1.Easy
easy
easy
my man and me
we could rest and remain here easily
we are tested and pained by what's beyond our bed
we're blessed and sustained by what is not said
no one knows what is coming
who will harvest what we have sown
or how i've been dulling and dulling
in the service of the heart alone
or how i am warmed to the bone by the river
and in the river, made a life
i'm your little life-giver
i will give my life
have you seen what i've seen？
don't you know what you ought to do？
i was born to love
and i intend to love you
down in the valley, where the fields of green
watch my luck turn full into love
paralyzed daisy, cling 'til only i may love you
i am easy
easy to keep
honey, you please me
even in your sleep
but my arms want to carry
my heart wants to hold
tell me your worries：
i want to be told
sit and see how the fog from the port in the bay
lays like snow at the foot of the Roanoke
hear the frog going courtin'
'til the day he croaks
saying even then, 'how there is light in the river
there's a river made of light
c'mon, you little light-giver
give your light'
who asked, who asked you if you wanna be
loved by me？
who died and made you
in charge of who loves who？
i (..)
if i have my way, i will love you
want can't carry the weight
change the fate of two
i've been waiting for a break
how long's it gonna take？ let me love you
how about it？ how about what i have to say？
how about if i (..)
how'm i gonna stay here without you？
2.Have One On Me
From the courtyard, I floated in
and watched it go down.
Heard the cup drop;
thought, 'Well,
that's why they keep them around.'
The blackguard sat hard, down,
with no head on him now,
and I felt so bad,
cause I didn't know how
to feel bad enough
to make him proud.
By the time you read this,
I will be so far away.
Daddy longlegs, how in the world
am I to be expected to stay？
In the night--
in the night, you may hear me call
Pa, stay your hand
and steel your resolve.
Stay where you are,
so long and tall.
Here's Lola--ta da!--to do
her famous Spider Dance for you!
Lighten up your pockets!
Shake her skirts and scatter, there,
a shrieking, six-legged millionaire
with a blight in his sockets.
Miss Montez,
the Countess of Lansfeld,
appealed to the King of Bavaria,
saying, 'Pretty papa,
if you are my friend--
mister daddy longlegs, they are at it again!--
Can I see you？'
Poor Lola! A tarantula's mounting
Countess Lansfeld's
handsome brassiere,
while they all cheer.
And the old king fell from grace,
while Lola fled,
To save face and her career
You caught a fly, floating by,
Wait for him to drown in the dust;
drown in the dust of other flies,
whereby the machine is run,
and the deed is done.
Heaven has no word
for the way you and your friends
have treated poor Louis.
May god save your poor soul, Lola.
(But there is nothing I adore,
apart from that whore's black heart.)
Well, doesn't that just beat all!
Miss Gilbert,
called to Castlemaine
by the silver dollar and the gold glitter!
Well, I've seen lots,
but never, in a million years,
would think to see you, here.
Though the long road
begins and ends with you,
I cannot seem to make amends
with you, Louis.
When we go out,
they're bound to see you with me.
At night, I walk in the park,
with a whip,
between the lines
of the whispering Jesuits,
who are poisoning you against me.
There's a big black spider
hanging over my door.
Can't go anywhere, anymore.
Tell me, are you with me？
I called to you, several times,
while the change took place
and then arrived, all night,
and I died.
But all these songs,
when you and I are long gone,
will carry on.
Mud in your eye.
You asked my hand,
hired a band.
'In your heart is all that you need;
ask and you will receive,' it is said.
I threw my bouquet,
and I knocked 'em dead.
Bottle of white, bottle of red.
Helpless as a child,
when you held me in your arms,
and I knew that no other
could ever love me as you loved.
But help me! I'm leaving!
I remember everything,
down to the sound of you shaving--
the scrape of your razor,
the dully-abrading black hair
that remained
when you clutched at me,
that night I came upstairs, half-dead,
and, in your kindness,
you put me straightaway
in the cupboard,
with a bottle of champagne,
and then, later, on a train.
It was dark out, I was half-dead.
I saw a star fall into the sky,
like a chunk of thrown coal,
as if god himself spat
like a cornered rat.
I really want you to do this for me,
will you have one on me？
It was dark; I was drunk and half-dead,
and we slept, knocking heads,
sitting up in the star-smoking air,
knocking heads like buoys.
Don't you worry for me!
Have one on me!
