Light Blue

I remember you, light blue. 
Those were the years when I was just passing through. 
When I didn't care, and my back was turned—
Resignation that I hadn't earned. 
I've got this tear in me since I don't know when. 
Don't let it out—don't ask me how. 
But can you tell me why? 'Cause I need to know
Why it kills the young and it melts the snow.
And why I can't see its face, as it crawls back up the hill, 
Where its feet leave no trace, asleep for months, getting its fill. 
I have heard of you, dark green—
All the knowledge that I've never seen. 
Draped in front of me like a lucky chance
To change your clothes before the dance. 
You've got this glow in you—can you show me how
To give up less than they allow? 
Or is it set in mud that you can't get off, 
No matter how you shout and cough? 
And as your voice echoes high, will it find the room it needs
To know that nothing is a shame, not the fruit, and not the seeds?

Thick Skin

Your hometown, your new town, where do you want to be? 
Swing and turn, sister. Swing and turn, jubilee. 
My drifters, my spiders, my ghosts I can hear. 
Live a long lifetime, live alone without fear. 
You can booze if you want to but your problems, they drink too. 
Move away, brother. Maybe they won't follow you. 
Getting older, skin getting thicker and the inward gaze is done. 
Look out at the outside; let that thick skin feel the sun. 
I don't know how I found you where I thought I might never return.
Swing and turn, jubilee—just show me how to live and learn. 
How do you spell good fortune in a language much too old? 
Luck one little detail as shy as the sky is cold. 
You can move if you want to but your problems, they move too. 
You think they lost the scent, man, you think they won't follow you. 
Getting older, skin getting thicker, and the inward gaze is done. 
Look out at the outside; let that thick skin feel the sun. 

Manzanita

As the faces of the rock begin to gather at the ground, 
And the manzanita finds a way to curl and to be, 
And the second hand is satisfied with how it comes around, 
And the waves percuss against the heat and come back to the sea, 
I love the way that we grow old, the way my teeth are getting dull, 
And the way the river turns to a ravine after it's full, 
And how the parking lots are growing full of weeds after the cull; 
Oh yeah, I love the way that we grow old.
As the trauma you remember from way back when you were young
Begins to dissipate and be replaced by something more profound, 
Like the way the paint is drying as it hangs there on the rung, 
And how you watch it with the brush still in your hand without a sound, 
I love the way that you decide to let things be as it gets cold, 
And the way the cards all hover on the table when you fold, 
With unfamiliar ease creeping up on us like mold; 
Oh yeah, I love the way that we grow old.
When the girls are still young but you decide to take a job, 
And suddenly the chapter starts to sputter to a close, 
And the thought of leaving it behind just makes your spirit throb, 
But time is inescapable and it knows what it knows, 
I love the way that we march on into the unfamiliar shoals, 
How the light looks on the ocean floor as afternoon takes hold,
How casual you are when you are brave and you are bold; 
Oh yeah, I love the way that we grow old.
With the work that you've been doing beginning to grow thin, 
As if you've just been waiting in a pool for the tide, 
And now you see the shadow of a big wave coming in, 
And every fiber of your being says to brace yourself or hide, 
I love the way that you prepare against the nature of your soul, 
The way the earth will shudder as it curls and it rolls, 
How dignified the answer as the question takes a toll; 
Oh yeah, I love the way that we grow old. 

Vanishing Class

I won’t lay down easy, not with the dreams I’ve dreamt. 
Not the cowards in heaven, or the money they spent. 
I won’t waste my life with reins in my teeth, 
Bent under some trade, adding up all my grief. 
I want to come into the light, not to cower or to linger,
When we are the ring on time’s finger. 
Don’t let them tear it down--I’ve got the deed right here. 
They’ve got no right to see it, not when the law’s so clear. 
Well tell them go to hell, and call your alderman, 
And if he doesn’t answer, I’ll call the fireman, 
And I’ll set it ablaze, just to keep them away. 
'Cause I’ve got back your back, honey, but my mind won’t stay. 
I hereby renounce my allegiance to the states of evil, and of the blues. 
Sometimes I lose my breath seeing things as they are. 
I suppose that’s conceited, thinking I can see far. 
Well, I know too well I’ve got no looking glass. 
Just an outdated patience, and a vanishing class.

