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You meet me, in a
snowstorm, at the airport
With your arms full of
lilies and roses
You say, "It took
forever on these roads"
I say, "I'm glad you
didn't wait at home"
And I feel warm, in a
t-shirt in the snow
Think of the Joni song
"Case of You, Case of You"
And I stand there, shaking
at the baggage claim
Your breath a new
addiction, in my veins
And I, struggle in my mind
With what is yours and what
is mine
Already I forget the
contours of my other life
And we go, home to Pleasant
Street
I could lose myself here
easily and that scares me
Home, to Pleasant Street
Now I'd like to live
forever in this day
I walk your dappled avenues
Your lucid streets
I move in minor chords and
fight this happiness
Love it hit me blind side,
Thought I was right, never
to risk my insight
And we go, home to Pleasant
Street
And I could lose myself
here, easily and that scares me
And what about my laundry?
The voices on my machine?
What about my dreams...of
loneliness and glory
Strangers, fan mail and
Valentines from far away
Now I'd like to live
forever in this day
And we go, home to Pleasant
Street
I could lose myself here,
easily and that scares me
Could this be me, the one
who would be free?
Now I'd like to live,
forever in this day
Ship of
Fools
Lead
me down, to the ship of fools
I
belong to no one but the sea tonight
And
my insomnia ...
Rushing
madly past you
Full
of secrets, don't let you see me this way
Only
share my revelry
Set
sail when I wanna be crazy
Load
me on my watery asylum
And
I'll lean out from the railing
Over
the dark ocean
Into
the salt wind
Singing
to the sea and to the other fools on board
Of
course I'm void- of- course
I'm
void
Of
course I'm void, tonight
Of
course I'm void- void tonight
If
you want me, look in some foreign port
Down
at the bar...
Tattoos
on my arms, I'll be brown and lean and strong
After
so many high winds,
I'll
be sadder but wiser then
Of
course I'm void- of- course
I'm
void
Of
course I'm void, tonight
Of
course I'm void- who do I belong to...who?
(I
don't belong to a child yet
Or
to most of our lives
On
this perpetual detour, on the road of desire
For
these ocean miles, better off hungry and wild)
After
the myth is gone will you love my madness
And
will I paddle bravely through the doldrums?
I
belong to the moon on the masts
To
the gulls crying
To
this bronze on my fingers, to this singing and the the Autumn sky
November's
so full of dying
Like
a bird I wand to sing myself, higher and higher and higher
Load
me on my watery asylum
And
I'll lean out from the railing
Over
the dark ocean
Into
the salt wind
Singing
at the sea and to the other fools on board
Of
course I'm void- of- course I'm void
Of
course I'm void tonight
Of
course I'm void - who do I belong to...who?
Neither
Here Nor There
Here
is the house, orchards on the hill and here the farm
Gardens
and a barn and it's quiet, on these back roads
We're
the last to get plowed out, when it snows
And
we're building a new room
There'll
be five of us come June
And
through the windows, the voices of the one I love the most
They're
making little boats and
Who
could say I need anything else
Who
could say I could have made more of myself?
I
could have been neither here nor there
Here
is the car, here the map and here the bus and here the train,
I'm
leaving you again
Another
motel, another ticket for the plane
Another
city of strangers, who know me by name and
I
am made of whims and praise
There
is nothing familiar at the end of the day
So
much road...
And
who could say I need anything else?
Who
could say I could have made more of myself?
I
could have been neither here nor there
Here
on the phone, in a truck stop, late for the big show
Oh
God I miss you you know and
Who
could say I need anything else?
And
who could say I could have made more of myself?
I
could have been, neither here nor there,
But
I have been neither here nor there
So
much for the best of both worlds
Here
nor there, yes I have been, neither here nor there
Always
Before
Walk these streets, no one
knows my name
City rain, I've come to fix
my wings again
It's always the same, this
brokenness, this shame
I don't know how long boy,
I can play this flying game
You think its easy, then
why don't you change?
You haven't been there, who
are you to say
That above all this
darkness, it's a clear clear day
Are you just gonna stand
there, are you gonna take my pain away?
Always before, when I could
no longer swim
I felt an arm under heavy
limbs
Hey you, on the shore
Are you watching anymore
Are you going to pull me
from this?
I need a hand under my ribs
I've seen their eyes,
they'll do anything
Sell the only thing they
have, to escape again
Out on the corner, selling
ticket till the mourning
Crawl back to a bridge, to
sleep it off until tomorrow
You could say, I bared my
veins of my own sweet will
You were the first, boy, to
clear your name, when trouble fell
You said "I'm not to
blame" and I said I'm empty all the same, empty all the same...