Meanwhile, I will raise my own glass
to how you made me fast
and expendable,
and I will drink to your excellent health,
and your cruelty.
Will you have one on me？
3.'81
I found a little plot of land
in the garden of eden
it was dirt and dirt is all the same
I tilled it with my two hands
and I called it my very own
There was no one to dispute my claim
Well, you'd be shocked at the state of things
The whole place had just cleared right out
It was hotter than hell, so I lay me by a spring
For a spell as naked as a trout
The wandering eye that I have caught
Is as hot as a wandering sun
But I will want for nothing more, in the garden to start again
In the hardening of every new heart but one
Meet me in the garden of Eden,
Bring a friend, we are going to have a time
We have are going to have a garden party,
It's on me, no sir-e, it's my dime
We broke out hearts in the war between
St. George and the dragon
But both in equal parts are welcome to come along
To come along, I'm inviting everyone
Farewell, to loves that I have known
Even muddiest as waters run
Tell me what is meant by sitting alone in a garden,
Seceded from the Union in the year of '81？
The unending amends you made
Are enough for one life, be done
I believe in innocence, little darling, start again
I believe in everyone
I believe, regardless, I believe in everyone
4.Good Intentions Paving Company
Twenty miles left to the show
Hello, my old country, hello
Stars are just beginning to appear
And I have never in my life before been here
And it's my heart, not me, who cannot drive
At which conclusion you arrived
Watching me sit here bolt upright and cry
For no good reason at the Eastering sky
And the tilt of this strange nation
And the will to remain for the duration
Waving the flag
Feeling it drag
Like a bump on a bump on a log, baby
Like I'm in a fist fight with a fog, baby
Step-ball-change and a pirouette
And I regret, I regret
How I said to you, 'honey, just open your heart'
When I've got trouble even opening a honey jar
And that right there is where we are...
And I been 'fessing double fast
Addressing questions nobody asked
I'll get this joy off of my chest at last
And I will love you 'til the noise has long since passed
And I did not mean to shout, just drive
Just get us out, dead or alive
A road too long to mention, lord, it's something to see!
Laid down by the good intentions paving company
All the way to the thing we've been playing at, darlin'
I can see that you're wearing your staying hat, darlin'
For the time being all is well
Won't you love me a spell？
This is blindness beyond all conceiving
Well, behind us the road is leaving, yeah, leaving
And falling back
Like a rope gone slack
Well, I saw straight away that the lay was steep
But I fell for you, honey, as easy as falling asleep
And that right there is the course I keep...
And no amount of talking
Is going to soften the fall
But, like after the rain, step out
Of the overhang, that's all
It had a nice a ring to it
When the ol' opry house rang
So with a solemn auld lang
Signed, sealed, delivered, I sang
And there is hesitation
And it always remains
Concerning you, me,
And the rest of the gang
And in our quiet hour
I feel I see everything
And am in love with the hook
Upon which everyone hangs
And I know you meant to show the extent
To which you gave a goddang
You ranged real hot and real cold but I'm sold
I am home on that range
And I do hate to fold
Right here at the top of my game
When I've been trying with my whole heart and soul
To stay right here in the right lane
But it can make you feel over and old
Lord, you know it's a shame
When I only want for you to pull over and hold me
'Til I can't remember my own name
5.No Provenance
Allelu, allelu：
I have died happy,
and lived to tell the tale to you.
I have slept for forty years,
and woke to find me gone.
I woke safe and warm in your arms.
Not informed of the natural law,
squatting, lordly, on a stool, in a stall,
we spun gold clear out of straw.
And, when our bales of bullion
were stored,
you burned me like a barn.
I burned safe and warm in your arms.
I'm afraid of the Big Return.
There's a certain conversation lost,
and that loss incurred
with nobody remaining,
to register who had passed this way,
in the night,
in the middle of the night
(negating their grace and their sight),
till only I remember, or mark,
how we had our talk：
We took our ride,
so that there was no-one home,
and the lights of Rome
flickered and died.
And, what's more,
I believe that you knew it, too;
I think you saw their flares,
and kept me safely unawares,
in your arms.
The grass was tall, and strung with burrs,
I essayed that high sashay which,
in my mind, was my way;
you hung behind, in yours.
Anyhow, she did not neigh.
I do not know
what drew our eyes to hers;
that little black mare did not stir,
till I lay down in your arms.
