We Shouldn't Be Sadder...

I've been praying all the week through
At home, at work and on the bus
I've been praying I can keep you
And to earn enough for us

I can take humiliation
And hurtful comments from the boss
I'm just praying by the weekend
I can earn enough for us

Found a house that won't repair itself
With it's windows cracking
And a roof held together with holes

Just because we're on the bottom of the ladder
We shouldn't be sadder
Than others like us
Who have goals
    for the betterment of life
Glad that you want to be my wife, but honest

I've been praying all the week through
At home at work and on the bus
I've been praying I can keep you
And to earn enough for us

          -"Earn Enough For Us"
           XTC, Skylarking

And Eternity Near...

Ten years ago
    on a cold dark night
There was someone killed
    'neath the town hall light
There were few at the scene
    but they all agree
That the slayer who ran
    looked a lot like me.

The judge said, "Son
    what is your alibi?
If you were somewhere else
    then you won't have to die."
I spoke not a word
    though it meant my life
For I had been in the arms
    of my best friend's wife.

She walks these hills
    in a long black veil
She visits my grave
    when the night winds wail
Nobody knows
    nobody sees
Nobody knows
    but me.

The scaffold's high
    and eternity near
She stood in the crowd
    and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night
    when the cold wind blows
In a long black veil
    she cries o'er my bones.

          -"Long Black Veil"
            Lefty Frizzell

Her Heart's Apocalypse...

She's
an extraordinary girl
In an ordinary world
And she can't seem to get away 

He
lacks the courage in his mind
Like a child left behind
Like a pet left in the rain 

She's all alone again
Wiping the tears from her eyes
Some days he feels like dying
She gets so sick of crying 

She
sees the mirror of herself
An image she wants to sell
To anyone willing to buy 

He
steals the image in her kiss
From her heart's apocalypse
From the one called Whatsername 

She's all alone again
Wiping the tears from her eyes
Some days he feels like dying
She gets so sick of crying 

She's all alone again
Wiping the tears from her eyes
Some days he feels like dying
Some days it's not worth trying
Now that they both are finding
She gets so sick of crying 

She's
an extraordinary girl 

an extraordinary girl 

          -"Extraordinary Girl"
           Green Day, American Idiot

In Our Rags Of Light...

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.

        -"If It Be Your Will"
         Leonard Cohen, Various Positions
 

It Turns Reason Into Ashes...

They sent me out from Santa Fe
    to try and find his trail
They think that I'm the only one
    who can bring him back to jail
This star says I'm a lawman
    this gun has seen me through
And though my heart is heavy
    I've got a job to do

You see he's such a proud man
    who never learned to crawl
But a good man turned gunslinger
    is the meanest man of all
He killed a US Marshall
    and for that he's gonna pay
And I'm the lonely lawman
    who's on his trail today

There was a time he fought for truth
    and on the side of right
Until the only girl he loved
    was killed one fateful night
I know his heart was shattered
    as he turned the barren sod
And laid away her body
    commending it to God

Then he vowed a vengeance
    to those who took her life
And every notch upon his gun
    a tear shed for his wife
But vengeance is like wildfire
    sweepin' through the wood
It turns reason into ashes
    and burns out all the good

Now I can't help but remember
    as I trail this lonesome man
I don't believe while we were boys
    I won any race we ran
For you see his face resembles mine
    we talk somewhat the same
And though we walk in different worlds
    we both bear our daddy's name...
  
              -"The Lawman"
               Billy Walker
               listen on YouTube
    

Trying To Hold On To What He Needs...

When a man loves a woman,
    he can't keep his mind on nothing else
He'll trade the world
    for the good thing he's found
If she is bad, he can't see it,
    she can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend
    if he put her down

When a man loves a woman,
    he'll spend his very last dime
Tryin' to hold on
    to what he needs
He'd give up all his comforts,
    sleep out in the rain
If she said that's the way
    it ought to be

Well, this man loves a woman
I gave you everything I had
Tryin' to hold on to your high class love
Baby, please don't treat me bad

When a man loves a woman,
    down deep in his soul
She can bring him
    such misery
If she plays him for a fool,
    he's the last one to know
Lovin' eyes
    can't ever see

When a man loves a woman,
    he can do her no wrong
He can never own
    some other girl
Yes, when a man loves a woman
    I know exactly how he feels
'Cause baby, baby, baby,
    you're my world

When a man loves a woman
    I know exactly how he feels
Baby, baby, baby,
    you're my world
  
    -"When A Man Loves A Woman"
     Percy Sledge

My Love Is Stronger Than My Fear Of Death...

