i sit on a cold beach
looking at the night sky waiting for thouse
telltale first fingers of dawn to start playing with my eyes
think bout tall the things iv had and lost
trunk full of laughs and crates of tears
bothersome pieces of paper long since lost ability to cast their spells
and i wait for the image to come to mind
of the road i should take to relive my heart
of all its baggage of this woman and her lace curtains

a sand crab walks by me with such a light step
barley disturbs a grain of the world's sand
but you'll know he was here
thats a face you'll never forget
he waves goodbye and slips beneath the water
where a thousand years float like pop cans
the sea remembers what he's forgotten

i think ill go work on a fishing boat
cast my reel for something real
a priest of the pocket
ill make donations to the great beyond
one bone song at a time
let me just shine up this harmonica and ill join you in a tune
we can sing all night by the light of a bonfire
and the college girls can sit in our midst
cause they know that its ok to be yourself
even if you still learning who you are
******* the difference between dark and light is too exhausting
so just let one them sing you to sleep
and remember
we are all sand ***** in the scheme of things

her innocent eyes asked
as the sun peeked out from the rain
and said hello to us in our joys
and i took her hand looked deep into her eye
with a love that spoke for me
her smile appears and i know that she understood
like i knew she would

a country girl
in cotton blues jeans
shes got a heart full of summer skies
she got a soul of pure magic
her heart is a warm tender place like a mountain stream
sustain you in your hour
nourish your soul and heart to keep
take her walking on the mountain side
take her to that shady tree
take the long day in her arms
the way it should be

after the day done
my country girl sat in my pickup and talked all night
bout all the things we gonna do
all the far away places we'd visit
but for now i'll want for nothin long as i got her
so i'm gonna take her to the shady tree
and give her some love
way it should be

like a fool i rushed in
now i sit in the halflight and ponder
watch the crow carve a michelangelo in the sands of time
wishing it could have been me
keep washing away my days with tears
but its left me dry
like the desert between her heart and eyes
her practiced hand extracts me from the conversation
but i can still hear every word spoken
but i still cant decipher the smile on his face
i flee this woman and her complex locks for a heart
to wander into the rain  hoping the cure for her is rust

i sit here in a concrete flower bed
with life thriving inches from my thirsty heart
the sun is a hurricane blowin its light all over the worlds face
except this streetlight corner where i'm parked
in a shopping cart with a handful of handmade candles
and an ocean of tears for the nobody thats there by my side
a picture of some actress to fill the void
her pretend joys bring such dim return
but i still dream that i'm dancing in the sand
neath the fiery furnace of romances moon
english rose poised for her picture
with such sadness

i frustrated rushed forward across the beaten earth
to the edge of the stage hoping to get to see up
close and personal some man playing precision notes
on a beautiful wind
his song a sweet reprise of yesterdays loving heart
and all the shared smiles and hopeful joys
his dancing thought soars and swings like plastic on the wind
but fools like me caught in the imitation seats of oak can only watch with slack jawed wonders in our hearts
garcia where did you go my brother
you never said goodbye

there will be no easy solutions to my delemia
i must find someone who can hold the hand of a fleeing man
some sweet girl who wants do slow dance
in tonight's spring full moon like it was yesterdays dream
i like a fool fled the feast a hungry man in a dark land
wearing only a milk white robe
and carrying a plastic moon
ill wander till i find you
and sweetheart i hope its soon
i don't even know you yet and i miss you already

the dawn exploded with a roll of thunder
and her frightened face is all i saw in the flash of lightening
i reached out to her with my voice
trying to reassure but it sounded hollow
as the tread of armed men became apparent
in the fog to the east
i grabbed up her and our meager provisions and we fled
deep into the forest
where we came to the cabin of the hideous man
we knew he would shelter us from any storm blowin'
long as we could provide news of the wider world

so long into the night as she cooked
i regaled him with tales both real and invented of the
glory's and and great defeats
as i treated his wounds and gave him advices to mend
morning found a strange tale of its own
standing on the porch with a hawking gun in hand
he was a man of the far west
he had come from the dry dust
he had come from the bitter cold
and now he lay his burdens on the hideous mans doorstep

he had come looking for a crew to take with
to the high mountain pass
there in the wicked snows lay a treasure
there in the harsh night lay a tomb
the hideous man pointed to me and said
here is a young man with a strong back
and not a prayer to be had for love nor money
take him and the woman too

so we set off into the cursed darkness seeking
as all men must a better life in the promise of jems and jewels
she followed me or the stranger i could no longer tell
she was no stranger to leavings
and she would leave me high and dry at the drop of a thousand hats
she was no angel
i was no saint

we made our way to the high mountains
and there labored for many days and months
from that spring
till near christmas day
without nearing our treasures
fell to fighting with one another
over every spilled crumb
over every mislaid word

no better and now bitter she left us both there
in the cold of the midnight sun
for the face of some young jim
and his riverboat card games

