cause down here at the border, down here at the border i’m just an animal / alone in the dark at the edge of the border / a coyote calling the moon from the sky / the bright shining eye of a circling vulture / and holes in the old fenceline

Shadowland

i came to see the flower stands, the vegetables, the cigarettes / the subway station bucket man, the headphones and the heat / and i thought that i might try again, the living and the breathing / but the living and the breathing don’t come easy / i used to be a waste of time, an empty bottle lying down / a trap door with the latches gone, just hanging by a hinge / now i guess i’m something else, a raven on an overpass / a wanderer, a silver ghost, a beacon / before i saw it everywhere, the car windows, the guarded stare / the hollow eyes, the hunted fear, i had to look away / i thought that i might lose my breath, the living and the coming death / the living and the aftermath, the fade / and i used to be a waste of time, a burning match lit underground / a figure in the shadowland, a feather in a cage / now i hope i’m something else, a blinding flash, a fragment spell / a bird released from some old bell, escaping

Figure it out

the night comes to find you, a flickering bulb / the streetlight behind you, your breathing shadow / and i never wanted to hold something close until now / a siren, a cat fight, a thin clarinet / the neighbors reflecting their blue tv sets / and you got a way of believing the rest will work out / i’m sorry i said what i said, i don’t mean it the darkness it scares me to death, but i’ll figure it out, i’ll figure it out / a car horn, a backfire, a bottle of wine / somebody laughing and closing the blinds / and i never wanted to get something right until now / a heavy door closing, a dog in the yard / chain link and wood rot and rusty old parts / and you got a way of convincing my heart to lie down / i’m sorry i said what i said, i don’t mean it / the darkness it scares me to death, but i’ll figure it out, i’ll figure it out / you’re walking back home now, i’m watching you go / the slope of your shoulders, your breathing shadow / and i got a feeling so high i might never come down / and the night slips behind you, a lit cigarette / a junkie arranging the leaves for a bed / and you got a way of forgiving the trouble i found / i’m sorry i said what i said, i don’t mean it / the darkness it scares me to death, but i’ll figure it out, i’ll figure it out

Minneapolis

turn out the light, let’s be still for awhile / let the wind blow in with the rain / a change in the season, a tangle of sheets / and the heat pipe half broken again / and i watch you watching, the headlights, you’re lost in / a country i cannot find / they pass on the ceiling, a strobe in slow motion / alive in the cracks of the blinds / maybe it’s time we left, minneapolis / a cloud of dust and we could just be gone / something lost and something won / try to remember, the heat of the summer / the salt and the steam on the road / driving for hours, to sit at the water / make love on a pile of our clothes / but something has shifted, a wind in the branches / the cold coming in like a drug / curled like two questions, a couple of dancers / alone in our separate thoughts / maybe it’s time we left, minneapolis / a cloud of dust and we could just be gone / something lost and something won / something lost and something won / disappearing now we’re gone

Worthless

two quarters in my hand, nothing else in my pocket / i’m a wild horse pawing at the cracked dead earth / stop light turning and a long white lincoln / goes screaming by, the bass line lingers / it’s hot as the devil, the rubber and the metal / black smell of something burning / i never did wrong, i never did gamble / til the day you called me worthless / two quarters in my hand, nothing else in my pocket / i’m a fusebox sparking in the summer grass / i’m a hooded figure, a crazy killer i’m a dead man walking on the overpass / it’s hot as the devil, the asphalt melting / the sweat, wet smell of danger / i never did wrong, i never was tempted / til the day you named my anger / two quarters in my hand, nothing else in my pocket / i’m a countdown rocket in a cloud of smoke / my fists are clenched, my whole body tense / my mouth screwed up, my eyes half closed / it’s hot as the devil, a screaming kettle / the bass line slowly burning / i never did wrong, i was kind and careful / til the day you called me worthless

Homeless Child

wake up, it’s a new day / the old day is done / you can cry about it if you want / the rain in the river, the baby in your arms / proud mother, you try so hard / and jesus christ, it don’t take much / to fall asleep, beneath the burning sky / oh my god, homeless child / the world will leave you breathless every time / wake up it’s a new day / the old day forgot / you can start it over if you want / clean and sober, a year coming up / tiny daughter, unborn son / and jesus christ, it don’t take much / to lose the luck you’ve been living on til now / oh my god, homeless child / the world will leave you sleeping on the ground / nothing but a string of broken chances / strangers look away and walk on by / nothing but a world without answers / just another list, another endless line / and jesus christ, it don’t take much / to go from just enough to nothing in the end / oh my god, homeless child / the world will leave you hanging by a thread