Poor old dirty little dog-size horse!--
swaying and wheezing,
as a matter of course;
swaying and wheezing,
as a matter of pride.
That poor old nag, not four palms wide,
had waited a long time,
coated in salt,
buckled like a ship run foul of the fence.
In the middle of the night,
she'd sprung up,
no provenance,
bearing the whites of her eyes.
And you, with your
'arrangement' with Fate,
nodded sadly at her lame assault
on that steady old gate,
her faultlessly etiolated fishbelly-face;
the muzzle of a ghost.
And, pretty Johnny Appleseed,
via satellite feed,
tell us, who was it
that you then loved the most？
Pretty Johnny Appleseed,
leave a trail that leads
straight back down to the farm.
Lay me down
safe and warm in your arms.
6.Baby Birch
This is the song for Baby Birch.
I will never know you.
And at the back of what we've done,
there is that knowledge of you.
I wish we could take every path.
I could spend a hundred years
adoring you.
Yes, I wish we could take every path,
because I hated to close
the door on you.
Do you remember staring,
up at the stars,
so far away in their bulletproof cars？
We heard the rushing, slow intake
of the dark, dark water,
and the engine breaks,
and I said,
How about them engine breaks？
And, if I should die before I wake,
will you keep an eye on Baby Birch？
Because I'd hate to see her
make the same mistakes.
When it was dark,
I called and you came.
When it was dark, I saw shapes.
When I see stars, I feel, in your hand,
and I see stars,
and I reel, again.
Well mercy me. I'll be goddamned.
It's been a long, long time
since I last saw you.
And I have never known the plan.
It's been a long, long time.
How are you？
Your eyes are green. Your hair is gold.
Your hair is black. Your eyes are blue.
I closed the ranks, and I doubled back--
but, you know, I hated to close
the door on you.
We take a walk along the dirty lake.
Hear the goose,
cussing at me over her eggs.
You poor little cousin.
I don't want your dregs
(A little baby fussing all over my legs).
There is a blacksmith,
and there is a shepherd,
and there is a butcher-boy,
and there is a barber, who's cutting
and cutting away at my only joy.
I saw a rabbit,
as slick as a knife,
and as pale as a candlestick,
and I had thought it'd be harder to do,
but I caught her, and skinned her quick：
held her there,
kicking and mewling,
upended, unspooling, unsung and blue;
told her 'wherever you go,
little runaway bunny,
I will find you.'
And then she ran,
as they're liable to do.
Be at peace, baby, and begone.
7.On A Good Day
Hey hey hey the end is near
On a good day you can see the end from here
But I won't turn back now though the way is clear
I will stay for the remainder
I saw a life and I called it mine
I saw it drawn so sweet and fine
And I had begun to fill in all the lines
Right down to what we'd name her
Our nature does not change by will
In the Winter 'round the ruined mill
The creek is lying flat and still
It is water though it's frozen
So, across the years and miles and through
On a good day you can feel my love for you
Will you leave me be so that we can stay true
To the path that you have chosen？
8.You And Me,Bess
We picked our way
down to the beach,
watching the waves
dragging out of our reach：
tangling tails, like a sodden sheet;
dangling entrails
from the gut of the sea.
Hoarding our meals (alfalfa and rolls);
trying not to catch
the cold eyes of the gulls--
I hope Mother Nature has not
overheard!
(Though, she doles out hurt
like a puking bird.)
We stayed for the winter.
No-one told us
about the laws of the land.
I hold my own.
But you, with your hunger--
you, on the other hand--
make yourself known.
And when we were found,
I know we both grieved.
My heart made the sound of
snow falling from eaves.
You and me, Bess,
we were as thick as thieves.
So I swore, nonetheless, up and down,
it was only me.
They took me away,
and, after some time
studying my case,
must have made up their minds.
By the time you realized I was dying,
it must have been too late.
I believe you were not lying.
It is the day.
I wake,
with my ears cocked up like a gun
(like every day, of course),
yanked by my wrists
to the sugar-front courtyard--
now tell me, what have I done？
It seems I have stolen a horse.
I step to the gallows.
Who do you think you are--
arching your hooves like a crane,
in the shallow gutter
that lines the boulevards,
crowded with folks
who just stare as I hang？
It's all the same.
Kindness comes over me;
what was your name？
It makes no difference.
I'm glad that you came.
Forever, I'll listen to your glad neighing.
