I've been staring too long
at the setting sun
remembering where I've been.
I've been pricing a home
where I can live alone
and start over again.
But if a man can change
his foolish ways
(and I know I can),
will you keep me around
and help us get back
to where we began?

I'll forget my anger,
my worries, too,
I'll forget my shame -
I'll forget it all
if you will promise
to do the same.
I know sometimes
you wish you could
just forget my name.
But please take my hand
and follow me back
down the road we came.

The way I see it,
we can both give in
and call it a day.
And who knows, maybe
it'd all work out
and we'd be okay.
But like it or not
I'm tied to you
in so many ways.
So if you feel that too,
and I pray you do,
let's agree to stay.

It's too sad to think
our paths could cross
some far-off day -
to see you with
a stranger in
some cheap café,
or in a bar,
brand new dress,
dancing your night away.
I might catch your eye
hard-pressed to find
the words to say.

So I'll say it now,
best to hear it early
rather than too late.
'Cause if I say nothing
and seal my lips
then I seal my fate -
I love you, dear,
and I'm only hoping
you can relate.
Won't you please
meet me outside and
let me through your gate?
It's getting dark,
but that setting sun
will have to wait.

Peering intensively through fog-marked mullioned glass
into a cool and conquering October sunrise
I am met with a profound and welcoming sudden awareness -
zephyrs breathing through each emerald green grass blade,
     brow of country hilltops, mountains materializing
with the passing of each era like wrinkles in a face,
clouds crawling the longitudes to reform over Pacific pools somewhere,
soil forcing upward making way for elm or oak or pine to tower,
rivers thundering wild down the backs of continents,
     cliff or crag breaking the maelstrom on occasion,
and all the while spinning, all of this and more, clinging to the frame of the earth
as it dances balanced on axis, pirouetting through the cosmos
in turbulent, beautiful, simply complex form just as I
back away from the window and extend an arm to brace myself.

Hair a mess from what she can tell
in the mirror.
Photographs lying face-flat
in their frames over the mantel
beside the urn.
She gets up, sits down -
"Oh, what's the point?" -
and dials for her sister who has experience in this.
After the grief they share a *** of coffee and make plans to do this again.

Nearer to the edge
                             I see.
Crawling through
          eternity.
Searching for the master key.
This is our reality.

Communication has de-
                                         volved.
None of our real problems solved.
  We have become      uninvolved
while the whole world revolves.

Spinning further from cont
                                          ro
                                            l.
Turn 'round and view it as a whole.
  Mother Nature's gifts we        stole.
This is how our story goes.

Once black and white.
Once dark and light.
To complicate.
Bring on our fate.

Our halos tilt.
Intentions wilt.
Ambitions great.
Never too late.

Turn 'round to see the sum of things.
Counting on the dead tree's rings.
Refering to ourselves as kings.
Soaring on the deathbird's wing.

She dreams in aqua blue,
seasons melting into one another,
dancing among fallen leaves
or beneath the golden sun,
     her fiery green eyes shimmering
     like emeralds in a jewelry store case,
     skin like water running through  fingers,
     dancing, dancing,
hands thrown to the sky
casting rainbows like ribbons
to celebrate the dawning of her joy.

Immeasurable ignorance,
you wear it like a golden crown.
Born without your innocence,
your only path will lead you down.

Standing like a rigid statue
before a crowd of hungry eyes,
hiding all your sins behind you,
feeding them your ugly lies.

Money makes you feel almost normal.
Without it you would turn to dust.
The whole world begs for just a morsel.
How dare you say you're fair and just?

Trusting in you is a blunder -
you and men who pull the strings.
Crumbling from the weight we're under.
Expecting us to kiss your rings.

You are just a ******* whisper.
Time will leave you far behind.
Soon your name will cease to matter.
Death will come and rob you blind.

You will suffer in the end, and
You will beg to die again.
You will reach out for a hand, and
this you will not comprehend:

You will find no peace or mercy.
No one to pull you from the grave.
You will be forever hungry.
Pleading on your knees, a slave.