There were no sounds
When I walked.
There was no breath
In the cold air.
There was no moon,
Just the light
Of a phone
And a cigarette half done.
With the revelation
Of my solitude:
Stinging, soothing;
And in an attempt
To find the noise
That in silence
Left a while ago,
I sang a song,
The only one I knew.
*“I have loved
And I have died.
And they’re the same
The pride, the shame.
I have prayed
And I have laid
In the biblical sense
As my penitence.
But no man has ever
Told me more clever
Jokes or tales
Over cold beer and ale,
As my papa, the Lord
Of my room and board.
He gave me a home
For only me to know
With a bed to love in,
With a head in the oven.
So mama lay me down
Take off this old crown
No more guesses
No more addresses
Return to sender
This old fender
Oh mama, help me!
Tell Atticus to shoot me,
For all the ashes and embers
Have made me remember:
I have crawled about
I have clamored to shout
I have begged like a dog
I have prayed to some god
And mama no man has come
To give me some
Lesson on how to love”*
There were no voices,
To deliver my choices,
For the cruel night,
Was callous and blithe.
The frost in the air
Cut off my hair
To make me a Samson,
To make me the real son,
As I walked home alone
While no moon shone.