9.In California
My heart became a drunken runt
On the day i sunk in this shunt
To tap me clean
Of all the wonder
And the sorrow I have seen
Since I left my home：
My home on the old Milk Lake
Where the darkness does fall so fast
It feels like some kind of mistake
(Just like they told you it would;
just like the Tulgeywood).
When i came into my land
I did not understand：
Neither dry rot, nor the burn pile
Nor the bark-beetle, nor the dry well,
Nor the black bear.
But there is another,
who is a little older
When I broke my bone,
he carried me up from the riverside
To spend my life
in spitting distance,
of the love that I have known,
I must stay here, in an endless eventide.
And if you come and see me
you will upset the order.
You cannot come and see me,
For I set myself apart.
But when you come and see me,
in California
you cross the border of my heart.
Well, I have sown untidy furrows
across my soul,
but I am still a coward,
content to see my garden grow
so sweet ＆ full
of someone else's flowers.
But sometimes
I can almost feel the power.
Sometimes I am so in love with you
(like a little clock
that trembles on the edge of the hour,
only ever calling out 'Cuckoo, cuckoo')
When I called you,
you, little one
in a bad way,
did you love me？
Do you spite me？
Time will tell if I can be well,
and rise to meet you rightly.
While, moving across my land,
brandishing themselves
like a burning branch,
advance the tallow-colored,
wall-eyed deer,
quiet as gondoliers,
while I wait all night, for you,
in California,
watching the fox pick off my goldfish
from their sorry, golden state-
and I am no longer afraid
of anything, save
the life that, here, awaits.
I don't belong to anyone.
My heart is heavy as an oil drum.
I don't want to be alone.
My heart is yellow as an ear of corn,
and I have torn my soul apart, from
pulling artlessly with fool commands.
Some nights
I just never go to sleep at all,
and I stand,
shaking in the doorway like a sentinel,
all alone,
bracing like the bow upon a ship,
and fully abandoning
any thought of anywhere
but home,
my home.
Sometimes I can almost feel the power.
And I do love you.
Is it only timing,
that has made it such a dark hour,
only ever chiming out,
'Cuckoo, cuckoo'？
Cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
My heart, I wear you down, I know
Gotta think straight,
Keep a clean plate;
keep from wearing down.
If I lose my head
Just where am I going to lay it？
(For it has half-ruined me,
to be hanging around,
here, among the Daphne,
blooming out the big brown;
I am native to it, but I'm overgrown.
I am choked my roots
on the earth, as rich as roe,
here,
down in California)
10.Jackrabbits
I was tired o' being drunk
My face cracked like a joke
So I swung through here like a brace of jackrabbits
With their necks all broke
I stumbled at the door with my boot
And I knocked against the jamb
And I scrabbled at your chest like a mute
With my fists of ham
Trying to tell you that I am
Telling you I can
I can love you again
Love you again
I'm squinting towards the East
My faith makes me a dope
But you can take my hand in the darkness, darling
Like a length of rope
I shaped up overnight, you know
The day after she died
When I saw my heart, and I tell you, darling
It was open wide
What with telling you I am
Telling I can
I can love you again
Love you again
And it can have no bounds, you know
It can have no end
But you can take my hand in the darkness, darling
When you need a friend
And it can change in shape and form
But never change in size
Well, the water, it runs deep, my darling
Where it don't run wide
The feather of a hawk was bound
Bound around my neck
A poultice made of fig
The eager little vultures peck
And the verse I read in jest
And Matthew spoke to me
Said, there's a flame that moves like a low-down pest
That says, 'you will be free'
Only tell me that I can
Tell me that I can
I can love you again
Love you again
Love you again (x9)
Love you
11.Go Long
Last night, again,
you were in my dreams
several expendable limbs were at stake
you were a prince, spinning rims
all sentiments indian-given
and half-baked
I was brought
in on a palanquin
made of the many bodies
of beautiful women
brought to this place to be examined,
swaying on an elephant：
a princess of india
We both want the very same thing.
We are praying
I am the one to save you
But you don't even own,
your own violence
Run away from home-
your beard is still blue
with the loneliness of you mighty men,
with your jaws, and fists, and guitars
and pens, and your sugarlip,
but I've never been to the firepits with you mighty men
Who made you this way？
Who made you this way？
Who is going to bear your beautiful children？
Do you think you can just stop,
when you're ready for a change？
Who will take care of you
when you're old and dying？
You burn in the Mekong,
to prove your worth,
Go Long! Go Long!
