we  left the old home just
before first light broke to the east
she looked weary and her head hung low
knew she didnt want to leave
but our song had run its course
and it was time to be movin on
and we knew it would never be the same
the summer sun on the rusted wrecks in the field
the cool cool deep waters that we would swim in
at the lake with the pine trees
the old house had one last night
and we had spent it talking on the roof
watching the stars doing their dance
and as the light creeps on in
we gathered ourselfs for one last kiss
at the door where so long ago had carried
her as a blushing bride across the step
starting our time
starting our lives
never thought we'd have to start all over again
nothing you can say
bank man came and posted his sing
and now we got to roll on
fore they roll over us
time is long in the tooth
but we will be ok im sure
as i look out into the breaking bright sun
and the wider world waiting for me

her silence had conquered me
she allowed that i should build a tower of sandstone
she allowed that she would grant me the sea and its grandeur
and that the sea should ever beat upon the door like hunger
calling me to take my place in her dark halls
for she had once said that it was natural
that a man should hunger and strive
she allowed that i could have these
things for she was kind in her way
so it was a craftsman's eye she set to
stitch this raggedy man

when at last i stole away in early hours
and paid truth's price in coins of otherworldly realms
she spoke to me with such stern regrets haunting her voice
she said that you must return to your birthright
now you must tear down this tower
and see and speak what lay at its base
so the sea cannot wash away
the world cannot grow gardens over it
you must uproot it and lay it in the sunlight
you must weep as innocence would
as innocence should

she lead me to that place in the gardens grove
and set to clearing the stones
revealing the artwork carved
and the stain embedded
set to revealing the flawed man
set to revealing the nature of his inner gears
for none can be free untill they have found freedom within
and this long hour i sit and pray
that night will end
at long last
at this healers hand

in the briar patch of the mind
the rabbit is fat with his pretense
and the web of his thoughts is brazen and garish
they cascade thru me as he hammers at the dull metal
of his treasures
seeking to make true him rich rabbit dream

his brother the sow begins to shout that the hammering
is an appendage of his nightmares
reaching into the depths of his shallow soul
and twisting the heart-meat of his investment banker infested mind

and both rabbit and sow know they
must redouble their effort
to avoid being the centerpiece of the dinner platter
but in  the briar patch of the mind
its the failing of such grand designs that are the
bread and butter of such feasts
that you and i now wait with such hungers

its a desert of the soul to be certain
no cool thoughts to slake this thirst for the
simple comforts like a woman's hand to hold yours
so we must feed our souls with the scraps
cast aside without care or compassion from the
feast of the tourist trap
but isnt that been our lives far back as we can remember
catching firefly's in the evening rain
and spend the night just watching them with stark wonder
spinning round and round in a jar
looking back we should have just let them roam free
find the own destiny's

i stand here waiting on yet another day of hoping
for that break that will change this
set of dealt cards
for that break of the kid opening the jar
and letting us free to roam the summer free
and let us find a happier destiny

the remnants of a broken down villain
he's waited here in thick silence
with his elaborate plans
drawn on the wall complete with corrections
stick figures in the halflight
crude illustrations of the vocally frustrated
small errors in life represented by
five burnished monkeys cast in bronze
lined up in order of smiles on his mirror wall
the surface of his words
are reflections of the rain
which never comes but stays
in the golden gilded cages of his mind
shes so sweet rides up on her mystery wheel
and starts to strip off the layers
but stops when  she reaches her freshly washed skin
and she dose a little dance just for him
shes been trying to get him off this
diesel gas fumes kick he's been on since vietnam
and the burnished brass monkeys break into song
something slow with a nice backbeat
something about the middle east
and the wires that join us all in prosperity
she sells *** in plain brown paper bags
on the street to support the tragic train
they say shes weak but we all know its just makeup
she wears and shes the strongest man alive
she isn't drawing grand designs to conquer the world
but its something shes well on  her way to doing anyway
with her backup band
five burnished brass monkeys
each one with a hand on a bible
swearing allegiance to the madness
found in stick figures carved with loving care into
the walls of a madman's eight inch mind