Anthony

the building was burning, the plaster was crumbling / i lost my sense and i ran back inside / the groan of the floorboards, and heat spreading under them / billowing smoke, in my throat and my eyes / the kitchen ablaze and the wallpaper curling / the table where you and i figured it out / at two in the morning, alive and uncertain / just talking in circles, dreaming aloud / anthony i’m afraid, alone in the building, the billowing flame / and i lost my mind i guess / i thought i knew what forever meant / a crash in the hallway, the photographs falling / the shattering glass, like rain coming down / the one of you standing, your hands in your pockets / the look on your face, obscured by the sun / anthony i’m afraid, alone in the building, the billowing flame / and i lost my mind i guess / i thought i knew what forever meant / the heat and the hunger, the smoke in the sky / the feeling of losing, and something on fire / and up in the bedroom, the curtains all black / and the bed where i loved you beginning to burn / i opened the window where i used to call you / below in the garden you’re already gone / anthony i’m afraid, alone in the building, the billowing flame / and i lost my mind i guess / i thought i knew what forever meant / i thought i knew what forever meant

Velvet Curtain

i swept up the garbage, the cups and the wrappers / the theater was empty, the crowd had gone home / a circle of dust in the light from the rafters / the wooden broom handle, a microphone / and i sang to the dark rows, all velvet and empty / the curtain majestic, in folds to the floor / i sang so the angels would never forget me / the rush of their robes as they rose up for more / and the night circled in like a dog in the alley / all matted and skinny, and face full of hurt / the theater still ringing with lost dreams of glory / the echoing voices of some brighter world / and i sang to the mezzanine, the gold plated ceiling / the orchestra spinning, the bright chandelier / i sang so the angels would feel what i’m feeling / an empty so deep, i’m afraid i’m not here / the last note it lingered, the dust settled round me / a silence so heavy, it cut to the bone / and deep in the shadows, the rustle of clapping / i rushed to the back row, still holding the broom / and a man who had crept in, all haggard and dirty / a bag of belongings, and tears in his eyes / i’ll never forget this, he said as he left me / i needed to hear someone singing tonight

Two Strangers

the first time that i saw you, you were waiting for the train / your body like a shadow slipped away / in a bright display of color, and the tunnel swept me under / and the last thing i remember was your face / and i hoped you would appear, in some movie theater chair / some old vinyl back-booth diner way downtown / i watched for you in windows, sprayed your name across cement walls / in parking lots when no one was around / the city lights, they shine like silver / the city lights, they shine like gold / i’m holding out, for something better / what it is, i don’t know / the second time i saw you, you were running in the rain / ducked back into a chinese restaurant / i drove around the block, cursed the lights, double parked / found only an old scarf that you forgot / and i wore it that whole winter, hoped you’d see me in the street / your eye would catch and suddenly you’d know / a glance inside the subway, the central station bustling / and two strangers locking eyes above it all / the city lights, they shine like silver / the city lights, they shine like gold / i’m holding out for something better / what it is, i don’t know / i’m alright, if you’re asking / i’m just tired, and i’m just stoned / and the city lights, are a constellation / and your upturned face is, what i’m looking for / i came around the corner on a bitter saturday / a flower stand and trash cans on the curb / i bought a cup of coffee, from a man who never saw me / turned around and raised it up, and there you were / my heart escaped my body, flew right up and disappeared / i thought that i might lose you in the crowd / but you crossed the street and suddenly your voice was in my ear / saying don’t i know your face from somewhere else / the city lights, they shine like silver / the city lights, they shine like gold / i’m holding out, for something better / what it is, I don’t know

