Jackson
He sits alone in the evening
In his reclining easy chair
But in his mind he’s back in Pensacola
A dew-sweeper in the crisp clean morning air

He finds it hard to get around now
One bad knee and two bad hips
But he swears but God he’ll be out there next year
Holding a rake and not this Goddamn walking stick

And with a constancy that some might call a fallacy he smiles
Is it bravery or the vestiges of slavery or just his style

Hully knew the breeze, he could just feel it there
He told his man to hold his ball up on that wind
When Floyd made birdies, he took a trophy home
While Hully, he just hugged Marie at the end

And with a faithfulness that some might label foolishness he smiles
Is it hopefulness or just the fear of loneliness or just his style

He says, I’ll see you down in Jackson, I’m still living it up down here
The Rabbit won’t be running he’s in Jersey drinking beer
But I will read the wind and club you to a victory, next year

Now there’s a Tiger on the TV screen
And that’s a swing that’ll make a black man so proud
At his best he could have ridden him to the golden tee
Still could do it now with just one good eye

And with a constancy that some might call a fallacy he smiles
Is it bravery or the vestiges of slavery or just his style

He says, I’ll see you down in Jackson, I’m still living it up down here
The Rabbit won’t be running he’s in Jersey drinking beer
But I will read the wind and club you to a victory, next year

 

 

Last Chance
The irony was when he finally got sick
He hadn’t had a smoke in years
Then he could hardly breathe or leave his bed
Second wife drove him in to the city next morning
But they just confirmed his fears
About the end of the road coming around the bend

Images shattered when the children gathered
To bend sympathetic ears
But old silence reared its shifty, solemn head
Even Jenny came around looking duty-bound
She hadn’t seen his face in years
It was the last chance, but nothing much was said

The old crow’s flying high on the midnight sky
He’s not bound to land so baby don’t be shy
To let your voice ring like it cannot ring again
You’d be so relieved if you could just say what you mean
Before the curtain falls on the final scene

I drove all night with a storm in sight
A cold blanket pulled across the land
And lost time swirling round and round in my head
There’s no choice you know when letting go
Is in someone else’s hands
And even warm words aren’t enough to wake the dead

The old crow’s flying high on the midnight sky
He’s not bound to land so baby don’t be shy
To let your voice ring like it cannot ring again
I’d be so relieved if I could just say what I mean
Before the curtain falls on the final scene

 

 

Better Yield
Head in a constant spin with my mind racing
Concentration slipping like gears stripping
Has the mill broke down or is it simply needing
Some new grist to grind for a better yield

Sitting along and working out bad endings
Motivation waning like daylight fading
Has the seam run dry or is it simply needing
Some experience to mine for a better yield

Farmers know that it’s a matter of time
And patient action’s not is own reward
Do they see some direction that I can’t find
In those long lines of golden corn

Not an hour to spare, not excuse for sleeping
Resignation failing to calm this yearning
I was a happy boy, I was not expecting
Such a constant struggle for, a better yield

 

 

Fall
The summer was sneaking
Out throught the screen door
The door that’s so patched up
You can’t see through it anymore

I rose to run out after
But it was gone on down the river
Leaves were falling, fall was rising
With the winds out on the water

And the smell of sad surrender
It pierced the air like a whisper
As I stood and caught the sunlight
Racing to the kitchen floor

Oh the times I’ve had
Haven’t been so bad
But there’s this wistful ghost that won’t go away
It blows into town
When the fall comes around
And the world is tinged with the scent of slow decay

I stood by the curtain
Watched the dust float, uncertain
Like a million thoughts at midnight
Two bodies in the tide

You are my friend on the pathway
You are an angel and a devil
And I don’t know if I’ll hear your voice once more
Calling out to mine

And in that very situation
The end of winter’s short vacation
I was lonely as a clock tower
Still I had to crack a smile

Cause the times we’ve had
Haven’t been so bad
And what did we deserve anyway
We all try to find
Something sure and kind
As we roll these rocks across the dying world a ways

 

Middle Ground
I saw those engines roaring across a high place
The clouds of smoke enthralled the crowd
But my eyes were searching the earth for your face
Where my strength is found, in the middle ground

I saw grand gestures rising from her hands and her face
She took me out to paint the town
But your eyes, they brim with empathy and grace
Through the ups and downs, of the middle ground

We may come from a promised land
And back there may be where we’re bound
The world between becomes me when I understand
That the truth may lie
In the middle ground

