They say you crack your teeth on pearls
But I hope your bite breaks on steel coins
That line your pocket
For mine is filled with a pocket watch
To stay neat and tidy and right on time
Yours is heavy
With dirt and grime
From wicked jobs
And spreading crime
With any God
You'd be doing time
And I'd be there to visit you
With full-toothed grin
To turn the screws
And you can count that I'd have mine
A pocket watch
So I'm right on time

Tin cups
rattle steel bars
no birds
no bees
no sounds of cars
on open freeway
far and wide
chains and manacles
stuck inside
a makeshift shiv
of broken picture frame
wrapped in leather
oiled in soap
each passing day
diminishes hope
until I can't
take anymore
I carve each day
on my front door

The dark dance calls softly,
like Night Shade or Oleander.
Just a little taste...
Just one more slow waltz...
I can smell her
wet orchid while I sleep.
She moves languidly through
my dreams, possesses me at dawn
with lambent steps.
The love is violent, like a bullfight.
It's sweet and treacherous, ferocious.
Fatal for one of us;
and she's been gored.

We have ridden along this winding river
For decades in a long-forgotten life
As empty beer cans float along beside
Mending lines and sharpening knives

We never caught a single fish
As we float along at fate's design
We shared this sad excuse for a boat
With only each other to pass the time