morning comes on/through the fog I check my legs they both seem to move right/anew it begins/commerce and hammers hungover lovers caught in the headlights//it’s so good to be here/with a river of love inside me/so many are gone/and the morning comes on//used to be beside me/sometimes I think it might be lying in the next room over/listen to its breathing/in its dreams we’re rolling hot in the clover//there’s leon and lily/a laundry line staring at a laundry basket/love can grow wild/when you have coffee and the question and the courage to ask it//and it’s so good…//see that young girl/you wouldn’t know it to look but her heart has been broken/there’s a young man/you might not think so but his cup is often out of hopin’//and it’s so good…//sun’s hard on your tears they don’t burn off when they gather in the small hours of the morning/I won’t tell you about mine but I’ll for the right to know when I'm lonely//it’s so good…//stains in the memory/friends I don’t know which road in the wood has been taken/so long since I've seen you/I can only pray for us all when I've awakened//no slamming of doors/no racing around yelling honey where are my clean shirts/state of high flies its blue/song sparrows come in close when I sit quiet

one time in twenty’s plenty darling if you fall in love/do it for jesus do it for G-d above/there’s a pine tree with the sweetest resin in the darkest wood/we can go for a little while or we can go for good//smoke your cigarette look me in the eye/show me your silhouette I’ll try to draw that fine line/open up your heart do it just for me/do it for yourself little darling we’ll make some cool history//thirteen dreams I had I recall but a single one/we were skipping stones and each one traveled on and on and on/I looked across the water I called out your name /woke to a single strand of hair threat of thunder in the vacant rain//one time in twenty’s plenty darling if you fall in love/do it for jesus do it for the devil in the mud/one time in twenty’s plenty darling if you fall for real/I hear what you’re saying now tell me what you feel

speak to me now I wish you would/I've lived on the mountain on the song of birds/I ache to answer you from out of the wood/so much to tell so much I’ve heard//I’m hidden here beyond the red/mix black with blue is what you get/spirit’s kind dream in a buried kiss/music found by the dowser’s fingertips// wake me in the wood/singing always made me feel so good/wake me in the wood & wire/voice coming down the line rising up in heart’s desire//never has so little meant so very much/feel my pulse quicken beneath your fingers’ touch/dawn sweeps across the chosen sky/so much goes on beyond the human eye// you remember my raven hair/you remember how I was always there/you don’t know how much I've wept to see my children grow/to tell them all the things they need to know//you know the way of the bone/cleaned by wind wind blows through on its own /what you left gets gathered by the breeze/sweet flute notes flutter beautifully// wake me now…//like the cage around the bird/the lamp around the genie/eclipse between the moon and you/the ache round what you mean to me//I’ve waited for darkened rooms/stars above quiet song below/a bit of mist between frozen tears/one bird in the slumbering mahogany//wake me slowly now and do it kind/touch me gently tip of finger on lid of eye/kind of chilly now but I don’t mind/been sleeping for a long long time//

whatcha wanna tell me/whatcha wanna do/x2/you better make your mind up baby/you better hurry up and choose//you got something (cold and twisted)/tugging at your sleeve/you got something blowing a blizzard/in your veins and you can’t sleep//look at your body/you’re thin as a rail/twitchin’ and a ramblin’/ripped as a storm tossed sail//what’s that voodoo magic/what you burning when I’m not at home/what was my lock of hair doing there/with my fingernail that black cat bone//I got this smile on my face/whenever I sing this song/cause I love to hold my old guitar/knowing that you’re gone//you long gone in the morning/never liked your coffee the way I do/you long gone in the nighttime/my bed was never big enough for you//I remember how you said (whispered) my name how you liked your love/a bottle of red wine on the table/your hands in white satin gloves//sing glory hallelujah/strum it on the old banjo/singing auld lang syne in double time/watching you go//whatcha wanna tell me

