your delivery was flawless when you told me the news

like you’d been every inch of the seventeen mile hike in my shoes


you said

daddy’s dead

and it won’t be long son before you die too



so i grabbed my shiny forty five

took my coat off the chair and sighed

"it’s gonna be a long night for me too"



and i turned to look momma in the eyes

but she just hung her head and cried

"someday i know you’ll find truth"



so i kissed momma on her cheek and left

closed the door and headed west

stumbling, trying to shake these blues



i got an old leather jacket, almost all the nails to my casket

i keep in my pocket

just for fun.



and when I’m done deciding, I’m tired of lying

to myself

I'll grab those rusty nails

one by one           and  exhale

and hammer my blues away.