Out in the West Texas
    town of El Paso
I fell in love
    with a Mexican girl.
Night-time would find me
    in Rosa's cantina;
Music would play
    and Felina would whirl.

Blacker than night
    were the eyes of Felina,
Wicked and evil
    while casting a spell.
My love was deep
    for this Mexican maiden;
I was in love
    but in vain, I could tell.

One night a wild young cowboy came in,
Wild as the West Texas wind.
Dashing and daring,
A drink he was sharing
With wicked Felina,
The girl that I loved.

So in anger I
Challenged his right
    for the love of this maiden.
Down went his hand
    for the gun that he wore.
My challenge was answered
    in less than a heart-beat;
The handsome young stranger
    lay dead on the floor.

Just for a moment
    I stood there in silence,
Shocked by the foul evil
    deed I had done.
Many thoughts raced
    through my mind as I stood there;
I had but one chance
    and that was to run.

Out through the back door of Rosa's I ran,
Out where the horses were tied.
I caught a good one.
It looked like it could run.
Up on its back
And away I did ride,

Just as fast as I
Could from the West Texas
    town of El Paso
Out to the bad-lands
    of New Mexico.

Back in El Paso
    my life would be worthless.
Everything's gone in life;
    nothing is left.
It's been so long
    since I've seen the young maiden
My love is stronger
    than my fear of death.

I saddled up and away I did go,
Riding alone in the dark.
Maybe tomorrow
A bullet may find me.
Tonight nothing's worse than this
Pain in my heart.

And at last here I
Am on the hill
    overlooking El Paso;
I can see Rosa's
    cantina below.
My love is strong
    and it pushes me onward.
Down off the hill
    to Felina I go.

Off to my right
    I see five mounted cowboys;
Off to my left
    ride a dozen or more.
Shouting and shooting
    I can't let them catch me.
I have to make it
    to Rosa's back door.

Something is dreadfully wrong for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side.
Though I am trying
To stay in the saddle,
I'm getting weary,
Unable to ride.

But my love for
Felina is strong
    and I rise where I've fallen,
Though I am weary
    I can't stop to rest.
I see the white puff
    of smoke from the rifle.
I feel the bullet
    go deep in my chest.

From out of nowhere
    Felina has found me,
Kissing my cheek
    as she kneels by my side.
Cradled by two loving
    arms that I'll die for,
One little kiss
    and Felina,
  
    Good-bye.

          -"El Paso"
            Marty Robbins, Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs

Though A Youth Of Twenty-Four...

To the town of Agua Fria
    rode a stranger one fine day
Hardly spoke to folks around him,
    didn't have too much to say
No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip
For the stranger there among them
    had a big iron on his hip
Big iron on his hip

It was early in the morning
    when he rode into the town
He came ridin' from the south side
    slowly lookin' all around
"He's an outlaw loose and runnin'" came the whisper from each lip
"And he's here to do some business with
    the big iron on his hip"
Big iron on his hip

In this town there lived an outlaw by
    the name of Texas Red
Many men had tried to take him and
    that many men were dead
He was vicious and a killer, though a youth of twenty-four
And the notches on his pistol
    numbered one and nineteen more
One and nineteen more

Now the stranger started talkin'
    made it plain to folks around
Was an Arizona Ranger
    wouldn't be too long in town
He came here to take an outlaw back, alive or maybe dead
And he said it didn't matter,
    he was after Texas Red
After Texas Red

Wasn't long before the story was
    relayed to Texas Red
But the outlaw didn't worry
    men that tried before were dead
Twenty men had tried to take him, twenty men had made a slip
Twenty-one would be the Ranger with
    the big iron on his hip
Big iron on his hip

The morning passed so quickly,
    it was time for them to meet
It was twenty past eleven
    when they walked out in the street
Folks were watching from the windows, everybody held their breath
They knew this handsome Ranger was
    about to meet his death
About to meet his death