i finally surrendered too
to the clear thought that we had been had
there was no treasure to be found
so i stole his hawking gun and made for the river trying
to find my wayward girl
but fell in with dark men who
wanted price for the riverboat ride
the kinda coin the hawking gun could fetch
so they murdered me in my sleep
and i slipped to the tomb without a name or a grubstake

now lay me up in the dark waters
now sing me a summer meadow
by the riverside
buried there a poorboys grave of a single wood board
carved with the words
that riches are a fools game
if you have come seeking treasures
seek thee elsewhere cause this boy died here without a penny

the second time i found her
it was in the midst of the grand staircase
she sat at the far edge overlooking the ballroom below
where many a face spun in wild dance
where many hearts fluttered on the verge of dreams

she cupped a single rose in her painted hand
its petals were cracked and dusty
and its scent had hints of rain
but she clutched it to her warm heart like adoration
saying softly that if she held it for long enough she could
give it life once again
i knew this to be true
but i feared the cost to her visionary soul
would it blind her to the tigers among the lillies in the ballroom
are we all not blind to the tragedy of happenstance

so i swept her up and rode into the night
to the shallow waters of the coast
where the salt of the sea could wash away the rose
cleanse the mortal wound that is such loves
but it was made of thicker smoke than that
and still you could smell a taste of rain on its dusty blue petals

i built a forest house that fall
and there i sat her to recuperate
but she only wanted to once again dance in the ballroom
with the faces of grandeur and the voices of naughty leasuire
'only a friend can debate you this tale'
is how i defended keeping her from that fate
once again we strove to gather words from the skies
as they fell like leaves abandoning their trees

once again she left in the spring
promising this time to take great cares with her pen and heart
i gave her a tender friends smile of my own as she had once done for me
and after she had faded down the summer road
i made my own way to the ballroom
because in secret i too longed to be lost in the swirling joys
the abandon of faces and names
of tigers dancing in the field of lillies
in a ballroom of trees

it was in the darkness that i found her
there by the dry fountain
its basin gathered the paper thin years
like withered leaves
like soul searching written with her lips
like a castle keep penned with the inks of my regrets

the dry fountain flowed once upon a time with a rich river of
all manner of worldly beasts
the fabled ones and the forgotten ones
and their tales like tapestry's woven with heart strings

now the dry fountain was her home
she bid me take my leasuire for a moment from my fleeing
so my bone thin horse could rest his weary heart
i offered her coins in gratitude for her shelter
with a gentle hand she turned such aside
and instead took my hand
and withdrew the pen embedded in my skin

and said to me that
'each dawn requires a darkness with which to begin'
she began with fragments of me
i tried in vain to be the candle that holds back the shadows
but in truth she is venus finding gentle sweet sainthood in her repertoire
like a frail swan of the ethereal grace

she wanted only to see the glory days to return to this place
to see the fountain flow once again
see its thriving life and its deep magics of the heart
we spent that winter camped there gathering each paper thin tomb
and placing them at the alter of the written word
but to no avail
the days had fallen to cold stone
and not even the brilliant light she shed soulshine and heart
could revive the dry fountain

the last i saw her she had glanced back from her road leading away
with a kind woman's smile she gives to friends
she once said i was too reckless with my heart
now i knew what she meant

she kept her bedroom eyes in a marble box
i opened it expecting to find
but there was only dusty footprints of some stranger leading away
her cool hand rested on mine like reassurance
but her far off eyes trailed his every move
knew id have to leave soon
before it got to me that she was already gone

i packed my pockets with the silver and gold
that we garnished from our long years
and headed for the ornate doors
she was waiting there for me
the light has faded from the winter day
and now she was just the logical other end of
the footprints that are stretched out behind me in the snow
'take a little love with you' was all she could say
so i clutched the heart shaped coffin to my chest
like all the pain it contained could be wished away

quick shoes have lead me to this strange place
and my companions the broken engineer
and the sketchy girl with the funny hat
so i unpack the marble box on the hot sand
hoping to find all the things i know i left behind
no disappointment there
the hollow box was full of empty promises
and unspoken love sonnets
the devoid tears of loves aching

in constructing the poem i made mistakes
and all the words i left out have come back to haunt me
they all come to talk to me in my dreams
wanting only to be spoken aloud one last time
before the final curtain
but i left them all in her pocket and
she will always be back there somewhere
at the logical end of all the logical footprints
bury the marble box so her memory cant ****** me
throw away the heart shaped coffin so i can forget me
but ill allways be making thouse footprints
that lead back to her

her pale face in the warm night
like medieval dark princess lips so bright
lure the sailor with her desperate charms
****** the heart with her eyes

the scents of the seven seas wash over me
all the traveling done to see a higher place to be
when it was right here infront of me
her thin pale lips pressed against mine
she whispers a plea
not to follow the wild things into the night
not to stand unfriended under the church of the skies
naked to the cold rain
to stay here in her warm arms
quickening under the spell of her devices