Right over the edge of the earth!
You have been wronged,
tore up since birth.
You have done harm.
Others have done worse.
Will you tuck your shirt？
Will you leave it loose？
You are badly hurt.
You're a silly goose.
You are caked in mud,
and in blood, and worse.
Chew your bitter cud,
Grope your little nurse.
Do you know why
my ankles are bound in gauze
(sickly dressage：
a princess of kentucky)？
In the middle of the woods
(which were the probable cause),
we danced in the lodge
like two painting monkeys.
I will give you a call, for one last hurrah.
If this tale is tall, forgive my scrambling.
But you keep palming along the wall,
moving at a blind crawl,
but always rambling.
Wolf-spider, crouch in your funnel nest,
If I knew you, once,
now I know you less,
In the sinking sand,
where we've come to rest,
have I had a hand in your loneliness？
When you leave me alone
in this old palace of yours,
it starts to get to me. I take to walking,
What a woman does is open doors.
And it is not a question of locking
or unlocking.
Well, I have never seen
such a terrible room-
gilded with the gold teeth
of the women who loved you!
Now, though I die,
Magpie, this I bequeath：
by any other name
a jay is still blue
with the loneliness
of you mighty men,
with your mighty kiss
that might never end,
while, so far away,
in the seat of the west,
burns the fount
of the heat
of that loneliness.
12.Occident
Mercy me, the night is long.
Take my pen, to write you this song.
Lord：is it harder to carry on,
Or to know when you are done？
All my life, I've felt as though
I'm inside a beautiful memory,
replaying
with the sound turned down low.
Long-life, show your face.
Slow-heart, curb your taste.
Smoke me out of my hiding place.
Long-life, state your case.
What in the world are we waiting for-
building glowing cities along the shore,
where the wind batters,
baiting my kin like a matador？
So much value, placed upon
what lies just beyond our plans：
waving my handkerchief,
running along, till the end of the sand.
Long-life, speak your name.
I'm so tired of the guessing game.
But, something is moving,
just out of frame：
lSlow-heart,
brace and aim.
Breaching slowly, across the sea,
one mast-
flash, like the stinger of a bee-
to take you away,
a swarming fleet is gonna take you
from me.
The universe is getting loose：
sodden spread,
from some leaden disuse,
rushing, unhinged,
towards diminishing lights,
like a headless caboose.
I'll wait for you,
alongside the ocean,
and make do
with my no-skin.
But then, Long-life,
will you let me in？
And then, Slow-heart,
are you gonna know him？
Long-life, speak your name,
I wait, while I decry the wait.
And when I die, may I relate：
Slow heart, congregate.
To leave your home, and your family
for some distortion of property？
Well, darling, I can't go.
But you may stay
here, with me.
13.Soft As Chalk
So, so long ago,
and so far away,
when Time was just a line
that you fed me,
when you wanted to stay,
we'd talk
as soft as chalk,
till morning came, as pale as a pearl：
No time!
No, no time!
Now, I have got all the time
in the world.
Say, honey, did you belong to me？
Tell me, honey,
was your heart at rest when, darlin,
all the mourning doves were howling us
a song of love's
godawful lawlessness？
Say, honey, did you belong to me？
Tell me, darlin, did I pass your test？
I lay, as still as death, until the dawn,
whereupon I wrested from
that godawful lawlessness.
I roam around the tidy grounds
of my dappled sanatorium.
Coatless, I sit
amongst the moles, adrift,
and I dote upon my pinesap gum.
And the light, through the pines,
in brassy tines,
lays over me, dim as rum
and thick as molasses.
And so time passes.
And so, my heart, tomorrow comes.
I feel you, leaning,
out back with the crickets,
loyal heart marking the soon-ness,
darkness：
tonight, still,
the mourning doves
will summon us their song
of love's neverdoneing lawlessness
while, over and over--
rear up! stand down! lay round!--
trying to sound-out,
or guess the reasons,
I sleep like a soldier, without rest.
But there is no treason,
where there is only lawlessness.
In the last week
of the last year I was aware,
I took a blind shot, across the creek,
at the black bear,
when he roused me in the night,
and left me cowering with my light,
calling out
Who is there？
Who's there？
Who is there？
I watched you sleep,
repeating my prayer.