I am this night, I am air
rising from below
Under these miles of waste
and stone
I am living, I am still
warm
Always before, I had all
ways before me
Before, now I'm always to
find more before me, before me, before me
Hey you, who were before me
Be before me, and below me
and above me, now, always and forever,
Be before me now, (after
and before)
Lilith
Lilith says gravity is
nothing to fear
She's been talking to
angels
Trying to find a way, to
leave here
She borrows, steels a
smile, but she will not beg
For grace, to let her fly
this place
She's made of more than
borrowed bone
And of another's perfect
ghosts
I don't want to be lived
with
I don't want to be longed
for
I don't want to be lived
with
I don't want to long for
Lilith is wicked, 'cause
she asks for more
And her eyes are on Eden's
door, ready for the fall
He offers her silence, and
they call it bliss
Isn't it enough, to be
desired in the pretty place?
But heaven's orphan's on
the run
She's too busy to give
apples to anyone
She's a misunderstood myth
in some new age bookstore
And they're baring their
breasts at the Lilith fair
We're all a little too
worried about our hair...
I don't want to be lived
with
I don't want to be longed
for
I don't want to be lived
with
I don't want to long for
Why is she wicked, 'cause
she asks for more
She says, "I'll make
my way down below"
And her love is all
disorder
And her eyes are on Eden's
door, ready for the fall
She's gonna come down hard
oh, she's gonna come down hard...
Somewhere in our blood,
there's a woman of the earth
With her difficult eyes,
with her rags and her dirt
She's howling questions at
the sky
She calls you to yourself
in the middle of the night
Breathing
Lessons
All the things I've called
my own
Are in garbage bags in
mom's garage, mildewing
All the places I've called
home are changing
All left standing is a two
man tent
As a symbol, of my fading
independence
And a car, with insurance I
can't pay for
We've all lost boats before
Attacked by pirates, shot
down in war
If we're lucky, we lose a
dingy
If it's bad the Titanic
goes down
And a woman I know, she
said take your time
Between the breathing out
of the old and the breathing in...
And it's hard to swim, when
life seems like a sinking ship
And the breakers are
crashing, crashing in, and you need oxygen, oxygen, oxygen
Yesterday I got my degree
Now I'm educated,
unemployed, and fancy free
In love with a way of
living
That knows too much about
soul, nothing about money
Sometimes I feel like I'm
losing ground
Like I'm in quick sand,
going down
I want to reach tomorrow on
a non-stop flight
Want to pretend I'm in
control, like I've got some long term plans for my life...
I wake up scared in the
night,
Heart pounding in strange
places
Dream of post industrial
cities and of apathetic faces...
And a woman I know, she
said take your time
Between the breathing out
of the old and the breathing in...
And it's hard to swim, when
life seems like a sinking ship
And the breakers are
crashing, crashing in, and you need oxygen, oxygen, oxygen... |
|
Of all the million galaxies
How did we arrive in these,
Small bodies small lives
From the double helix of
space and time?
I'm feeling deep again,
It's getting late, and I've
had too much to drink!
Take me home, I'll follow
you
We'll tumble from this
midnight bar
What I'm really trying to
say is
It's good we came here
Assumed these bodies from
light years away
Now I'm weightless with you
In this dark house we're
dancing slow
To all this ragged jazz
On the midnight radio
Did you see the wind,
Under the hawk's wing
today?
Black feathers spiraling
Higher and higher against
the grey, against the grey
Your being in my bones
Is doing the same
Spinning dizzy, reeling
circles
Breathing my gravity away,
oh away
Now I'm weightless with you
Floating towards morning
A stillness just this side
of expectancy
It's enough to be alive in
this rain and fire
And I, I love the summer
August thunderstorms
Cooking big dinners with
the food we have grown
It's another kind of
elemental making love
Now I'm weightless with you
Floating towards the
morning
A stillness just this side
of so much desire
Just a dragonfly, just a
mountain fire
Weightless with you
Floating towards the
morning
Windows thrown wide
And the air tastes damp of
green things tonight
Of all the million galaxies
how did we arrive in these.
Small bodies small lives
Warm hands tonight
Of all the million galaxies
Of all ... of all
Over In A Barrel
Over stroganoff, we
consider Van Gogh
Entirely immersed, but sad,
sad to the bone
And I say, "Here, take
my ear, I'm gonna spend three years alone"
Then we laugh across the
table,
'Cause we know I never,
never wanna go
Over in that barrel
No, don't want to go deaf
and dumb and blind
You're all I want, you're
all I want, you're all I want tonight
You're all I want, you're
all I want tonight
Maybe later I'll, dream of
geologic time
How small we are, making
our circles and our rhymes
If Van Gogh went to the
moon, you think she'd care or know his name
Does the universe hold its
breath... on each lonely man's fame?