i promise not to bury my bones
till we are good and done with em
i promise not to wear my heart on my sleeve for
every skirt that skitters past me
promise not to be so blind to the hand that holds mine in the dark
promise not to think its too late
promise to believe in the process
believe in the dream
promise not to hold myself responsible for what
i couldn't have foreseen or done a ****** thing about
promise not to grieve for her
to remember that i'm just a human man after all
i promise that and more
if you'll just promise me one thing
don't leave me sitting here all alone
just hold my hand
keep me company in the cold night

and that shadow passes
like shadows do
and i drift awake to find your smile waiting for me
grab up whats left of our castle of sand
and explode onto the road
cause tomorrow never shines as bright
as that special yesterday
like a penny that gets tossed
like a shinny piece of rain
it just keeps fallin and flying
keeps the heart going
and your smile is all i really need
don't know where we going but we going in style
you wrapped in your Tye-dye blanket
and me in
my Walt Whitman hat
we gonna dance on distant beaches
we gonna tickle eachother on far off mountain tops
we gonna cheer the world on
from our armchairs
and smile for all the beautiful things we can find
cause shadows always come to an end
and that shadow has nearly passed us by
so lets grab up our bits and pieces
and see where that road takes us
see who we can find
baby lets dance on distant beaches
tickle each-other on far away mountaintops
and sleep in the forgiving arms of foreign lush forest

there is some nineteen twenty's blues
playin far too loud on the turntable
and there in the distance
a train horn lends itself to the moment
i run off a few lines
that are just as empty

looks like heaven
but its not
the world is no different
here than it is in your silent room
i would give anything to be there
in your room
perhaps we could talk till dawn
bout George Sanders
Charles Butterworth
and all the big ones
pills
he shot himself
pills
car accident
pills

jez left this morning
she said she needed some time
that relationships are too complex
and she needs to think
and didn't like the idea that
i don't want to marry her
i think
i just no longer have enough faith
that she or anyone could stay
not trade me in for a needle full of drugs
not trade me in for something faster newer
a better model

there is no magic left
i can still dance on the sand till the tide comes in
but there's no magic
shopping carts chase
but its just a lone set of strings
played slow
and deep
like tears

there is some nineteen twenty's blues
playing far too loud on the turntable
but even the five bottles of wine
haven't set the past out to sea
think i should go now
before i say something foolish

garbled words stutter
through the thickly laden room
its garnished with the trappings
of merriment now long forgotten
of joys long since gone to dust

he rubs clean his eye
and attempt focus
but thrown off by imbalances in
the sound of the place
the echo leaves odd thoughts
and her singing whisper is off key
she smiles and runs a greasy hand up
rubber thigh in blatant invitation
that would send any lecherous man to seminary school

I wonder at times what it
would take to see a place like this the way it was
meant to be
then I remember that remembering is the key

he waits for the dawn in this dirt room
in this shell shock scream hole
with its own wildlife
and its nature tourists seeking a thrill
she is there too
wearing her best and holding hands
with a ten ton gorilla
who wants to be dainty like her
the mayor and the townsmen gather
in the corner and in harsh whispers vote to stay out
all night and not eat their veggies
aint it just like life
we all want the other items on the menu
not the plate of slop we get served

she undresses the days events
and with its naked issues
makes points for moving far away
to some quiet place where she can be queen
and get all the treats she already has
aint it just like life
give up everything to get what you got

the waiting in hallways
lined up on the wall
with eyes following the chatterbox and her
flowing train of rabid listeners
who hang themselves ritualisticly on her
shallow water illustrations
swimming on this thin tide of unpublished lip candy
her bubblegum words are commentary
upon which her followers build temples
to the unfit mothers of televangelists
the chatterbox spills her loud thoughts
on the sun warmed concrete
as the summer lawnmower navigates
around santa and his late december reindeer
and the children's labyrinth of christams morning plans
while i sunbath nearby
she gathers her spilled thoughts
and races away proudly proclaiming that'
my poems are too short for the pulitzer
so she is ready for her laurels
and a fast road to academia
with a neatly packaged version of her inner perversions
spread like *** and lip candy
on the local coffee shop bookshelf's
for the pretty college girl with glasses to drink from