There was forty feet between them
    when they stopped to make their play
And the swiftness of the Ranger
    is still talked about today
Texas Red had not cleared leather 'fore a bullet fairly ripped
And the Ranger's aim was deadly with
    the big iron on his hip
Big iron on his hip

It was over in a moment and
    the folks had gathered 'round
There before them lay the body of
    the outlaw on the ground
Oh, he might have went on livin', but he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger with
    the big iron on his hip
Big iron on his hip

Big Iron!
Big Iron!
When he tried to match the Ranger with
    the big iron on his hip
Big iron on his hip

          -"Big Iron"
            Marty Robbins, Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs

I'll Stand Before The Lord Of Song...

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not someone who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a lonely Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
Remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

          -"Hallelujah"
            Leonard Cohen, Various Positions

Eleven...

When the Earth was still flat
And clouds made of fire
And mountains stretched up to the sky
Sometimes higher

Folks roamed the Earth
Like big rollin' kegs
They had two sets of arms
They had two sets of legs
They had
Two faces peerin'
Out of one giant head
So they could
Watch all around them
As they
Talked while they read
And they never
Knew nothin' of Love
It was before...

The origin of Love

Now there was three sexes then
One that looked
Like two men glued up back-to-back
They're called the Children of the Sun
And similar in shape and girth
Was the Children of the Earth
They looked like
Two girls rolled up in one
And the Children of the Moon
Was like a fork shoved on a spoon
They was part Sun
Part Earth
Part daughter
Part son

Now the gods grew quite scared
Of our strength and defiance
And Thor said,
"I'm gonna kill 'em all with my Hammer
Like I killed the giants."
But Zeus said, "No.
You'd better let me
Use my lightning like scissors,
Like I cut the legs off the whales
And dinosaurs into lizards."
And then he grabbed up some bolts
And he let out a laugh
Said, "I'll split them right down the middle,
Gonna cut 'em right up in half."

And the storm clouds
Gathered above
Into great balls of fire

And then fire
Shot down from the sky in bolts
Like shining blades of a knife
And it ripped
Right through the flesh
Of the Children of the Sun and the Moon and the Earth
And some Indian god
Sewed the wound up into a hole
Pulled it 'round to our belly to remind us
Of the price we paid
And Osiris
And the gods of the Nile
Gathered up a big storm
To blow a hurricane
To scatter us away
A flood of wind and rain
A sea of tidal waves
To wash us all away
And if we don't behave
They'll cut us down again
And we'll be hoppin' 'round on one foot
And lookin' through one eye



The last time I saw you
We'd just split in two
You was lookin' at me
I was lookin' at you
You had a way so familiar
But I could not recognize
Cause you had
Blood in your face
I had
Blood in my eyes
But I could swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul
Was the same
As the one down in mine

That's the pain
That cuts a straight line down through the heart
We call it "Love"
We wrap our arms around each other
Try to shove ourselves back together
We was makin' Love
Making Love

It was a cold, dark evening
Such a long time ago
When by the mighty hand of Jove...

It was a sad story
How we became lonely, two-legged creatures
That story...

The Origin of Love

           -"The Origin of Love"
             Hedwig & The Angry Inch

We Were Called To The Forest...

We were called to the forest, and we went down.

A wind blew warm, and eloquent.

We were searching for the secrets of the universe, and we rounded up demons and forced them to tell us what it all meant.

We tied 'em to trees and broke them down, one by one.  And on a scrap of paper, they wrote these words.

And as we read them, the Sun broke through the trees:


"Dread the passage of Jesus, for he will not return."


Then we headed back to our world, and left the forest behind.  Our hearts singing with all the knowledge of Love.

But somewhere, somehow, we lost the message along the way.  And when we got home, we bought ourselves a house.

And we bought a car that we did not use.

And we bought a cage, and two singing birds.

And at night, we'd sit and listen to the canaries' song.


For we'd both run right out of words.


Now the stars, they are all angled wrong.  And the Sun and the Moon refuse to burn.

But I remember a message in a demon's hand:

"Dread the passage of Jesus, for he does not return."

...he does not return.

...he does not return.

                    -"Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum"
                      Nick Cave &; The Bad Seeds, ft. The Dirty Three

We May Just Go Where No One's Been...