SMALL BELIEVER

Illinois

underneath the heavy sky, the highway shines / a razor blade, cutting down to bone / nothing left to do but hold the wheel and drive / the dark of night, the dim light on the road / all the way from illinois, a thousand miles of waiting for / a gentle touch, a kind believing word / all the way from illinois, and not one to be heard / tell me all the ways to make a day go by / an airplane high above the earth / or standing in the kitchen in an awful fight / the brightly colored blood of ugly words / all the way from illinois, a box of clothes, a can of oil / the promise of a place to settle down / all the way from illinois, and not one to be found / nothing hurts, like crying on a long drive home / nothing’s worse, than hiding in the dark alone / from the beautiful lights of a dangerous love / a shattered glass photograph of a broken heart / a crack along the windshield of the world / the shape of something running in the untame dark / the howling out of freedom and of hurt / all the way from illinois, the radio, the rain, the road / a dream of finding out just what is love / all the way from illinois, and turns out nothing was

Saturday Night

the only light in the basement apartment / a blue tv glow through the blinds / the flicker and din in the dark of a saturday night / a raven’s asleep in the rafters / a stray cat circles a kill / from the basement, the tin-can laughter of a late night thrill / tomorrow’s asleep on the front step, and yesterday dreams in the street / but in the basement apartment, a shadowy man / he just stares at the wall, he can’t sleep / and me i’m just part of the darkness / just trying to get something right, on a saturday night / and this all reminds me of something / the song of a long ago time / a memory pure and haunting on a saturday night / and i don’t have all of the answers / i don’t have even a few / but two shadows above me were dancing and i thought of you / tomorrow’s asleep on the front step, and yesterday dreams in the street / but in the basement apartment, a shadowy man / he just stares at the wall, he can’t sleep / and me i’m just part of the darkness / just trying to get something right, on a saturday night / the only light in the basement apartment / the flicker and fade of time / the heavy and hopeful heart of a saturday night / of a saturday night

Alleyway

smoke against the windowpane, just the semis breathing on the interstate / a gray upon the graying of october / hey honey it’s been so long, i got so lost, so far down / the tracks of an old abandoned rollercoaster / see the wheels fell off, and the rails all rusted over / i remember you that night, in the noisy bar, in the yellow light / the radiating heat between our shoulders / and i know good things never last, yeah i know that now but i didn’t then / and i let you lead me blind around the corner / but sometimes still at night i dream, an empty bottle in the alleyway / on a night so clear a billion stars are born / and each one is a world i guess, of dust and flame and wishes cast / by lovers hoping love will last til morning / we tried awhile to make it good, you hid the cans, i played the fool / you got some work, i got sick in the mornings / but you lost that job, and we got kicked out, hey babe, ain’t nothing to cry about / and you said you’d send some cash from california / but sometimes still at night i dream, an empty bottle in the alleyway / on a night so clear, a billion stars are born / and each one is a world i guess, of dust and flame and wishes cast / by lovers hoping love will last til morning / now i got work, down the street / cleaning rooms at the super 8 / sometimes i take the path home by the river / i wonder what our daughter’s like / i hope that family treats her right / and gives her all the things we couldn’t give her / now a dream is all that’s left of you, i guess some folks are born to lose / some kids are born for someone else’s cradle / and the days go by, i get along, the air grows cool and the leaves fall / and the smoke it moves and fades against the window

Dark Chandelier

tommy lies drunk on his own front lawn / at three in the morning, his work shirt still on / he curses the man, and he curses his boss / and a cloud rolls past and the night grows dark / thirty-one years on the factory floor / the grease and the motor, the seven to four / and the face of his daughter, no child anymore / his wife and his mother, his life and his love / the heat and the rise of a burning shame / the pride in the work and the years that he gave / just a flick of a pen, just a cold handshake / what’s a man really worth at the end of the day / and tommy he stands and the rain starts to fall / he catches his step, and he heads for the car / and he drives past the factory lights in the dark / just a man out of work, just a man out of luck / the bars all empty, the town asleep / he presses the pedal, he tears up the street / to the edge of the town, where the highway leads / to the end of the world, to the end of a dream / and racing the headlights, the clouds never clear / he’s revving the engine, he’s stripping the gears / the moon on the asphalt, his face in the mirror / and the rain coming down like a dark chandelier / the radio blasting, a song about home / he’s flying so fast, he’s leaving the ground / and the beautiful lights as he’s spinning around / and the silent night when the lights go out / tommy he wakes with the blood on his face / the moon up above, and the cool falling rain / he feels his body, and he hears his name / in the scream of the siren, in the heat of the flame / he calls for his daughter in the thick black night / he tells that he loves her, he yells for his wife / and he sees her above him, her dark, sad eyes / and he pleads with his god, and he bargains with time / the rain falls harder, it washes away / the blood and the fire, the fear and the shame / and the sirens arrive and he screams and he prays / to the moon in the sky, to the stars and the rain / nothing but mercy, the angels press / the gold of their robes to the well of his breast / and he opens his eyes, and he struggles and says / don’t take me tonight, i got work to do yet