it’s not about your girl it’s not about your guy/not about the poison left behind/to summarize: the flesh is a precious little lie/all things fall apart in time//see the buildings start to tumble down/the river swelling up with salt/a broken doll the killer’s hands cannot be found/each one says ‘it’s not my fault’//it’s over and late/a broken heart a busted gate/it’s over and past/what don’t come and what don’t last//the oracle has spoken smoke from the prophet’s mouth/greed and garbage where the elders used to dance/a ring of orphan keys a rusted door and one way out/a hole in the sky the size of france//it’s over…//I hope some cure is rolling down the line/I pray it gets here soon/something going on in that court on high/it’s still cold and it’s still raining and it’s june//it’s over…/…it’s over and done/falling leaf and setting sun

sunrise over the barn old hound in slow steep howl/never knew he mourns lousy neighbours and I know it now/all roads lead to ruin so I lie back in my own heat/fresh bread and coffee smell like flesh burning in my sleep//my thoughts are darker than they’re deep/from an old abandoned well/stick around I’ll write the end of this small town novel//fix that broken glass torn screen whines on rusted hinge/bloodshot eyes roll past the finish line of another binge/sweating alcohol I lunch on pickled eggs/and a dozen smokes on the porch/this year’s schoolgirls are the youngest yet//my thoughts are darker//oh my sweet relief I got to cash you before five/I got nothing to offer same as what I got to hide/and all you wanna know about me you can get from what my enemies say/there’s notches on my barrel all I'm afraid of is walking away//my thoughts//you start out bored you get used to the running creek/you get used to the smiles for every thief and whore and thug and cheat/I looked in every window and I know who loves his wife/I know who tells the dirty little lie I know who lives the dirty little life//my thoughts/blue steel oiled and racked someday my Sunday bell will ring/the paddies stripped me down love hung the rest on a wicked west wind/keep a bottle by the bedside an orphan key around my neck/a few pale blue forget-me-nots grow where I last stole someone’s breath//my thoughts

I can tell you how I'm feeling/nothing seems right/the kettle’s boiling over/it’s the middle of the night/it’s a dream that I can’t wake from/even in the light of midday//I'm perfect for you you’re perfect for me/in every way//I can finger in the socket/I can hand upon the stove/I can head upon the train tracks/o hear that whistle blow/I can speak for the flames/licking my ankles like waves//I'm perfect for you//I'm tired of talking/when you’re not near/you know what I'm saying/is not smoke or veneer/call me when you’ll come through/that’s the deal ‘round here babe//I’m perfect for you…//don’t worry ‘bout the hard times/we’ve seen the last of those/this tree will never ever bend again/no matter what sweet wind blows/it’s gonna be a great ride/like the loving we made//I'm perfect for you…//there’s someone at the window/counting all the stars/tracing constellations/doesn’t see they’ve moved so far/got lovers got hunters/all kinds of beast and they all say//I'm perfect for you…

next time you see this man/tell him what you want and when/summer and winter in his hands/doesn’t always know which one to send//to find a word that’s true/sky says: speak your truest name/I don a cape of blue/sea myself and sky are the same//every hour of every night/ starlings wishing they were stars/hear them all through the night singing/how’d you get so cold and far//one two three four five/number my left and my right hand/laugh and then you cry/things don’t always end up as you planned//a stone thrown through your song/you had to walk cause you felt bad/someone touched you wrong/or didn’t want what you had//every hour//another simple song/another smoldering straw/another road to gone/lit by the distant star

one more night stayed up late/looking for love where there was none/there was a fevered touch and hearts that raced/in all that breath there was no oxygen//what will you do with your hour/and how is your sleep so untroubled/how will you stay warm through the winter/now the fields are cut down to stubble//one more night…//now fall back but don’t fall too far/find some arms and call them ‘lover’/find a wall of water that won’t tumble down/a shooting star that will last forever//one more night…//will come a time of nothing to drink/no fragrance in waking or dreaming/no zephyr wind blows sotto voce on the skin/and bloodhounds lose the trail of meaning//one more night...