This is a song about magick, life, and the endless possibilities inherent in humanity.

Black
then
white are
all I see
in my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be,
reaching out to me.
Lets me see.

As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope.
Watch it bend.

Over-thinking,
over-analyzing,
separates the body from the mind.
Withering
my intuition,
missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will
to feel that moment.
Drawing way outside the lines.

Black
then
white are
all I see
in my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be,
reaching out to me.
lets me see
there is
so much
more and
beckons me
to look through to these
infinite possibilities.

As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope.
Watch it bend.

Over-thinking,
over-analyzing,
separates the body from the mind.
Withering
my intuition,
leaving opportunities behind.

Feed my will to
feel this moment
urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace
the random.
Reaching out to embrace
whatever may come.

I embrace my
desire to...
I embrace my
desire to
feel the rhythm, to
feel connected
enough to step aside and
weep like a widow, to
feel inspired, to
fathom the power, to
witness the beauty, to
bathe in the fountain, to
swing on the spiral, to
swing on the spiral, to

swing on the spiral of
our divinity and
still be a human.

With my feet upon the ground
I lose myself between the sounds
and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up
and reaching out,
I'm reaching for
the random or
whatever will bewilder me.
Whatever will bewilder me.
And following our will and whim
we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end
and may just go where no one's been.

Spiral out. Keep going.

Spiral out. Keep going.

Spiral out. Keep going.

Spiral out. Keep going.

               -"Lateralus"
                 Tool, Lateralus

Tempted The Devil With My Song...

Here from a king's mountain view
Here from the wild dream come true
Feast like a sultan, I do
On treasures and flesh never few

But I would
wish it
all away
If I
thought I'd
lose you
just one day

The devil and his had me down
In love with the dark side I'd found
Dabblin' all the way down
Up to my neck, soon to drown.

But you changed that all for me
Lifted me up, turned me 'round

So I
I would wish this
all away

Prayed like a martyr dusk to dawn
Begged like a hooker all night long
Tempted the devil with my song
And got what I wanted all along

But I
I would
If I could
I would
Wish it away
Wish it away
Wish it all away
Wanna wish it all away

No prize
that could hold
sway
Or justify
my
giving away
my center

So if I could I'd wish it all away
If I thought tomorrow
would take you away.

You,
my piece of mind,
my all,
my center,
just trying to hold on
one more day.

Damn my eyes!

Damn my eyes!
If they should compromise the fulcrum:
If wants and needs divide me
Then I might as well be gone...

Shine on forever
Shine on benevolent sun
Shine down upon the broken
Shine until the two become one

Shine on forever
Shine on benevolent sun
Shine down upon the severed
Shine until the two become one

Divided, I'll wither away

Shine down upon the many.
Light our way, benevolent sun.

Breathe in union
Breathe in union
Breathe in union

So,
as one,
survive
Another day
and season
Silence, legion.
Save your poison.
Silence, legion.
Stay out of my way!

          -"Jambi"
           Tool, 10,000 Days
 

Time To Bring The Fire Down...

One desire
Run
Sexual being
Run him like a blade
To and through the heart
No conscience
One Motive
Cater to the hollow

Screaming feed me here
Fill me up again
Temporarily pacify this hungering
So grow
Libido
Throw
Dominoes of indiscretions down
Falling all around
In cycles
In circles
Constantly consuming
Conquer and devour

Cause it's time to bring the fire down
Bridle all this indiscretion
Long enough to edify
And permanently fill this hollow

Screaming feed me here
Fill me up again
Temporarily pacifying

Feed me here
Fill me up again
Temporarily pacifying

          -"The Hollow"
           A Perfect Circle, Mer de Noms

One Of My Holy Places...

