I'm home again
past puddled streets
where sirens swim
and lights flicker red
to green,
it's small town
Southern Oregon,

Baby I've been lonely,
and I don't
want to be
away, cast
away,

I could love you desperately.

where I'm
roads away
Cascades away
rolling fields
and rivers
away-

Where I'm burning.

I don't know why I need you
like I do,
but I do
and it's die-or-die
-my last-ditch effort
to make you feel the way
I feel for you
across miles of Pacific forests

Where are we when
the world is
falling, darling
(tell me with your wings)
and where is it
you're flying?
This is where we were
born to be, you and me
to carry you
from flight to
freedom
- I'll say it:
I'm willing to change

In these days, we are
kings-
changing shapes
against horizons,
fueling triumphs
with our
failures, nesting birds we
haven't flown in
ages, but our frames
can bear the
weight

I live in the white
light
and you, the shadowed
silhouette of
branches,
it's not news to
me, but I believe
if mirrors can reflect
the sun then I'll fill the
forest floor
with sparkling
confetti and
I'll light you
from beneath

As I'm
sitting in the balcony
and the gallery lights start
    to dim,
and you walk on
stage, ready to fill
a room with
songs

You don't know how you
fill me with music
you fill everyone
with song
-and when they leave,
when I leave,
your melodies
linger and
God if you only knew that
I am your song

I think this
could be easy,
and I think that
I could be yours

So darling,
play me, play me, play me
play me in a sea of bows,
but don't string me
along

Someday, they tell
me,
the aching will
stop-
the roads I take
alone at night
will no
longer
drive the pain

someday, time will
give me a gentle
push
a gentle shove to put
me in motion
away from all
your hurt

I'm not sure
where the dark roads go,
but I know
it's nowhere
good
and I'm trying to restrain
from giving into the
pain
and thinking that
every place,
every you
is the same

I'm not sure
anyone's to blame

but I need time to
heal the
rain.

Oh, the
running

the running to and
from fear and fortune

Soak me up, ground,
pull me down into an
earthy sandpit
filled with serpentine
bliss, numbing
poison,
falling rain

I can't take it anymore
the way the pavement
feels
the bitter cold that stuns the
hands
the running of my
thoughts in
sunrise or in
dusk

Oh, the running,

the running from fear to
fortune

It's fine by me,
   I told you

for you to come
and follow by the
Spring
beneath the
Ash Grove trees,
droopy
Madrones that
cannot bear
the weight
of memory

I told you it
was fine as the
piano
continued
    to play
and the tension built
between the chords
and you and
I

being so close
to you
and feeling your breath
and your song
your pinecone
burdened
forest floor-
walking on
egg-shells

I told you it's fine,
so I'll stand beside
you,
but I'll also
be running
away.