pick up my pen, and start to write
breathe in the stars, strum a tune to the sky
still my heart, spend my time
free as the wind rushing through the pines

All I've got   is this song of mine
to help me walk    these yellow lines .

've gotten lost so many times
rivers and roads, and mountains to climb
hop a freight,  stick out a thumb or fly a sign
still so many places to go, but calling Here, "home" for tonight

Made a right hand turn in Witchita
met a guy named 'wrong turn' and headed back to the bar
woke up in Austin, slept in a van
sang "happy birthday to me" and got drunk again

******* second hand air through the countryside
busking here and there, (I'm) just along for the ride
traded time for a place that smelled like ****
loaded up the band, here we go again

Lost my mind,  a little I know,
pieces of me scattered up and down the road
some left in Georgia's July, others off the coast on an acid hike

........

Raged a bit too hard last night,
tried to destroy anything of meaning in life
Everything will **** you, I suppose,
sooner or later it's how we all go .

I walked out to question the dark blue deep
I stared and listened, and I swear she answered me

A distant bell clangs across the harbor, the masts stand naked and tall
Sun beat down as morning brings light to kiss away the dark

Gulls fan and float, gazing down beyond the boats
Along the boardwalk, bicycles pedal and streak

Riggings hold tight great masters of sea
where teal waters gleam

The wind pushes her face against the shore, and she slaps the rocks (till the wind back off)
and in the quiet, she talks to me once more

Your words are just words,
empty airborne promises
Mind not matching where your heart is at,
sleeping here like walruses

Not far from a hide-a-bed, I
write down things that should be said
Transposing from inside my head,
pen and paper falls like lead

Wishing we could be
something we're not  instead
Things inside were kinda dead
from open wounds already bled

My mind, it goes from black to red
(and) I'll leave here again someday,
... But not today

The lier and the thief come undone
their shackles are my own
All the scars that could be known
from all the fighting that's been done
Sweat,
like sanity,
  slipping down the side of his face
    (Washed in grace)

I've reached my peak and I've gone past
feeling like I'm falling fast
Fleeting times of good and bad
nothing ever lasts

Spent miles alone and sad
broken bones, you signed my cast
Forgotten hate and had a blast
took the wheel and we still crashed

Wrote about my long lost Dad
went back to the bar for another glass
Realized that I'm still mad
made penance and had daily bread

Now I'm starting to get fat
Regretting the Life
   I still
    Never had

While trying to write a poem, called "Love is a road"
Here's a rap instead, that I just wrote

Through the quiet and the thicket
where the trees grow the thickest,
Across from brewery-bars
diving deep in the midst of

Trafficking cars searching for a train
so I can rest in peace
Defying my language as I
redefine my speech

The crowd before the storm
calm before the scream
I'm high once again
putting some ground beneath my feet

Back to what I'm after
the howl and the screeeech!
Across the square
down from Austin street

I look at audio
like it's Gold
Be sure and take a picture
see you after the show

Hear that train whale
and hold you both close
You and me forever in stitches
laughing as it blows

"Love is a Road"
that's what I'm told
Take the highway fast
or less traveled slow and low

Before I have a brain aneurysm
and my body strokes
The microphone seizes up
and I start to choke

I look around and I see so many
people without a home (no where to go)
Sleeping just down the street from folks
with money to blow

But hey, I should stop talking
cause I don't know
What it's like to have ****..
i've always been broke

I... Recollect times past, to nullify my current state,
to back when peace shimmered our harbor, warm and safe.
My... Misleading memories of honesty, truth, and faith,
sincere and fortunate light sequester, life displaced.

In-the... Deep midst of my being, deluged a swamp of mossy lace,
troubled body of trembling thought, gasping for escape.
Heard... “Open yer eyes boy... I don't wanna ya to swallow yer tongue.”
That's when someone else decided, that I'd had "enough."

Saved... from freedoms of chaos, and now the allure of death,
for catheter and plastic gown, none by request.
How... many beats per minute will my cardiogram play?
How long must I be plugged in, before I get away?..

I'll... likely be spitting gray chalk for the next week or more,
I know these things because, I've been through this all before.
There's such a... cluttering of whispers, that they all try to hide,
when nurses talk about me, they mention “suicide.”

There's... Nurses, and doctors, all hoping I'll pull through,
not one will treat the failure, of who lie in I.C.U.
Next week... We'll identify problems, bits of understanding,
how many groups and puzzles to take, to ease
                                                                        my landings.

I picked up this ol' guitar
a couple of years ago,
and just started walking
when I had nowhere to go.

Don't know where I'm headed,
I don't wanna join no band,
but I'll see the end of every road
before I die, if I can.

Somewhere down this road I'm on,
someone's feelin' just as alone,
and if I sing loud enough,
this could be more than "Just a song."

[guitar solo]

Now I seen friends and lovers,
and children all pass away,
I felt like an old man
at the age of 28.

When I get to feelin' lonely
and wishing for the life I had,
I sit down on the corner,
strum a while and put out a hat.

I don't know no "Jesus,"
but if you a prayin' man,
put in a good word for me,
wish God 'ould help this traveling man.

[very short music break]

Now I aint say all this for pity,
I don't need nothin' from you.
But somewhere out there's someone
feelin' like I do.

Somewhere down this road I'm on
someone's feeling just as alone,
and if I sing loud enough
this could be more than just another song.

© All Rights Reserved , Patrick W. Hamilton , 04-24-2015