the chipped tiles cold
bucket of brine
sits by the door
has no shadow has no rhyme
it is salty for a dog of the sea
lick his haunches with thin lip grin
the tallyman count but the water rapping on the hull distracts
let us in the waves call to you
let us wash your spirit and teach you to float in the deep
the water is cool on your fevered brow

and since the words fled your pen
there is so little to do
but listen to the waves rapping on the hull
on the beaten weather burned white paint of the wood hull
its peeling and rot shows
the waves call out to you
let us in
we will teach you to ride the deep ocean rivers
teach you to see
the tallyman count one two three
the tallyman know good one from bad
toss you back to the sea
you no good
you go back to the god that made you

the pale glass window
dusty with the passing days
reflects a shard of the sun's dust devils
and all i could hear was the small sounds
that creatures of the darkness made
as they thirsted

i walked in the grey dust
and the bitter taste of the miles of desert
was in my mind like tears
i walked on because i knew not what else to do
because the wind shifted the leaves
was it not faith in a madman's way
would it not suffice with the kindness of...
the wind shifted the leaves

the midnight flame flickers in the echoes of the cold winds
while i etched the papers ivory face with
all that which such as i could devise
and as i slipped into a fitful dream
the miles swept me onward
into the darkness
into the dark dreams that live there

the pale glass window
dusty with the passing days
reflects a shard of the sun's dust devils
and in that brief light
i saw a face
against the grand design
against the backdrop of years
but the dust swallowed it
like all my other dreams
and the dust devils are all that remain
my only companions
in the darkness

paradise's parking lot
vast field of asphalt and lampposts
empty in daylights hours...
on its most distant edge
where trees overhang and
weeds have encroached in pavement's fissures
the buick sits in shade and silence
immersed in birds song and seabreeze

she sits on the hood
her patchwork quilted hippy dress brightly shines
in soft textures and scents
beads and bracelets with bells on her ankle
she is deep beauty in soft sand
an agent of the souls better natures
her form embraces the sunlight
that escapes through the overhead canopy of leaves
it dances on her skin like liberty's celebration
like lovers entwined in
passions kiss aftermath of lonesome song

a bird lands nearby and with
loud cry speaks of the hot sand and threadbare grass
with a hot voice describes the lush life it lives
and its dreams of rivers of wind
my pen has paused
she is talking to me in such soft voice now
asking if i am hungry
we sit in the peaceful edge of paradise's parking lot
where nature has stained manmade perfections
with its vibrant life
eating the salty butter bread sipping the **** wine
and wait for my pen to find its words again
waiting for the time to pass

i look at her in the innocence of her casual moment
and in the fine lines of the truth of her image
i see with clarity that she defines me
her hair wet thick tangible with its scented cascade
the curves of her eyelids
the flecks of black in the blue of her eye

in the detail of her
are the thousands of words that a woman's heart whispers
the seas of mystery and soft summer meadows of longing's dream
the ink of her lips feed my pens soul
the soft lines of them wet supple
to hear your name upon them is like having your soul wrapped in silk
she whispers mine
and for a time uncounted i pass from this world
in her lips gentle embrace

she says something but i am so caught by
the intensity in her eyes
the words unspoken there are the fires of my hearts very soul
i burn brightly there in the warmth of her gaze
i burn sweetly in her desires
like drifting on a sea of tears of joy
a thousand lifetimes of the wandering in bliss fairytale kingdoms delight
brought to life in space of a moment that she touches you with her eyes

i with the greatest care untangle her from her doubt
her lips paused in the spoken word
as she searches my face for meanings
i tell her simply that she is the garden of my soul
and i savor all the beautiful things that she gives life to in my heart
the ink of her lips writes the poem of my world
the songs of her echo along my senses from my fingertips
in the warm damp of her hair
to her scent filling my soul with its symphony's of every want that
any soul could ever dream
i burn brightly there in the warmth of her gaze
i burn sweetly in her desires

apathetic her eyes glued to the autumn door
leaves gathered there rustle like dry skin
feel the memory of hands cold and dry
smell the christmas ornaments and cookies
the knowledge hidden never really known only hinted
that knowledge has eyes that watch
has a mouth that silently recites each footstep
each tenfold lie

apathetic the spurned take root in shadow
and there delve ever deeper into the dark hand
its ever present fingers prying at the minds cavities
seeking that wet meat stench
and the apathetic eyes shudder and turn away
you cannot bear this alone
speak to me
but small gestures don't suffice
apathetic eyes locked away behind silent white doors
muted by the sound
of autumn leaves rustling in the doorway
like old dry skin

she shudders and a sound like fear escapes her dry lips
standing she turns to leave
but finds the plain white door barring her way
its ornate handle defies her
she collapses to the window
where she watches mutely fall leaves
dance in cold wind
scraping on the wet pavement
with a sound of horror's
christmas approaches once more
an old man in the cold of night
brimming with terrifying cheer
his blood red suit his sack of corpses