Blue World

there’s a shine to a night like this, to the way your body moves / and the lines of your silhouette, and the rise of your fragile bones / and the lift of the whispered wind, and a song that you never heard / and you’re riding on silver wings ,and you’re leaving the blue world / the bells of the mission ring, and the bricks bring an echo back / there’s a glow and it’s covering, everything in its gentle path / and you dreamed of a night like this, the call of a fallen bird / and the beauty of it all is, that you’re leaving the blue world / no one to call your name, and no one to bring a rose / you come to the heavy gate, and you open it all alone / and a wild magnolia blooms, on the damp uncovered earth / and the twist of the tangled roots, and you’re leaving the blue world / and you rise like an ember caught, in the smoke of a single flame / like the candle a lover brought, just to light a beloved face / there’s a shine to a night like this, and the stars never fell so near / and your soul like a golden gift, and it rises and disappears

Last Cigarette

you woke and the window wide open, your pillow / all wet from the rain in the night / the trail of a siren, the red and white neon / a broken reflection, a cry / just a girl in the alley, a bicycle bell / and the last cigarette won’t light / you rode to the cafe, your apron, the coffee / the soft-dripping faucet, the radio news / and joe on the line, all the burns on his arms / and his girlfriend at home with a yellowing bruise / just a girl in the alley, the trash / and the last cigarette dropping ash on your shoes / you closed in the quiet, the bleach rag, the bucket / the bicycle rusted outside in the rain / you rode in the dark, sat and smoked on the porch / and the neighbor dog barked and the traffic light changed / just a girl in the alley, the stars coming out / and the last cigarette of the day

Riverside Hotel

monday morning, sidewalk man / sits back to watch the show / the rebar and the wet cement / transistor radio / he takes a pull from a paper bag / across the street on an old park bench / all the big machines and rolled blueprints / stir something in his soul / a memory comes winding through / the ruin of his mind / the hard hats and the heavy boots / the nail gun’s ringing whine / a jungle with the same sharp sound / his brothers falling all around / they built them up just to tear them down / and left him half alive / someday i’m gonna laugh about it / looking down from heaven’s golden plain / but for now i found some peace down by the water / just to watch a building rise up in the rain / he waits each day til evening falls / the men all drive away / the echo of their hammers linger / voices slowly fade / the lights along the path come on / the scaffolding, a skeleton / all the things he dreamed and then forgot / the promises he made / someday i’m gonna laugh about it / looking down from heaven’s golden plain / but for now i found some peace down by the water / just to watch a building rise up in the rain / the moon shines on the river like a dream / and he smokes a cigarette and falls asleep / and the wind it wanders slow, through empty rooms without their walls / and a silence settles over everything / from the ground it rises up / a riverside hotel / the sidewalk man, he comes to watch / near every day until / the ribbon cut, and the curtains hung / the reservations filled and gone / and the owner tells him ‘move along / go linger somewhere else ‘ / someday i’m gonna laugh about it / looking down from heaven’s golden plain / but for now i found some peace down by the water / just to watch a building rise up in the rain

Ordinary Dance

come up to the house and ring the bell / beware the second step is rotted through / all across the lawn the fallen leaves / behind the door the shuffling of feet / a face appears between the parted blinds / haunted by the heaviness of time / click the lock and slowly creak the door / but nobody remembers anymore / nobody remembers anymore / it’s just another story that never got told / an ordinary dance across an ordinary floor / nobody remembers anymore / inside the house the air it doesn’t move / a tv set recycling the news / and pictures on the table by the stairs / just gathering the dust of passing years / everything is changing in this town / the supermarket aisles are bright and loud / telephones and complicated wars / and nobody remembers anymore / oh, oh my god, i wanted to do something great / oh, but i loved, i guess that’ll do anyway / all the kids are grown and gone away / you know times were tough but they turned out ok / they come to visit once or twice a year / they clean the gutter, fix the broken stair / and who will ever know the time is right / the lucky ones they just turn out the light close their eyes and let their breathing slow / and nobody remembers anymore / nobody remembers anymore / it’s just another story that never got told / an ordinary dance across an ordinary floor / but nobody remembers anymore

