IV
DOVES
We left out the mats
Winter cleaned the chill off of their tiles
We broke up our plans
And settled for a last run.
But the returning doves cried out
Above the shingles and satin lining
To press out what ink that we kept from each other
And mold a shell to live in.
At first light we joined the sun
Through the windows on cottage avenue
Looking into the damp soil;
We looked through.
So kingdom could finally come
We spoke over injuries and smiles
For armageddon had arosen
And heaven had lost it's gates.
Summit
It's nothing but uphill
With the wind scraping sideways
But a companion did rest here once
If not forever.
On this summit was cold and fever
A delight and yearning for everlasting
And at last you'd make the choice
To release the hounds and personal demons.
So forever you will search
For a glimpse of the pale sunlight
Something that you couldn't reach alone
Something far and grown from home.
And atop the summit is free reign
Free choice and hearts of amethyst
Bringing forth the final compromise
That will last until the new age.
Heart-rise
It's time to fall
Fall into the sky
With the clothes on your back
And a distant smile.
It drags you back home
To rise and resist the smoke
To lay out in the night again
And ink your soul.
But even the gifted are short lived
Trespassing on the mantle
Walking along the razors edge
Trying to remember the photos taken.
So give the mind to a strangers request
Lay awake beside them
For not now then when?
This will keep you awake.
And within reason is our doctrine
to let loose the instinct to cry out
In the middle of dusk
Into the rotten corn fields
This is heart-rise
The human element
The hope in darkest hour
The hope in the jukebox.
Dig
Don't dig your hole too deep
Or the rain will fill it thorugh
Grace has not forgetten
The inviting face it's reflected on.
Don't let a frown fracture your life
For the lions and kingdom will always remember
The nights lasting long and free
And the marks held in your skin.
Let the light filter back slowly
Past the smoke and fiery days
Let it pierce your smile and engrave
A picture few have been able to paint,
And these words will ramble on and on
Until my fringers cease to run
But I will always remember the rooms and luck
Brought back into my life
Brought back from your warmth.
Losing
Heartbrake has snuck up
With doubt in one hand
And reason in the other
The point is losing grasp
Rope breaking in every turn
And the bottomless fall is worst
With memory and tears at every foot
Losing the grip of realtiy too;
Losing track of every clouded day
Losing track of cheer and hours
Losing track of the pain in your side.
And at the end you must learn which side is up
The sirens won't provide remorse
Your hands have turned to stone
Along with your compass bearing
And the journey to ascent is cold
Nevermind the chilling rain
Or the thoughts that keep you company
In your room of grey.
With spring there is hope
But the birds soon eat it away
you've lost inspiration and relief
It's just the gallows and God
Summer rolled in with a dim heat
That awakes yiour body for a cigarette
And lying dazed you inhale
The one friend who will say hello
You'll walk the dim streets at night
Past the windows filled with light
Love spilling into a blank canvas
A canvas with cracks.
Fall redeems the spotlight
Searching stages and backed up alleys
For another embrace t ofill the void
But puddles and dirt are all company.
Winter bites you hands
A reminder that you arenot alone
The world has brought a flower in uncertain times
If only to blossom for hours.
Violence & Gratitude
I won't take it for granted
Or take advantage
It's something that changes leaves
And brings a freeze if only for a moment.
I say I'm loooking for something
That will never part
Till death parts my lungs for good
maybe a god, maybe the sunrise.
I'm listening for the anthem
For the heartache and whole
For real violence and gratitude
And at last the breath of fortune.
Death Bed
The sky is cleared
For the regress of my eyes
And my bones creak left and right
To remind me of my place.
Without a doubt I'm growing old
Each day brings a necesity
That covers my face and stubble
That conceaves my mortality.
But the stark premonition
Brings reality into my dry fingers
As they crack and caress my strings
They debt my thoughts into eternity
So jog my memory once more
And tell me why I'm here
Why I am up in the devils hour
Smoking my minutes away
Tell me why I think in grey
Or why I crave everlasting everything
Why amplifiers can bring tears
And others can bring nothing.
On my death bed I will find the other end
Of my bickering and solemn smile
Why I choose love over lust
And why I am so human.
Redeem
It's time to redeem the tickets
To bind with union and brother
To fight for a rightfull cause
Past the train and rusted tracks.
It's time to embrace the hands
That bind our species together
It's time to open the dank casket
And throw ourselves in.
But don't forget the past that we flew from
The iron-cast cage that holds our emotions
As the Bragg tune clanks in the back
We'll remember a sense of purpose.
And maybe one day the iron curtain will fall
From the far east and the midwest
We'll grow into adults
And step out of te sandbox.
This is the last prashing that's due
After the sorrow and strings
I'm still active at heart
finding my leap forwards.
Sleep
Sleep or rest
Either is the same
In this night of everything
The heart will never forget.
And rolling and twisting
In the warm bright sheets
The answer is along with the yearning
For questions and memory.