So now when the rain’s beginning to soak right through my brain
I cover up and I hunker down
I look in your eyes and I know I will sustain
I am lost and found, in the middle ground


 

Never Be Mine
There’s things I wish that I could say
But I know, you’d only turn away
Like me, you can’t lie
About conflict or desire

And I know you’re never gonna be mine

Days when nothing’s going right
I want to talk to you at night
And touch you, on the line
I hold the phone in the dark alone

And I know you’ll never be mine
I’m looking for some words that you can’t find

But I’m blind when my soul is waiting
Blind when my heart’s on fire

In time I’d learn to love you well
A hand up every time you fell
But you won’t fall this time
That’s beyond doubt or denial

And I know you’re never gonna be mine
But I’m still looking for those words that you can’t find

Cause I’m blind when my soul is waiting
Blind when my heart’s on fire

There’s things I wish that I could say…


 

Nobody Here
There’s nobody here right now
Feel like I’m riding some old train
As it rolls through the night
And rips through a driving rain

Oh yes I’ll go out of my mind
That won’t take me too far
Cause I know you’re gone
Hell, I don’t even know where you are

Did you run to Vancouver
Did you roll to New York
Forwards and far away
Anywhere but down this drain

There’s nobody here right now
No one within these four walls
But still I’m listenin’
For some sign of life down the hall

Oh yes I’m going out of my mind
I know, I’ve been there before
In empty cars, and shitty bars
And standing for the last time at your door

I should run away to Vancouver
I should roll to New York
Forwards and far away,
Anywhere but down this here drain

There’s nobody here right now
Nobody riding on this train
There’s just the sound of a sad whistle
Blowing again and again

 

Out There
Out on highway 89
Just across the Quebec line
Emptied mind attuned to the sound of the radio
I press the pedal down near the floor
A hundred miles outside that frantic roar
Of the city, and the life we’d come to know

Out there
Without a care
Alone and in love
With the idea of everything

I pulled the car down to a stop
By the young green waves of this year’s crop
And watched the dust rise on the wind beside the road
I remember when you were young
We used to travel out on the weekends some,
We’d just go anywhere, cause we had nowhere to go

Out there
Without a care
Alone and in love
With the idea of everything

Oh my baby, please don’t feel like you’ve gotta move, every hour of every day
I can’t tell you all the times I ran in circles, just to keep my self at bay

I watched you grow, now my road is clear
But how I wish you were here
You’re still a young girl in my mind even though

You’re out there
Without a care
Alone and in love
With the idea of everything


 

Ruth (For Ruth Deware, 1913-2000)
Emma was a baby
Born on a Wednesday
In a clean white private room
Those tears and smiles are meant to welcome you

Ruth died Saturday
Though it was late night Friday
When she closed her eyes for good
Her short breathing stopped when her heart told it to

No roadmap, no sign
On this great long incline
No reason to cry
Just a mountain to climb

Roast pork supper
At a cottage on the water
With a memory in every view
You’ve gone to join your friends who long ago left you

But who’ll watch the river
And who’ll hold the center
Of this family who loved you
It seems more than a little bit fragile now to tell the truth

No roadmap, no sign
Just this mountain to climb
No reason to cry
Just a moment in time

 

Uncommon Bond
I’m was just like an old man on the bench outside the bank
I use to come home late and pick something up to heed that constant call
It was always the menace on my road, cause I never knew just how far I’d go

We had a little baby, she was lying in your arms
All dressed up in her hat and coat and boots and mitts and scarf
You chose to run, but I didn’t go,
I just held her like I held you years ago

And that gold will lie in wait til you come home
Though we walk on different paths, you are still my own
Cause we share and effortless constant in this crazy world
And uncommon bond

We were trapped and wild like fish in a bowl
Swimming around and around til the currents cast a wall from a fragile shoal
And our brains were muddy and our eyes weren’t clear
And you drifted on a salty stream of tears

And that gold will lie in wait til you come home
Though we walk on different paths, you are still my own
Cause we share and effortless constant in this crazy world
And uncommon bond

There was a bond in the way, you held me on that day and you told me not to cry all alone
An uncommon bond in the loving words I told you everyday, when I held you close eyes closed tight in the dark

Now I’m gonna let it fly, I’m sick of lying everyday
Standing here pretending I don’t love in that same old way
Not a fool alive stands further from the truth,
And I’m a lot further now than I was in my youth

And that gold will lie in wait til you come home
Though we walk on different paths, you are still my own
Cause we share and effortless constant in this crazy world
And uncommon bond