All Along

there you go just rolling, like a hubcap on the highway / loosed and looking for a shoulder you ain’t never leaned upon / and freedom’s just believing in the weight behind your reasons / call it fate or just a feeling, call it anything you want / if you get lost in California, turn around and head back northbound til you’re home honey I have loved you all along / like lightning on a hillside, you have cracked and raged and destroyed / you have lit up, burned and glowed like you ain’t never gonna die / and love is just a fire, it feeds and fades and embers fly / and you been trying to get it right ever since the flint first touched the stone / if you get lost along the highway, let the north star and orion lead you home / honey I have loved you all along / there you go just running, like a color, like an engine / you got ninety miles to get back to the place where you were born / and truth is just a sound you make, when no one else is listening / and the blue and bitter wind has left you feeling mighty low / if you get lost and you get lonely, know that somewhere I am singing you this song / honey I have loved you all along

Small Believer

ded-tail hawk on a split-rail fence / the gathering dark of the night begins / cicada choir on the rising wind / a lonesome beauty over everything / and winding highway let me make it home / i’m broken down, i’m skin and bone / and all this dreaming i’ve been living on / the silver water and the red-tail hawk / graceful waitress on a wooden floor / an amber glass upon an empty bar / a drunkard swaying when the music starts / the neon praying of the steel guitar / and small believer i’m alive i guess / the whiskey mixing with a dream i had / the music lifting me above the bed / the silver trumpet and the clarinet / and all i know is what i see / a tattered hope, a small belief / kaleidoscope of half-lived dreams / a photograph of something sweet / and winding highway let me hold the sound / of coming home, of turning down / the unpaved roads of this old town / the clover fields and rows of corn / and small believer i’m alive i guess / the whiskey mixing with a dream i had / the music lifting me above the bed / the silver trumpet and the clarinet / small believer i’m alive i guess / the red-tail hawk and the split-rail fence / the neighbor girl in her yellow dress / the silhouette that her shadow casts

One Thousand & One

i am a mission bell, ringing in the dark / gonna scare these crows, go tuck their heads in someone else’s yard / i got a heavy load, gonna lay it out / so if god ain’t home please tell me now before i kneel down / i am a liar’s game, i am a shorted fuse / i am the dirty water in the wishing well, and the coins you threw / i am a wrecking ball, i am a fighting chance / i am alive, that’s all that keeps me sometimes breathing / i am an oil spill, beautiful and not / i am the orange glow of the sun and the hill, i am one last shot / i am the asphalt kid, ruling the yellow lines / if you’re trying to kill me gonna have to make it a harder try / i am a holy ghost, i am a pounding heart / i am an easy lover, even when this loving gets so damn hard / i am asleep i guess, until you come for me / out in the wilderness, in the dark i am lost, but i am almost free / i am a fighting chance, i am a wrecking ball / i am a pounding heart, i am alive that’s all / i am the water’s edge, i am the deepest end / i want a thousand things to be one more than a thousand

HEROES WAKING UP

Look Away

and if you go walking, in a world made of stars / the neon reflection, of your face in the dark / the heat of the city, in the curve of your palm / look away, my darling, look away my loved one / god bless the terror, that brings you to bed / your lily white knuckles, your bruising, your breath / from the dark where you called out, and the things that you said / look away, my darling, look away my dear friend / you’re not alone, you’re not alone, you’re not alone / and under your eyelids, it’s quiet, it’s safe / but he stole the sun from where it lay on your face / and never a day you don’t cry out to wake / look away, my darling, look away, look away look away, my darling, look away, look away / and how deep the water that carries you home / the warm cotton smell of the clean forest floor / and drifting in dreams, let it go, let it go / look away, my darling, look away from it all / look away, my darling, look away from it all