(Give love a little shove
and it becomes terror.)
Now I am calling,
in a sadness beyond anger
and beyond fear,
Who is there？ Who's there？
Who is there？
14.Esme
I can feel a difference
Today, a difference
All of us in our tents
Fearing god like a mistress
We lay on the rocks in the sun
Watching you and your mama row in
I sat up and blinked when you appeared
So pale you were nearly clear
Later I stumbled to my bed
All alone in the branches
I laid in the dark thinking about
All of my friends and their changes
And I do not know
If you know just what you have done
You are the sweetest one
I have ever laid my eyes upon
It's a beautiful town
With the rain coming down
Blackberry, rosemary
Jimmy-crack-corn
You've got the run of the place
Now that you're running around
And may kindness,
Kindness, kindness abound
In this hour of our lives
Hour of effortless plenty
How do we know which parts of our hearts want what
With such base generosity？
Taking so many photographs, so amazed!
We've never seen a baby so newlyborn
And when the bulbs do flash as bright as morning
The crowd keeps on gathering like an electric storm
The phantom of love moves among us at will
Each phantom-limb lost has got an angel
So confused like the wagging bobbed-tail of a bulldog
Kindness, kindness prevails
Kindness prevails!
Ties and rails, ties and rails fall into line bearing kindness
Where will you go, if not here？
What will you say when you write to us？
This is a world of terrible hardship everywhere
And I search for words to set you at ease
But there, in the looking-glass, a kite is soaring
Stilling my warring heart and my trembling knees
Clean as a breeze, bright as the day
All of the people gather to say
'Sweet Esme! Sweet Esme!'
Oh, oh, oh!
I believe love will always surround you
Brave as a bear with a heart rare and true
But if you are scared, if you are blue
I have prepared this small song for you：
Sweet Esme! Sweet Esme!
Oh, oh, oh!
15.Autumn
Driven through by her own sword
Summer died last night, alone.
Even the ghosts huddle up for warmth.
Autumn has come to my hometown
Friendly voices, dead and gone,
singing, Star of the country down...
(even the ghosts help raise the barn,
here, now, in my hometown)
-when, out of the massing
that bodes and bides, in the cold west,
flew a waxwing, who froze
and died against my breast!
And all the while, rain,
like a weed in the tide,
swans and lists,
down on the gossiping lawn,
saying, 'tsk, tsk, tsk'.
I may have changed. It's hard to gauge.
Time won't account for how I've aged.
Would I could tie your lying tongue,
who says that leaving keeps you young.
I have got no control
over my heart, over my mind.
Over the hills, the rainclouds roll.
I'll winter here, wait for a sign.
To cast myself out, over the water,
riven like a wishbone.
You'd hardly guess
I was my own mother's daughter;
I ain't naturally given to roam.
I lay low, when I return,
and I move like a gurney
whose wheels are squeaking,
alone, here in my home,
and I laugh, when you speak of my pleasure-seeking
among the tall pines,
along the lay-lines.
Here, where the loon keens.
There, where the moon leans.
There, where I know my violent love lays down,
in a row of silent, dove-gray days.
Here, in a row of silent, dove-gray days.
Wherever I go, I am snowbound
by thoughts of him whom I would sun.
I loved them all, one by one.
Cannot gain ground, cannot outrun;
but time marches along.
You can't always stick around.
But, when the final count is done,
I will be in my hometown.
I will be in my hometown.
16.Ribbon Bows
There is a spring
Not far from here
The water runs
Both sweet and clear
Both sweet and clear
And cold
Could crack your bones
With veins of gold
I stood a-wagging
At the tap
Just a-waiting
On the lagging, rising sap
I held the cold
Tin ladle to my lip
At the shrine of the thousand arms
I lowered my eyes to sip
What a beautiful day
To catch my drift
Or be caught up
In it
You want your love, love？
Come and get your love
I only took it back
Because I thought you didn't
How my ears did ring
At the municipal pound
From that old hangdog
To which I was bound
Curled 'round the bottom rung
Doesn't anybody want you？
Well, come on, darlin'
I could use someone like you around
I am not like you
I ain't from this place
And I do reserve the right
To repeat all my same mistakes
And, in the night, like you
I certainly bite and chew
What I can find
And never seem to lose the taste
What a horrible face
I feel me make
For
Pete's sake!
