AVENUE He
lifted his head up
And he stepped away
Out onto the avenue
In the
middle of the day
He's reading about how
The sun rises and sets
He
thinks he understands
He steps and he steps
WHEN
FRIENDS FORGET
You babble about
the sun and the moon
And about how I keep lowly company
The myriads of
stars can't say
Why I'm not in the club today
Well you're raggedy
and rusty
And your temperament's gone blue
Well, you seek comfort in numbers
Your friends have all forgotten you
THE LEDGE
The clouds whirl around overhead
He tries to smoke away the dread
The
rain soaks his blue shoes
It's the beginning of a new day
He's thinking
about love lost
He's wondering about all the costs
He's trying to stay
afloat
There's a backlash when he rocks the boat
He's always been
afraid of heights
He's so close to his primal fear
He could hop on down,
it's one big sea
He comprehends his antipathy
He'd put his fire out
in a hurry
And fell far, far below
While his soul would soar
High
above the trees
He'd finally be free
MOUNDS
OF SNOW LAY LOOSE
The mounds of snow lay loose
On the edges
of lazy streets
Buildings hover over corners
Where two roads come to meet
The jingle of the bells, the smell of heat
Makes the paupers imagine the
retreat
To the other side of the café glass
Where they could settle
down and eat
GREAT THINGS IN THIS WORLD
She
paces back and forth out in the hallway
With traces of heartache sleepin'
in her eyes
She looks out the window beyond the fence
She ponders the
books in the nooks of the wise
She looks at me with the eyes of a young girl
She picks up the books and marvels at their size
Her voice wavers and
the corners of her mouth curl
She says, "I know you're gonna do great
things in this world"
IMPARTING A TALE OF
WALKING ALONG THE SKY
Scott looks out to the sea
The Beau
Mer is lovely indeed
The ships dance along the water
Effortlessly and
willfully
He's been here a while, you see
At the beach it's warmer
by degrees
South of the vineyards and the trees
Sarah sprints and flees
and goes crazy
Edward is there as well
The Great War was hell
He
shows so much promise
He has the real thing to sell
Their stars haven't
shined yet
They talk as their toes get wet
They return to their hotel
rooms
The moonlight is blue upon the deck
MOCKINGBIRD
She's just like a bird
Flying through the room
Picks up something
to nibble
Then moves on without a word
She was my sometime friend
My one-time lover
She taught me about leaving
And taking from another
She's changing but her core
Remains what it always has been
I've know
her since she was yeah high
She's always played the same game
Look
at her now, soon her name
Will be up in lights on a Broadway night
She
returns my calls less frequently
Now that she's such an awesome sight HIPSTER He
always had a hipper-than-thou expression
Depression had brought out his worst
con
He'd stab you with a glance to teach you a lesson
Then he'd assess
your broken ego and move on
SPINNING AND GRINNING
I got lost
Spinning, grinning around daybreak
Was out of time
When
it called to me
Oh Lord, he calls
Oh Lord, he feigns
Oh Lord, light
rain
THREE MINUTES
In a matter
of three minutes his life changed irreversibly
A lifetime's work was gone like
a ship disappearing into sea
Don't you know that a schooner can fall faster
than it can flee?
And a young boy's dreams disappear just as quickly
Time
moves and moves, just ask Grandma Belle
In a matter of two minutes her husband
died in an oil well
Give a man three minutes and he can make your life hell
My
three minutes are up, have I sold what I had to sell?
BALLAD
OF A SIDESHOW RODEO DESPERADO
It's ain't often that the rain
falls in June but when the travelin' show comes to town there ain't no reason
and the instruments don't need to be in tune. The desperado reached out to the
ones he loved. He could hardly feel his own hands. He was one with the crowd as
the lights went down. Here is what he said:
"Good Lord, what have
I done to myself now?
Like an eagle I soared, like a wretch I fell, somehow
And
you cradled me and held me in your hands
Now I've been spun out and left broken
on the sands"
Out on the avenue, he strode like a knight upon his
steed. The show was over. He avoided all the oppression. He was free from wants
and needs. Only the one who hears the battle call is the one who eventually bleeds.
He avoided the fight for glory though and instead blew his harmonica and bent
all the reads.
ANNIE MAY
Her
voice was loud
Her name was Annie May
She said, "Let's run away
And
live to love another day"
Suddenly I turned around
She was standing
there
With a face full of mystery
And ribbons in her hair
She quietly
asked of me,
"What are you running from?
Wherever you're going to
I'll
most surely come"
MIDNIGHT ANNIE
Where
have you gone, Annie baby?
What have all your flowers wilted to?
What
has come to pass
Is really just a laugh
I hope you can still smile when
all this is through
Where have you lived, Annie sugar?
You make my
imagination run wild
When I think of you
I cannot feel blue
You see
me through the eyes of a child
Thank you for all of your subtle giving
You
made me feel I had something to share
I guess we weren't so bad
We didn't
know what we had
I hope in the future we can take time to repair
JUMP
How
can I be so despondent?
I am the leader and must lead you
I must motivate
you to jump
I must jump around first
What does this mean?
There
is nothing to say
Except jump
I want you all to jump
PUB
ROCKERS
Here comes a tall glass of thick, black beer
I
think I'll drink a few before I get outta here
We've been playin' here for
six months, pretty soon it'll be a year
Oh, how I love to see the people stand
up and cheer
Play us a sad, sad love tune
Then play us a happy song
You're gonna be the one we remember
After all this is dead and gone
We pack up our gear every Thursday night
And we pour our soul 'neath the
barroom light
Ten people tell me that I'm going down with a fight
But I
keep singing about how everything is gonna be all right
There's a flood
in the doorway, people make the bartender grin
Seems our tunes have got them
coming back again
I've been telling everybody that someday I'll most surely
win
So they come back to see how this story is going to end
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