Black Balloon

storm coming in, and hail the size of quarters / turn the radio down, they’re always trying to warn you / with the static crying and the water rising on road / but you built this place out of lust and blood / dug the lines to feed it, fed the bones you dug / to the dogs come creeping all mange and mud / their wild eyes shining at you, starved for love / get back little doggies, i am not your man / i was never the savior of anything / just a hungry laborer, reticent / to belong to a world that so soon forgets / storm coming in, and you are no performer / but your hair stands up for the thunder of a story / and the night is howling and the hawks and owls calling your name / so you climb to the roof where you can see the town / the cars all packed hatches boarded down / the trees bent back, till they kiss the ground limbs all awry, limbs all around / snap back sweet branches i am not alone / i was never the champion of anyone / just a hungry man, all flesh and bone / dug deep inside of my sunken home / but they’ll never find me, now that i’m flying / oh how they’ll weep and moan / i’ll be a tale to tell, a page to fill and sell / the man who closed the eye of the storm / storm coming in, and people say they saw it / just a hungry man, with his arms out on the turret / like a raven’s wings, they can’t even be certain what they saw / but he took to the sky like a black balloon / rising higher and higher in the storm he flew / like a warning beacon, like the rectitude, like fire / get back little brother, close the kitchen door / there is nobody out there in the thunderstorm / just a hungry soul, rising from the floor, to the sky but they’ll never find me, now that i’m flying / oh how they’ll weep and moan / i’ll be a tale to tell, a page to fill and sell / the man who closed the eye of the storm

The Lines and the Tide

an old box of tools and a bible / a coffee can half full of dreams / the scar of a name carved so careful, in the side of an evergreen / the sweet smell of diesel and lumber / and leather gloves worn by the wind / my hero of hoping and hunger, my one real man / blue-eyed and out on the water, just watching the lines and the tide / but bring him home safe he’s my father, don’t go closing his blue eyes / a nickel for what you been thinking / a dollar is more than i own / a decade is too long to search for that highway back home / so maybe i’ll move to a new town / and start up a life on the edge / but then again maybe i’ll sit down and count how i’m blessed / blue-eyed and out on the water, just watching the lines and the tide / but bring him home safe he’s my father, don’t go closing his blue eyes / the river is mighty at midnight / the canyon just layers of time / you’re brighter to me than the moonlight, wider than the night sky / i think of you when i’m out walking / or under the hood of my car / the steady belief buried deep in the gold of your heart / someday i’ll want for the answers / to questions that i never posed / someday i’ll hold my own daughter the way you held yours / blue-eyed and out on the water, just watching the lines and the tide / but bring him home safe he’s my father, don’t go closing his blue eyes

Dial Tone

it’s just you, at the window pane / if you breathe just right you can write your name / just a couple of lines, in a liars game / and nobody’s listening anyway / it’s just you, at the marketplace / with your basket full up of empty space / and nothing to buy, but time to waste / and nobody’s listening anyway / you do all your talking, in a one way telephone / just a lonely voice that craves the sound of its echo / you’re the dial tone / it’s just you, making all those plans / what you gonna do, who you do it with / and the roads all end up circling / and nobody’s listening anyway / it’s just you, waking up at night / with a dream so real, you were sure you died / you were falling, fighting, man you were flying / and nobody’s listening anyway / you do all your talking, in a one way telephone / just a lonely voice that craves the sound of its echo / you’re the dial tone / it’s just you, at the window pane / if you breathe just right you can breathe again / just a couple of days, in a year of rain / and nobody’s listening anyway

Slow Motion

everything is magical in slow motion / the way you tilt your head under the sun / maybe it’s just yearning for a deep moment / the heated kiss of heroes waking up but no one ever told you it would be perfect / and dreaming sometimes dresses like regret / better men have failed to get the light working / they just stumbled in the dark for years i guess / and the slow motion color of the empty interstate / like the warm light of a lover when the day begins to break / on the bluest sunday morning that the angels ever made / before they flew away / the LA wind is hardly even blowing / you got the number dialed, but you don’t call / you don’t believe your words are worth the motion / you don’t believe your tears are worth the salt / but you better tell your loved ones that you love them / says the man beside the fence down at the park / and i drove across this country to the bottom / it’s beautiful, but man it broke my heart /and the slow motion color of the empty interstate / like the warm light of a lover when the day begins to break / on the bluest sunday morning that the angels ever made / before they flew away / it’s getting late we probably should get going / the dogs are glowing ghostly in the dusk / another perfect stranger looking lonesome / another moment slow and warm and hushed / and everything is magical in slow motion / the way you tilt your cheek against the blade / and maybe it’s just yearning for a true moment / on the bluest morning angels ever made