So sleep and rest your eyes
Forget the trees and birds in the wind
They'll be there tomorrow
Along with the faces that call us home.
Without
I can hear the crowd coming
Into the lights we hold
I can hear the cheers and jaunts
Past the walls and on to Jericho.
And as the last chord dies
I can feel peace resume schedule
The sweat has taken my strength
And passed it to the listening
At last I can rest my hands
They've lost purity
But in the starlight it's forgotten
Along with my strength
Resting will bring back my addict
Aiding the common mans' woe
Without it I am nothing
Without it I am whole.
Doubt
Don't doubt the blackbirds' cry
He cannot count on anymore
His light went out long ago
Left to sail clouded skies and dusk.
Believe in the gospel she said
A higher power loves forever
But the concrete you call home
Will hold you forever.
Break free from your old room
Whispered the angel on your shoulder
Solitude is no punishment for sin
A field of roses will make suit.
Forget your dreams he said
And put on your shoes
Tin cans and gold will fill the gap
And fuel your desire to dream.
Carry me to the beach
Hummed to the crowd
And paint my portrait for my children
Lest they forgot what once was.
Pour
Pour me out like rain
And pick up the peices
So that I don't die in the dark
Or break my hands again
Let my light dim once again
So that I am not noticed
I'll lay dormant and sleepy
With prison in my eyes
Waiting wil only bring me solice
Or a hole in the center
Bored out for waiting
And for reckless ideals
Pray for me like children
Like lost birds on migration
So that one day dusk will break even
And my wings will rest
Crimson
Dark crimson flooded over the floor
Followed by hallowed remarks
Of a man trapped in a corner
Left to drink from the well
Tides brought in drifting folk
With more mouths than food
A burden that displaced all
And enlightened few.
Clouds flew over the rooftops
Leaving grey to blanket the picnic
Flushing color out of the young man
With thoughts of war and wisdom
Light cracked the sky
Full of old ironside whiskey
Dumbing everyone who fought for the likes
And comdemming those who stand strong.
Fire hissed the same direction
Calling for fields to be sewn
Harassing the blind man
For seeing any hope.
And in the end came doom
Billowing up from our guts
Instinct took over all emotion
And the end brought out the wolves
Inside the watchmakers and writers
The school teachers and guards
Prisoners and sinners showed the true color
Of being alone through the stone age.
Bring
Rainstorm bring me peace
Ping one last time on my pane
As clouds cover up my scars
I'll wash away the soot soon
Bring me comfort in a dark hour
Replace the smoke that filled my lungs
That sped my heart up to rate
To keep up with her smile.
Redeem my hopes for a new tomorrow
Rest my eyes from this cold view
Let me escape past fire and fiction
To the road that ends far away
Bring me them back
Distance has dusted the rooftops
Kept the windows shut
And kept them ill and awake.
Lift my hurt veins from Eden
Onto warm bed that is new
With stars above
And heaven underneath
I
Running away is losing it's gold leaf
Casting myself away with the strays
Living is an appointment running low
But that's the way I am raised
And sitting under a starred sky
I do wonder why
Why everything is a beautiful mess
Why everything is dueled with nothing
But wisdom is not in my youth
Not until the next stop
The stop where lillies will always blossom
Into the night air
So I wonder but sit with my friends
Because our meaning is the point
Not found in a book or someone's palm
But inside, past the spiderweb circles
And in the end I am ignorant
Along with everyone walking the street
Beside an old bulding
Weeping over past regret
My youth is ever preseny
With the scars and aches of old dreams
Dreams that no one will take from me
Dreams that go unspoken.
One day I'll change
Turn into the old man that haunts my eyes
That controls my hands and heart strings
That strum an old chord in someone new
Yet the blackbirds never crow for my doing
It seems that I'm lost in the moonlight
Floating with booze and memiors together
Keeping a steady lazy light on my chin
So once more I'll look past it all
And remember the most important fate
The one I can hold and sing into
At least until the sirens end.
I’ll
My blood will not spill
Any longer than your words
Not more than your eyes
Or the curve or Neptune
It will stay put
Like GI's in a foxhole
Pressured by mortar-light
To stay until the red dawn
It will flow evenly
Across the hole in my clothes
Along the borderline of reason
In beat with the heavy drums
In an end it will cease
With the pumping that I hum
Day and night, after it all
I will become numb and tall
And that will be everything
Life passed past already
So i'll sit and wonder
Where all the birds went
I'll walk the road on my own
Cut down and spread over you
So that one way will become two
At least it will shine after all.