Whatever's Divine

I don't want to front like I'm from another decade,
And I don't want to feel like I'm part of a decaying past. 
But if time moves like a subtle joke, 
You might as well tie me to the deck at the center mast. 
So thank jah for your love,
Thank allah for your love, 
Thank god for your love, 
If it comes to that.
All the places I went had familiar seasons, 
But the rhythm was wrong, or the weather made me lose my mind.
But now just maybe I've run out of reasons
To drift like a fool, or to grasp like I've just gone blind. 
So thank jah for your love, 
Thank allah for your love, 
Thank god for your love
At the end of the line.
Heavy hangs the promise, heavy with the truth. 
The years will keep us honest like the months have tended to do.
Thank jah for your love, 
Thank allah for your love, 
Thank god for your love, 
Or whatever's divine.

I See You

Oh one and only, what levy do we owe? 
Can we keep all our memories, or will they overflow? 
When I'm living simply, what can I take along? 
Can I have all my gratitude without trying it on? 
The sound is changing, slowly with the sun. 
The flicker at the end, the creeper almost done. 
As the glow approaches, no sound will be heard. 
No sign of the morning, no sign of the birds. 
But I see you flying, I see you as you call—
Waiting til the final minute comes before the fall. 
I see you in my forest; I see you in my sleep.
I see you when you wake up with the dreams you choose to keep.
One by one you vanish, dissolve right from the skies. 
As the night grows famished, and the inlets start to rise. 
I never felt so rootless as I do as a tree—
When my leaves are lucid, and wanting to fall free. 
But I see you flying; I see you as you call—
Waiting til the final minute comes before the fall. 
I see you in my forest; I see you in my sleep.
I see you when you wake up with the dreams you choose to keep.

Some Ride

Some ride to be seen as strong—
Some ride to be proven wrong—
Some ride to be loved, but from afar. 
Some ride to be wrote about—
Some ride to be thrown around—
Some ride just to find out who they are. 
All I need is a reason to ride, 
All I need is a reason to ride. 
All I need is a reason to ride and I'll ride all right.
Some ride 'cause that's where they're home—
Some ride just to be alone—
Some ride 'cause they can't stand to be still. 
Some ride 'cause they need the time
Between being next in line and being
The last ones to get their fill.
All I need is a reason to ride, 
All I need is a reason to ride. 
All I need is a reason to ride, and I'll ride all right.

Skating On The Glass

They took you by surprise, the ways that it had changed. 
Right behind your eyes, like somehow you'd been framed. 
"Yeah, that's the new plateau," it said. 
"That's how you learn to see ahead."
You had read the signs when you were just a boy. 
When you'd get confused by momentary joy. 
As beautiful as it could be, it took away your will to see ahead.
Skating on the glass like it was strong,
Impatient to be proven wrong, 
Impatient to be where you're not, 
And where you get you ask what you've got. 
You'd bend the world to your will, 
Or you would learn to be
A bearing in a wheel in a dignified machine. 
Now the former is a joke, 
And the latter is a koan, 
And somewhere in between is where you are, 
Where you left and where you're going.

This Is What We Do

It's trouble to be carried along on a moving train, seduced by a song, 
But this is what we do, this is what we do, 
This is what we do, this is what we do.
'Cause they sing so sweet through your hands on your ears—
You may talk about change, but you're smitten with fear; 
Yeah this is what we do, this is what we do, 
This is what we do, this is what we do.
It's a matter of time til the turnouts come loose, 
And you're caught with your neck being fit for a noose, 
But this is what we do, this is what we do, 
This is what we do, this is what we do.
You say this is the end, the fates laugh in your face, 
And they take you aloft with a note in your place, 
And they say this is what we do, this is what we do, 
This is what we do, this is what we do.
"What's happened to me?" you ask as they fly. 
They just smile at you, and you start to cry. 
This is what we do, this is what we do,
This is what we do, this is what we do.

Ribbons

Maybe I don't recall just how I found my way at all, 
But I remember dreams like bark peeled off by fire.
And I recall the sign as it melted in the light, 
And the sense that the times were turning dire.
And my brain just ain't the same since the poison in my veins
Fought off the foreign cells that sent me fading.
I'm very much alive, but I've lost sight of the mind
That raised the hell and blurred the line that kept me waiting.
How does one write about who one used to be
Before the sterilizing waves of the redeemer?
Particularly when it's so hard to find a pen
That'll write it in the longhand of a healer?
And while I try to age my words get dense and they get plain
And I forget to wonder where I had been going.
Perhaps the simplest way through is to learn what not to do, 
And the years will take away the need for knowing.
You spend your body while it's there, change the ribbons in your hair, 
Make sure you pledge to your love in the field of honor.
Try to seize night by the throat, keep your hands inside your coat
Until you've stumbled on a well and need the water.
You know the times are staying the same, don't take the weather for a change—
It's a simulated progress that we're after.
Just look at all the circling crows, and try not to hold your nose
Until the fire finally engulfs the rafters.