Lillian & Martha

the paper sits upon the step, the messenger already gone / and lillian sits next to it, and looks across the coming dawn / the type is bold enough to read, for eyes so tired and set with time / and lillian cannot believe, the photograph and bold headline / she leaves the step and lights the stove, she heats the kettle cracks the eggs and from the porch the paper blows, it lifts and weaves and floats away / and lillian, she smoothes her hair, she sits to rest her aching feet / and up the old and oaken stairs, martha stirs and leaves a dream / she reaches out across the bed, finds the sheets are tucked and cold / she calls aloud for lillian, her heart it beats and strains and slows / and lillian, she climbs the stairs, she hears her martha’s ragged breath / she lies beside her calms her fear, it’s alright darling you can rest / and long they lay there side by side, the breath of two becomes the one / and down the street the photo flies, of martha and of lillian / and now the town it slowly wakes, unrolls the paper, sits to read / the news it travels cross the state, of hearts that struggle to be free / and from the front in love and tears, lillian and martha wave / the courthouse after fifty years, on their long awaited wedding day / beyond the step the day begins, the heat it rises from the road / and down the stair comes lillian, a promise kept, a band of gold

Reverie

the streetlights are diamonds, the sidewalk a bed / of boot heels and garbage and cigarettes / and only the hopeless and lonesome are left / to pin up the night and go home / and i don’t believe that a fortune is told / by the turning of cards, by the swinging of stones / but still i’m here hoping for what i can’t hold / for some kind of sign from above / so turn out the lights, let the diamonds be damned / a reverie is sweeter in the dark / and i don’t got nothing but two empty hands / and this slow burning flame of a heart / midnight comes rolling all bottles and bags / they come to rest soft in the park / and a beautiful woman, her voice made of glass stirs in a dream in the dark / and i don’t believe that the future is told / by the weight of a word, but by the way it’s spoke / and still i’m here holding your name in my throat / and isn’t it sweet on my tongue / the dawn glows, and it spreads like a spill / in the shadows, someone whispers it will be alright / the streetlights are faded, the sidewalk a song / of footsteps, and papers, and telephones / and darling it’s raining, come take me back home / it seems that i’ve seen quite enough / and i don’t know which way i’m bound to believe / the story itself, or the space between / but still i’m here wiping my eyes on my sleeve / at the beautiful world waking up / so turn out the lights, let the diamonds be damned / a reverie is sweeter in the dark / and i don’t got nothing but two empty hands / and this slow burning flame of a heart

Two Pencils and a Photograph

before i left, i wasn’t anyone / a poor laborer’s lonely son / and i dreamed of women, gold and guns / but they were only dreams / then called a cause that needed me / my sleight of hand and my strong belief / for the west it reigns in a sinful beast / that threatens everything / but swing that hammer, it’s an awful shame to watch a paper fall from a stranger’s hand / where’s the glory in all of that / two pencils and a photograph / the day i left, my mama cried / but i was proud to go, proud to fight / and a blood red sun rose in the sky / and i bent my body east / i found my brothers in the sand / all that artillery and promising / and we bravely faced the task at hand / to cut and kill the beast / took a plane, fulfilled my place a crowded market and an office space / and the heat of heaven, that metallic taste / and i watched that paper fall / i came to slay, i came to serve / my weapon’s weight against the written word / and i cried out allah and he cried my lord / heaven help us all / but swing that hammer, it’s an awful shame / to watch a paper fall from a stranger’s hand / where’s the glory in all of that / two pencils and a photograph

Shadow of a Son

when the buildings turn to tall grass / and the yellow lights to stars / and the flag lies down at half mast / like a thousand times before / mother don’t forget the letters / sister don’t forget to breathe / i am standing at your doorstep / you are down upon your knees / will you taste what i have tasted / will you feel what i have felt / i don’t need you to erase it / i just need a little help / father close the door behind you / i am not the man i was / i am standing at your doorstep / just a shadow of a son / will you wake me if i’m screaming / will you love me if i run / doesn’t mean i didn’t mean it / when i slipped that promise on you / and darling don’t pour out the whiskey / you are still so beautiful / i am standing at your doorstep / we will never win this war / i am standing at your doorstep / we will never win / if they call me i will be there / shine my boots and hold my breath / maybe i’ll come back a hero / laid to rest beneath the flag / but please don’t forget to tell them / everything that i have done / i am standing at your doorstep / i am handing you my gun / i am standing at your doorstep / i am handing you my gun / i’ll be standing at your doorstep / if i’m ever coming home