What you have told me
I cannot erase
Though I keep on saying
And I do believe it is not too late
All day you're hassling me with trifles
Black nose of the dog
As cold as a rifle
Indicating, with a nudge
God, no god, god, no god
Sweet, appraising eye of the dog
Blink once if god
Twice if no god
My mama may be
Ashamed of me
With all of my
Finery
Carrying on, whooping it up
'Til the early morn
Lost and lorn
Among the madding revelry
Sure, I can pass
Honey, I can pass
Particularly when I start
To tip my glass
I'll be a sport and have a go
At that old song, singing unabashed
About 'them city girls with their ribbon bows
and their fancy sash'
17.Kingfisher
Whose is the hand that I will hold？
Whose is the face I will see？
Whose is the name that I will call
When I am called to meet thee？
In this life who did you love
Beneath the drifting ashes？
Beneath the sheeting banks of air
That barrenly bore our rations？
When I could speak it was too late
Didn't you hear me calling？
Didn't you see my heart leap like
A pup in the constant barley？
In this new life where did you crouch
When the sky had set to boiling？
Burnin' within; seen from without
And your gut was a serpent coiling
And for the sake of that pit o' snakes
For whom did you allay your shyness？
And spend all your mercy and madness and grace
In a day beneath the bending cypress？
It was not on principle
Show, pro-heart, that you have got gall
A miracle!
I can bear a lot but not that pall
I can bear a lot but not that pall
Kingfisher, sound the alarm
Say, 'sweet little darlin', now, come to my arms
Tell me all about the love you left on the farm'
He was a kind, unhurried man
With a heavy lip and a steady hand
But he loved me just like a little child,
A little child loves a little lamb
Thrown to the ground by something down there
Bitten by the bad air while the clouds tick
Trying to read all the signs
Preparing for when the bombs hit
Hung from the underbelly of the earth
While the stars skid away below
Gormless and brakeless, gravel-loose
Falling silent as gavels in the snow
I lay back and spit in my chaw
Wrapped in the long arm of the law
Who has seen it all
I can bear a lot but not that pall
I can bear a lot but not that pall
Kingfisher, cast your fly
O lord, it happens without even tryin'
When I sling a low look from my shuttering eye
Blows rain upon the one you loved
And though you were only sparring
There's blood on the eye, unlace the glove
Say, honey, I am not sorry
Stand here and name the one you loved
Beneath the drifting ashes
And in naming, rise above time
As it, flashing, passes
We came by the boatload
And were immobilised
Worshiping volcanoes
Charting the loping skies
The tides of the earth left
Us bound and calcified and made as
Obstinate as obsidian
Unmoving, save our eyes
Just mooning and blinking
From faces marked with coal
Ash cooling and shrinking
Cracks loud as thunder rollin', I swear
I know you; you know me
Where have we met before, tell me true？
To whose authority
Do you consign your soul？
I had a dream you came to me
Sayin', you shall not do me harm anymore
And with your knife you evicted my life
From its little lighthouse on the seashore
And I saw that my blood had no bounds
Spreading in a circle like an atom bomb
Soaking and felling everything in it's path
And welling in my heart like a birdbath
It is too short, the day we are born
We commence with our dying
Trying to serve with the heart of a child
Kingfisher lie with the lion
18.Does Not Suffice
I will pack all my pretty dresses
I will box up my high-heeled shoes
A sparkling ring for every finger
I'll put away and hide from view
Coats of boucle, jacquard and cashmere
Cartouche and tweed, all silver-shot
And everything that could remind you
Of how easy I was not
I'll tuck away my gilded buttons
I'll bind my silks in shapeless bales
Wrap it all up in reams o' tissue
And then I'll kiss you sweet farewell
You saw me rise to our occasion
And so deny the evidence
'Caused me to burn and twist and grimace against you
Like something caught on a barbed wire fence
Now you can see me fall back here redoubled
Full bewildered and amazed
I have gotten into some terrible trouble
Beneath your blank and rinsing gaze
It does not suffice for you to say I am a sweet girl
Or to say you hate to see me sad because of you
It does not suffice to merely lie beside each other
As those who love each other do
I picture you rising up in the morning
Stretching out on your boundless bed
Beating a clear path to the shower
Scouring yourself red
The tap of hangers swaying in the closet
Unburdened hooks and empty drawers
And everywhere I tried to love you
Is yours again and only yours
La-la-la-la...
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