Well they crowned me with thorns
On the day I was born
By the light of a cold
Television
And I remember the bars
On his uniform
As he marched from the field
Of my vision

When he didn't come home
It was just us alone
The brat and the widowed
Civilian
And then one April night
After Ma took her life
I fell down the street
To oblivion

And I took what the dumpsters
Were giving
And I did my best
To survive
'Cause I figured that life's
For the living
While you're alive

So bring out the gin
And the small violin
I'm a raging success
As a failure
And it's colder than hell
In this cardboard hotel
Which I share with a chronic
Embezzler

So I beat my retreat
Down Collister street
To one of my holy places
And they tangled my wings
With wire and strings
And I'm spinning in a
Whirlpool of faces

And I'll take what the dumpsters
Are giving
And I'll do my best
To survive
'Cause I still think that life's
For the living
Yes I still think that life's
For the living
And I'll take what the dumpsters
Are giving
And I'll pray every night
To St. Giles
But I still think that life's
For the living

At least for a while

          -"7th Avenue Static"
           Firewater, Psychopharmacology
 

Don't Let 'Em Choose...

Don't let 'em tell you what you think is cool
Don't let 'em tell you what you think is right
Don't let 'em tell you what you think you should do

Do you recognize when the world won't stop for you?
Or when your days don't care what you got to do?
Or when your weight's too tough to lift up?
What do you do?
They don't choose for you.
Don't let 'em choose.

Do you recognize when the world won't stop for you?
Or when your days don't care what you got to do?
Or when your weight's too tough to lift up?
What do you do?
Don't let 'em choose for you.
That's on you.

Another day another dime
another state another mind
48 moves to choose
But no matter the coast
we all toast
the same PBR
So much settling for ours
There's so many lives
in so many lines waitin'
There's only so much time
so many die patient
So many skate
only where the ice is thin
We too nice
to not dive in right after them
We too right
to not sway a little
Wiggle from the path
Middle up
foot upon the gas
like the past
is the rear view
Last laugh
lands on the man
with the plan
to do
all that he can to do
all that he can

And we all save face in the face of our friends
And we all bend backwards to make amends
And we all take chances that change us
Civil with the self-hate just won't do

Do you recognize when the world won't stop for you?
Or when your days don't care what you got to do?
Or when your weight's too tough to lift up?
What do you do?
They don't choose for you.
Don't let 'em choose.

Do you recognize when the world won't stop for you?
Or when your days don't care what you got to do?
Or when your weight's too tough to lift up?
What do you do?
Don't let 'em choose for you.
That's on you.

A lot of my friends shake when they don't drink
All my friends wheeze in their sleep
All my friends think green
but can't afford to live it
Can't ignore the cynics
Can't explore the gimmicks
Can't report the dividends
Limited
only by the need to stay fed
And giving up is like Latin
it's dead
It don't happen
Don't even cross their head
Lost in our own web
But it's our bed
Sleep sucks

Or at least until I try
but at least until I'm right
but at least until I'm fly
let me get it on tight
But at least until it's mine
but at least until it's time
Let me set 'em up
AND knock 'em down
come on

But at least until I'm fine
but at least until I'm wrong
But at least until I got a piece to call my own
But at least until I'm grown
but at least until I'm gone
Say it

Goodbye.

Goodbye!


           -"Goodbye"
             P.O.S., Never Better

Requiem For A Snowflake...

Dear mother, Dear father
What is this hell
you have put me through?
Believer, deceiver
Day in, day out
Lived my life through you
Pushed onto me
what's wrong or right
Hidden from this thing
that they call life

Dear mother, Dear father
Every thought
I'd think you'd disapprove
Curator, dictator
Always censoring
my every move
Children are seen
but are not heard
Tear out everything inspired

Innocence
torn from me
without your shelter
Barred reality
I'm living blindly

Dear mother, Dear father
Time has frozen still
What's left of me?
Hear nothing, say nothing
Cannot face the fact
I think for me
No guarantee
it's life as-is
But damn you
for not giving me my chance

Dear mother, Dear father
Clipped my wings
before I learned to fly
Unspoiled, unspoken
I've outgrown
that fucking lullaby
Same thing
I've always heard from you
do as I say
not as I do

I'm in hell without you
Cannot cope without you two
Shocked at the world that I see
Innocent victim
Please rescue me

Dear mother, Dear father
Hidden in your world
you've made for me
I'm seething
I'm bleeding
Ripping wounds in me
that never heal
Undying spite
I feel for you
Living out this hell
you always knew...

NO!

                    -"Dyer's Eve"
                      Metallica

Keep Ridin' 'Til The Cycle Is Broke...

Heard this today, and it touched me; deep.  Again.  Had to share.  Hope it touches you, too.
(Suggestion:  read it aloud.)


