Freight train is blowing
Loudly down a track
Our money is gone
Not ever coming back

You stood, missed the ending
My answers still pending
Rules, again you’re bending
You cry for Warren Zevon

On an unnamed plane and moving slow
Nothing behind, certainly nothing below
I sit pretending I’m in a trance
To tired to make a wholesome stance

Up on the hill stands a clothesline
Rope just hangs and dances about
Those few strands you can see
Soon gone away, no more doubt

To walk the road
To see the dust
In summer’s heat
I feel I must

Close your eyes, relax and go to sleep
Don’t waste your time counting sheep
I will eat your bread and eat your meat
I won’t toss you a bone, my feeling too deep

Her gown made of wax that shimmered as she walked
Touched her body, a phone rings, someone needs to talk
Pouring the mornings coffee, I take a seat with a view
What gets us here, how it got done, I believe God only knew

Questions what was seen, doubting where does this go?
Light gets covered, enveloped, she steps in mirrored glow
Shattered pieces, a dream, a glance, blind and cannot see
What art and this destination can do, yet only for Mercury

On a short rope, in a tight space, hidden, all in plain view
I’m fighting the things, round by round, stuff I indelibly knew
Puzzled by sleight of hand, a king, a queen, became a three
The trick here is to pretend absence, nobody could possibly see

Got here early, sun was waking up, yet still hidden
Quiet, I suppose, warm enough, to see the forbidden
I find the first open chair, a kind of view to sit in

In the space between here and there is a broken sun
In the darkness you called, thinking I’m the one
Who can turn back time and undo what has been done
But the fool turns up his collar, there is no help, there is none

He packs his bags, leaving some things behind
Takes in the last sip from yesterday’s glass of wine
Wrinkles don’t matter, on him or on his clothes
Nothing he can do now, his door about to close

Remember when, looking at me, saying you’d be right back?
You touched my arm, kissed my hand, you had that knack
To fill a space, to fill a void, able to make time stand still
Yet everything I hoped for and cared about left unfulfilled

Grey dominates any thought of blue skies
The sun can’t burn clouds though it tries
Winter sets itself down on all that moves
The result of loneliness, that’s what that proves

In a town not far from here, just out of the way
Events and scenes played out, some could ruin your day
It all revolves around a boy, a young man you could say
Somehow I know about this, though I live far, far away

I dreamed, soon awakened
Saw a sight, cannot be mistaken

A winters day, though the sun is warm
My mind insists this is not the norm
I try to remember all what I knew
It’s on days like this, I think of you

In a three-story building, a rectangle window
I want to see myself going back to where I came
But these two people walked in unannounced
I’m not sure how, but both called me by my name

Stepping out I get a feeling
Nerves wrecked, I am reeling.
To be here alone
Takes fists of stones.
Darkness to the ceiling

What you’ll find when you look at things not all there
Come back to you again, a glance to a stare
For if not for a movement in back of the mind
What was soon missed, left for others to find

In the hottest of these long summer afternoons
I picked up my thoughts left by some goon
And decided to walk, walk and not go back
To a world that seemed so out of whack

Do you remember once in time
You pushed me off a nursery rhyme?

Spent so much time wishing you were here
Spent even more time wishing I was there
Now that I’m here while you are forever gone
I wish you never came, staying were you belong

Her white tank top, probably dug out from a drawer
Reveals her darkened skin that forever more
Will not be seen from the man who’s not here
She must have left quietly, scared is my fear

We were the same
By the wall I’d stare

What can be told about the girl with long hair?
You must say it quietly, even if you dare
For her thoughts change quickly, never then stare

Told many things, some never happened, yet maybe some are true
But before my song plays, the owner of cars, gold yellow, white and blue
You say it came that way, from a factory, she rumbled like a lion
I so wish I could tell you you’re wrong, bragger, for credit keep trying

She visits and yet says very little, I can’t even recall a voice
When what played and what’s seen, simply the girls and boys
What I hear curses and echo’s too deep inside my brain
As if stones were cast and hitting me, down that voice would rain

Another year passing will make it too long
As much that went right, too much went wrong
Do I hold her tight, as if long ago lovers we were?
Or stick out my hand and name, asking the same of her

Exceptions are ideas and actions never planned
From that day till this moment, I’ll never understand
How something long stored, put away not by choice
Could ever return, blue eyes, soft whispering of her voice

White rock exposed by the drying water
No rain in months, no crop, why bother
Only weeds grow here, who would ever buy
The animals suffer, they suffer and soon die

Didn’t take long to hear you were coming
Thoughts in my head, they left, left running
The noise, not voices, you just can’t explain
Ah but yes, times I wonder if I’ve gone insane

Take the things off or take them inside
Tell the tale right or let it all ride
On a game you can’t win, you’re playing to lose
Fold up the paper and turn off the news

The girl, lost of sweet dreams
Sits up in a bed, or so it seems
To turn and to whisper,
To turn and prepare
To turn to the girl,

It was funny how often her mother came around back then

Dress deliberately just above the knee, like motioning to men

Now and then we think of her, it’s as if she is still here

I still believe the way she dressed, changed what these women wear

I got on a bus, not the right one you see
Can’t tell you my thoughts, I’d wish it not me
For what I saw no eyes have seen
From here to there and all things between

I can’t believe it would rain on this day
It wasn’t the plan to stay this way
The path that told me to I’d have to stay
Is hard to undercover, even today

What you’ll find when you look at things not all there

Comes back to you again, a glance to a stare

For if not for a movement in back of the mind

What was soon missed left for others to find

Crushed stones in summer will make a certain sound
Turned directions I did but turned not around
When old worn tires that roll wearily, always near flat
As this time, I learned, on a near stump did I sat

To park a car, never to run, in the dead of night
Sends chills down my arm, things weren’t right
Lights were flashing and bells did toll
Lift up the hood and look down below
You’ll see something that we all did see
Crashed before the highway and discarded decency

I wish I had the voice to say
Things I thought in a certain way
Raise a feeling without delay
Crushing my feet made of clay

Here’s what I think
The sun heals
You look better now
You caught my eye even then

When up is down and going forward takes you back in time
When warm breath on a cold day permeates the mind

As I sat by a river so crooked and raw
Dreaming the dream no dreamer had saw
Of water so deep, not wet, not at all
But to flow to an end, and an end to a fall

It happened today as he made his rare appearance
In a town that wouldn’t take me, turned away, I’d cause interference

Willie came by checking his thoughts at the door
Speakin’ of things that happened long before

A smaller town; heat driven, pulled back reigns
Sun always just setting, dust covered, Western plains

A visitor, unwelcomed, a look in his eye
You saw it, but I know the real reason why
This is not genesis, this is revelations
Read to you in pure, untold exasperations

A captain, our leader, a man, our hope
Set sail at dawn, fine wine he tote
With amusement and confidence he looked straight ahead
Never knowing or caring, the future no dread