happy new year baby/though you’re no baby of mine/everyone’s gone home now/and if we’ll ever have it now’s our time//a little secret in a little light/forbidden breath at the end of the night/we won’t tell though we’ve done no wrong/between you and me and this first dawn//it’s not a game of hide & seek anymore/you’ve found the place I conceal my heart/count down from ten and here you are/close as shiver and desire//a little secret…//you say ‘close your eyes and reach out your hand’/you stand beyond my touch/statue in the shadows and your gown half-off/it was all you said you’d give but it was so much//a little secret…//happy new year baby/it’s getting cold outside my door/it was nice to see you baby/now you’re my drug and I only want a little more

in the murdered rain in the graveyard hour/as a huddled rock beside the radiant flower//declare your love//in the fields of snow where the battle’s fought/and the red red rose where the soldier dropped//declare your love//on the streets of plague by the carts of death/the church bells black use your dying breath//declare your love//declare your love to the burning flame/declare your love to the passing train/declare your love on the blade of Cain/declare your love//in the beggar’s rags in the regal cloak/in the battered town where the bombs explode//declare your love//in the midnight hour with the strength of ten/when your strength is gone then even then//declare your love//by the waters deep under ash-white stars/tiny speck of soul little scrap of heart//declare your love//declare your love for the rites of spring/declare your love like a mad blind king/declare your love for anything//declare your love//on the humble eve by the simple stream/upon a fallen leaf as you float to sea//declare your love//on the harp & lyre to the Holy King/on the whisky glass toast the drunken spring//declare your love//on the mountaintop where the word is Om/the snow falls soft on a man alone//declare your love//prepare for love with a suit & tie/prepare for love with your skirt hiked high/prepare for love with what’s true inside/prepare for love//on the day of the saint with the tunic soaked through/blood and tears and the faint drum tattoo//declare your love//on the day of the saint if the sun be dull/declare your love if it shines at all/declare your love//in never more and once again/in everyday and forever amen//declare your love

something ‘bout some trouble you caused or you tried to avoid/the day you handed her a string of pearls and promised her a baby boy/something ‘bout some wisdom you searched for but did not find//gotta walk a big footstep/gonna leave a faint footprint behind/ /something ‘bout the moon and sun one’s always there when the other’s not around/this little world keeps turning your heels keep wearing it down/something ‘bout some wisdom says the balance is so delicate and fine//gotta…//might be some holy gate a little Persian smoke/words from a monkey skull or from a man dangling from a rope/might be a little wisdom vivid visions of the blind//something ‘bout a heavy heart nine dollars and a half a tank of gas/tornado coming takes a moment to suck up all your past/something ‘bout some wisdom in the cursive script of the vine//gotta…//might be a tiny prayer a sestina if you got the time/a stroll in a winter wood snowfall covering up the crime/might be a little wisdom an ounce from a ton of ore refined//something ‘bout the children laughing blonde saplings in the rain/the way their voices sing through time as you bend to tuck them in again/something ‘bout some wisdom running down the mortal spine//gotta…

my heart ascends a bare and a hidden tower/I carry a sweet bouquet to hand my love next May/it’s breezing like fall the leaves are coming down/dry things with one thing left to say//lay by my side/lay by my side/lay by my side right now//I’ll turn my voice into a curl of smoke/I’ll fill a room with ferns and shells and wishing star tails that never fade/and butterfly wings to cool your dreams at night/carry you home when you wake//lay by my side…//beside your breathing the moon’s the only sound/bell of a baritone sax playing for the midnight flower/and I’d be vain as the weather if I thought I brought you here/I just watch the unfolding of the hours//lay by my side…

I woke like a lark with a song on my tongue/the way that I sometimes do/it was a simple waltz that a child could hum/I knew I would write it for you/daylight shone down and I lost it/I lost my little tune/I would gladly give it up/if I hadn’t already lost you too//waltz with me through the hours/my arm around your waist/your head on my shoulder/one-two-three our hearts and our steps in place//now this can’t be right to be given a gift/the next minute it’s taken away/seems like a flicker a flutter ago/we danced the new day awake/daylight shines down on my losses/I no longer fit in your arms/and someone is there when I call you/how’d you dance away so fast and so far//waltz with me…/woke like a lark with a song on my tongue/I wanted to write it for you