                                 Million dollar baby girl in the lower middle class
                                 With a maglight right beneath her pillow
                                 And though she's never been a boxer by choice
                                 She's known to act oak [OK], you'll never catch her a willow
                                 Nuh-uh
                                 She's the calm type
                                 You see the small scars
                                 Creepin' down her arms
                                 peeking from them long sleeves, right?
                                 She keeps him weak in the knees
                                 but she stay out of sight
                                 And when that school bell rings
                                 it's goodnight
                                 Or might as well be
                                 He never sees her around
                                 But he looks
                                 For weeks now he's been "Maybe tomorrow"
                                 But he's shook
                                 He sees those bruises and he needs to please her
                                 Plus he don't wanna go home either

                                 Gives her a look as they pass
                                 Copies down a poem from a schoolbook
                                 Gives it to her after hesitation whoops his ass
                                 She took it fast
                                 Lost, like, all sensation in her hands
                                 then braces herself gracefully
                                 sturdy where she stands
                                 humble mumbling
                                 past the words, fumbling
                                 Nothing discouraging
                                 just nerves
                                 just drumming up the courage
                                 Something 'bout skylines
                                 or bike rides
                                 or riverbeds
                                 Somethin'
                                 Somethin' that he read
                                 it caught her right beneath the armor
                                 cauterized thought of any blunt force trauma
                                 Ain't no way that he could harm her
                                 Nuh-uh
                                 No way

                                 When that curse leaves a shell like a snake with fresh scales
                                 Some people seem to call that home
                                 But some souls roam
                                 Keep riding 'til the cycle is broke
                                 We don't gotta go through nothin' alone

                                 She's in the weather
                                 the whole storm
                                 Huggin' on her prince
                                 his hands to skin warm
                                 Quick out the door
                                 no note
                                 no forlorn
                                 'Cause all they heard was "Papa
                                 don't hit me no more"
                                 But they couldn't seem to keep the swelling down
                                 How they regretted ever lettin' out this 3rd child born
                                 But things are getting better now
                                 Yeah, cozy sweater now
                                 with her thumbs through the holes
                                 in her sleeves worn down
                                 And a boy similar
                                 Noise minimal
                                 toy criminal
                                 Joy's simple when someone's found it in you
                                 Somehow it boosts the individual
                                 That bluish hue is mutual
                                 They make love gently
                                 so aware of each others' bruises
                                 And sorta scared they could lose this
                                 trust
                                 Bury the blues
                                 somewhere it won't bear roots
                                 But is this boy where the truth is?
                                 She's spooked, see
                                 Fruit never seems to fall far
                                 from the useless branch that it's attached to
                                 And quacks say if he's beat up he's bound to smack you
                                 She's down to step back now
                                 If he ever gets loud
                                 She couldn't be proud
                                 of whatever she might do
                                 But this is the first time
                                 she ever felt touched
                                 that didn't bring her to hush
                                 like something was being done to her
                                 That unscrews her
                                 She loosens with the booze
                                 Her hinge can stay bent
                                 addressing her dude's wounds
                                 Regressing to bedrooms
                                 where fools ignored "don't"
                                 He's not one of them tools
                                 that screws, nuts and bolts
                                 And she know that
                                 And she know that but she holds back
                                 And she hope that
                                 he see the way she flinch
                                 'cuz it's kneejerk to brace for the attack
                                 Even if he's only rubbing her back
                                 I mean
                                 And even if it's like the deck has been stacked
                                 It's not an act
                                 He's really loving her back

                                 Hold your heart up

                                 "Never raise your hand"
                                 She says that with her grown-up voice
                                 "I'm your's now" just like a child
                                 "Please don't be scared now"
                                 It clicks
                                 a piece finally fits
                                 "I love you"
                                 They say that with their lips

                                 "Never raise your hand"
                                 He says that with a grown-up voice
                                 "I'm your's now" just like a child
                                 "Please don't be scared now"
                                 It clicks
                                 a piece finally fits
                                 "I love you"

                                 When that curse leaves a shell like a snake with fresh scales
                                 Some people seem to call that home
                                 But some souls roam
                                 Keep riding 'til the cycle is broke
                                 We don't gotta go through nothin' alone

                                                                  -"Been Afraid"
                                                                    P.O.S.