I’ve
I've sewn for too long
Worn my hands and shoes
Down to bare nothing
With a black cloud looming
I've paid in full
But it's never to the rim
Close to where I need to be
Holding my head above the water
I've entered the devils' land
Sin and freedom colliding
On the roofs and streets' end
Where we used to lye
I've sang my piece
For all of the minutemen and dogs
Who pretend to live honestly
At a minutes' notice
I've cried the tears
That fill the sea and pitchers
That fill the void and canyons
That shake the leaves
And I've tried my trial
Nothing unique to myself
So I'll write and dream out
My thoughts and ache
No Talking
No talking two feet away
Two mature kids brought,
Thinking each was the smarter
But in the end dumb either way
If I can wait
She thought loudly
That'll show him
Show my headstrong nature
If I try to talk
He said over music
Maybe that will be right
Maybe it'll cool the flames
But In the end it was the walls
That won the war
Stormed the trenches that covered
All the holes in the Ceiling
So lay quiet one more time
This will solve it all
Maybe this will bring the golden egg
Or take away your legs.
Once
Jourmey on my road to ruin
Prince amd kings from far away
Hold my halberd and chain
Until sorrow is cast to grey.
Take your place at the end and beginning
Give me thanks from your smile
Take present of my life
And leave me when I'm old.
Drive my car and drink my wine
Unless I cry out
Keep the vultures from my body
They've pecked out a life in my dreams.
And let my body burn
For what I've done on this plain
See to it that I am left to dream
Until I regress into the stone age.
Let my ash bring spring into
Leave after the dirt has settled
So that I can think of a way out
One last time.
Regret
It's been a while
Clouding up into wispfull design
It's been a while for my chest
Breathing in someone's air
And now the rain begins
With the first day of spring
Without the reason needed
To make sense of my senses
Now the cold air rises back
Over the color that reclaimed
All of the gray lost to winter
All of the days that fought hunger
So please look over me
Whomever this concerns
Don't let hatred bring tears
Or bring regret in love's image
Rocks
Rocks are beating in my chest
Old as boulders with moss
And I can't wait any longer
For the ferry to close it's gates
This will hurt and bring me down
Although it's my own doing
But at least I'll sheathe the sword
Keep it away from my neck
Now we'll go to mundane rhythms
Back to the tennis courts and office
For the next eternity for the kids
It'll seem like this to me at a glance
Maybe it will flower down the line
I'll walk it to keep watch
Odds are against it
Concrete is what resides here
Shadows
shadows let me down
let me turn into one
or fill my lungs with smoke
and walk along with a crutch
fingers tell my story
of the tears and the breaks
with people I love and miss
of the girl that helps me through
person I know and cherish
take me to Eden before I die
bathe me in light and the stars
so my grown life can start
Soldier
There is goes
What used to be my own
Now I'll stand here
And try to plat the roses
I'll miz all the sounds
That sum me up through
All the verses or nouns
It'll make me new
Then the road will turn
And my hands will stray
past the carnival lights
Or the soldiers beret
It's taken my heart this long
To widdle at the land locked blues
So once again the fiddle will play
And the kids in the back will roar.
Stand
Stand up to be remembered
For your sin and ash ridden clothes
For your journey to Bethlehem
On away you go.
I could never tame you
Or attain the same thoughts
So I'll lay quiet and distant
Listening to the bells ring
You call yourself innocent
Like the rest of us
But innocent yould be underground
Like your broken thumbs
you could call it a loan
Or something I could never repay
My debt will outlast my body
And be forgotten
Back to the stone age
Just say you'll wait for me
Until the birds let me go
Release me to the gates
Where we can walk together
Wait for my selfless thoughts to die down
So that the movie can start again
We can watch the outlaws and indians
Battle the daily wars and struggle
Lay down and rest your tired head
Let the leaves flow out to autumn
Bring me the horizon I'm looking for
The one that we'll end on.
Still
Still in the sunshine
You've caught a cold
Standing in the middle
You've lost your hope
Motionless among hope
I've quit my deeds
Fed them to the wolves
For something that ends
And Spring seems to far off
With the days retaining bitterness
Despair, and blue eyes
Until that sun brings you back
I'll watch over the fields
I'll mend the clothes and windows
And rinse the walls clean
But until then I will keep time
So that one day you'll wonder back
Sit along with the newspapers
And check the time,
The End
I've tried to see the end result
Far off in mist and sheds
But the end is a pipe dream
Something we all consider true
The end is nothing
Nothing is the end
It's the loss of hope
And the start of sufferage
End will come when my lungs
Lose their voice in te world
Or when my arms are to weak
To hold up our public image
So one last time I'm stuck
Crammed in between floorboards
In a house that is traveled less
In a world that is going amuck
My
My life is fragmented
And will go on past my date
Past the signs I had carved
Past the hearts I had held
My life is many in one
I did not make it whole
Without the hands and faces
There would be no reason
So when I sit in judgement
I will breathe in the night air
Look at the dead end of reverse
And mend my sorrow
I will thank the pilgrim
Who taught the gun and truth
Who sat and watched over my drunk sleep
Who brought flowers to my doorstep.
For within conclusion lyes my taste
Lyes what would have been
If I had said yes or no to you
And thought of my own doing
So in the end there will be no tomorrow
But only the chords that I rang
If that is what I will be judged on
The gates might open and sing for me.