They went, over in that
barrel
Yeah, they went deaf and
dumb and blind
All this to sell one
painting and then take his own life
I prefer our dinner, pour
me more wine -
Ready to dive
Full tilt, into the rest of
this brief life
If I knew where that was,
I'd go there tonight
But I'm no, Beethoven,
you're no Matisse, no Van Gogh no, no
No brilliant, deaf and dumb
and blind
So let's have our second
helping and curl up in each other's light
We don't have to decide,
anything tonight
We don't have to decide,
anything tonight
(We don't have to)
Twister
There are whirlpools in the
deep
Riptides on the shore and
tornadoes in the drain
You know a bad one's coming
when there's been a yellow rain
It's been a torrential kind
of day
And the thunder is loud
If we don't get blown away
first
We are sure to get drowned
There is hot air rising and
doorknob clouds
Dorothy get out of here
somehow
Find your dog and seek
shelter underground or you'll go
Round and round, round and
round and here we go again
What new news do you bring?
We've covered this ground
before
Beaten this dead horse
You're the cat in my head,
chasing it's tail
The Indy 500,
colliding with the guardrail
I am a thousand revolving
doors, a prisoner of centrifugal force
A galaxy orbiting a grey
sun, trying, trying to move on...
Pinwheels, twisters,
clockwork and trains
From the new verse we
always, always go, back to the same refrain
From the need for comfort
to the terror of change
Run Away
In the drugged lull of the
afternoon, meet me there, oh, slip away
I know there's work to do
around here, but it can wait
For an hour or two
Run away with me, run away
with me
It doesn't matter where we go
Down by the creek or in the
tall grass or Mexico
There's a glimmer in the
gardener's eye, it's been there for a while
And it's beginning to take
on a life of it's own
Oh, run away with me, run
away with me
And the dusty dry fields,
have an idea, of something growing
And they talk amongst
themselves, of the ragged joys to come...
Run away with me, run away
with me
The prayer of our bodies
under a crimson sun
Run run, run from the voice
of reason
You're brave responsibility
makes me crazy
Run away with me, run away
with me
And after you're gone and I
am alone again
With the taste of soup and
kisses and the moon rising
Almost ridiculous with the
goodness of living
Love's the impossible habit
to break...
Little Bit
I'm not having a mood
Maybe just a little blue
There's nothing you can
say, and nothing you can do
Think I need to be alone
Need to find some kind of
home
I know I'll be better
tomorrow, I know I'll be better tomorrow
Why are we always walking
two steps ahead of ourselves?
Why are our minds always
ahead of our bodies?
Why is it that even in
paradise there's something I don't have that I'd like?
'Cause there is always a
little bit missing
I want to give you
everything and then
I want it all back tomorrow
I want to be, want to be
your lover
And then I want to be
everything other than what I am
Want to risk it all tonight
and be safe again in the morning
Be safe again in the
morning...
I'm not being defensive!
I've just got nothing left
to give
No words could make you
understand
I'm thinking in my own
language again
(Thinking in my own
language)
Why are we always creating
new destinations?
Is it the American dream or
is the human condition?
It's so hard to go along
for the ride
Not to be obsessed with
when you'll arrive
In between every word a
million things go unheard
Inside every sigh and
behind every closed eye
Every breath there's
something left unsaid, every day some need goes unmet
'Cause there is always a
little bit missing
We live in the conditional
sense and wonder why we're discontent
Maybe if I, could've,
should've, would've, maybe tomorrow or next year
Maybe on my birthday, or
when the mortgage is paid,
If I leave him tomorrow or
if he leaves me...
Morning
Hymn
Never the less - always the
more
Love offered, love's in
store
Right here - Not after or
before
This
blue-grey hour, before
the day is born
Under this skin - Between
these lungs
We're all made of, risks
and revelations
Early morning, the world is
calm
We're all these webs of
light,
In here woven
Nothing has to be lost
And everything stands to be
gained
We could live our lives
towards some possible pain
But why not be here today?
And of all these thousand
things
None were mine to begin
with
For instance the sun
A thousand wings rising
For instance the sun
You loped in - From such a
long long distance
And I know, you could lope
off again
But steady now, we begin
Crawl from our dark hollow
Towards this bright season
Girl's Song
(Inspired by the poetry of
W.B. Yeats)
Night rides
in on a calcium moon
We drive
down to the water
To meet the
green river's edge
Poetry,
vanilla candles in the firefly dim
Sisters two
on the cold sand
Where the
tornado's swum before
Naked in our
love, in our breath
Naked in the
June air
Wade into
the deep
Into the
jade of sky
We sing the
girl song
She and I
and I and she
Saw I an old
man young or a young man old?
Saw I an old
man young or a young man old?
No
matter No matter No Matter
Wash now,
make your body sweet
Nurtured by
the sailing moon
She shall
love, my soul as though
Body were
not all and all were not body
Ripples
emerald from my child limbs
Shimmer
whisper onto stone
I am but a
small pebble in these water rings
Floating in,
these cool fish pools of evening |