Springtime Blues...

I'm all washed out by the side of the road.
Broken-bones Matilda left a note and a rose.
Saying "Baby, honey child, I love you so long,

 but you deserve much better than me."

So I'm just burning all around, all the miles in the road.
And I'm never going back, and I'm never going home.
I've been gone too long. 

I've been less right than wrong.
I lost so much blood in the falling out.

And I lit a fire that wouldn't go out,
Until it consumed the walls and roof of this house.
Until all I remember was burning away.
And all I remember, you burnt it away.

See, for ten long years, I've been hustling around.
Tryin' to wash the sins and the sweat from my brow.
Just trying to find a better life for me and my own.
Just some rest for these tired working fingers.

But nobody never gonna tell you the way.
You gotta figure it out, boys, and suffer the rain,
And the fools in the night,

And the heat of the day.
When all you ever really wanted was for someone to understand.

And I lit a fire that wouldn't go out,

 Until it consumed the walls and roof of this house.
Until all I remembered was burning away.
And all I remember, you burnt it away.
But don't you take it so hard, and baby don't you cry.
Cross your hard heart and hope to die.
Don't you tell me no more lies, you lied all the time.
Don't you tell me no more lies, you lied every night.

And you're sugar and spice, and everything nice.
You got Monroe hips, your poison lips and eyes.
And you're sugar and spice, and everything nice.
You got open wounds in a young boy's pride.

And I lit a fire that wouldn't go out,
Until it consumed the walls and roof of this house.
Until all I remember was burning away.
And all that you left me, you burnt it away.
But don't you take it so hard, and baby don't you cry.
You cross your hard heart and you hope to die.
Don't you tell me no more lies, you lied all the time.
Don't you tell me no more lies, you lied every night.

                                                             -Film Noir

                                                                               The Gaslight Anthem

...   ...   ...

Like Miles Davis, I been swayed by the Cool.
There's just something 'bout the summertime.
There's just something 'bout the moon.
So I lay a kiss on this stone,
Toss it upside your window, by the roof.
Before you change your mind, 

Miles, bring in the Cool.

Now honey, put on your red dress,
and your diamond-soled shoes.
Climb on down from that window,
climb on out of your room.
'Cause I never had a good thing,
and I always had the blues.
And I heard that you always kinda wondered -
Miles, strike up the Cool.

Don't wait too long to come home.
My how the years and our youth pass on.
Don't wait too long to come home,
I will leave the front light on.
If the night is all wrong,
don't wait too long.

Like Poor Mr. Pitiful, I can't turn you loose
You move like a dream I had, 

woke up sweating in my room.
But your Mama's got plans, 

and your Daddy's aim is true.
But she never understood that it ain't no good,
and Papa never heard the Cool.

So now I got up my nerve, 

and found me a stone.
With a flick of the wrist 

and a turn of the key 

you just fall in my arms.

And don't wait too long to come home.
My how the years and our youth pass on.
Don't wait too long to come home,
I will leave the front light on.
If the night is all wrong,
you don't wait too long.

So why don't you sing to me 

on this long drive home?
Let the sound of your voice

sway sweet and slow,
As we go down, down, down from our youth to the ground,
Down, down, down from our youth to the ground.
We might always be blue...

So don't wait too long to come home.
My how the years and our youth pass on.
Don't wait too long to come home,
I will leave the front light on.
  No don't wait too long to come home.
My how the years and our youth pass on.
Don't wait too long to come home,
I will leave the front light on.

As we go down, down, down from our youth to the ground.
Down, down, down from our youth to the ground.
Down, down, down from our youth to the ground.
Down, down, down, down, down... 

                                                             -Miles Davis and The Cool

                                                      The Gaslight Anthem

Because You're Mine...

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine,
I walk the line

I find it very, very easy to be true
I find myself alone when each day is through
Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you
Because you're mine,
I walk the line

As sure as night is dark and day is light
I keep you on my mind both day and night
And happiness I've known proves that it's right
Because you're mine,
I walk the line

You've got a way to keep me on your side
You give me cause for love that I can't hide
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide
Because you're mine,
I walk the line

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine,
I walk the line

                                                -JC