The Stars My Destination

 

before the sun first rose 

there was nothing we could do 

all the water in our hearts froze fast 

the world begin anew 

I finally woke up and pulled 

these sheets across my eyes 

to once and all dispel the myth 

that everything must rise 

 

this gravity that holds me down 

leaves creases on my mind 

It’s erasing more than memories 

and space between the lines 

hours spent beside myself 

hold true to all these lies 

until my name’s forgotten by the 

continents and tides 

 

but my name is not important now 

and neither is my station 

here lies the only home i know 

the stars 

my destination 

 

then I’m reaching for the lightswitch 

to return the morning’s glare 

the hum of electricity 

the ozone in the air 

the energy, the glory 

ah, the spark that gave them breath 

the iron and obsidian 

laid heavy on their breast 

 

when first i came to understand 

that nothing really dies 

It just changes rearranges 

all the space between the lines 

i felt myself elongate 

stretched across the field of time 

And i saw my name splashed on a sea 

of shimmer and of shine 

 

do you see it written there in lights? 

a sun for each occasion 

It’s a marquee lit in candlelights 

the stars 

my destination 

 

Then turning for the door 

I see her standing there 

With blazing circles in her eyes 

and diamonds in her hair 

There’s carbon laced in carbon 

laid in braids across her back 

the lattice cracks and shatters 

but the heart remains intact 

 

The growing paranoia of 

the blackness in the sky 

When these seconds, minutes, hours 

days and years before us lie 

vessels surging forward 

salty veins that crash and fall 

until the channel widens 

and the sea reclaims us all 

 

Then my words become a sextant 

Meant to aid my navigation 

I borne across the endless sea 

the stars 

my destination

St. Germain

 

meet me by the church at saint germain

you won't know to call me by my name

the eyes are different but the words remain

the tongue unbroken and the songs all sound the same

 

as they did

when i left

before

there was time

now i want

for more

 

at the center of the rose in the petals whirl

there's a motion round the middle like the turning of the world

the gears set spinning turn the hands of a girl

puts the thorn into her thumb as the colors all unfurl

 

as the red

becomes

something more

than blood

something more

than love

 

when i saw you by the fountain

you'd been waiting there so long

every fiber on your overcoat was torn

you said these chances don't come often

to see the path that you’ve worn

you're born once into the world

twice into the dawn

third onto the mountain

And the fourth into my arms

 

i’m not a prophet ‘cause i haven’t earned a cent

i’m not enlightened i just learned to travel light

i’m not the kind to say the things he meant

i’m not afraid when you turn out the light

 

in the dark

i can hear

my heart

in my ears

the blood

is the spark

 

when i saw you at the chapel

on the altar dressed in red

there’s a grand intoxication just coursing through my head

Oh to live a thousand years

And to walk on through the morning like you said

you’re born once into the world

twice into the dawn

third onto the mountain

and fourth into my arms

 

meet me by the church at st germain

it’s been a hundred years but it feels just the same

don’t put your hair up ‘cause i think it’s going to rain 

just say you love me and you’ll never leave again

 

Lighthouse Keeper

I didn't know that I was running

Til I found myself at sea between the waves

And in the wake I left behind 

I saw the days we put behind us slip away

It's just a quick trip up and back

To leave essentials with the old men at the dock

A spot of land out in the ocean

Where no one goes and no one ever stops for long

 

There's a man here on a motorbike

With three miles worth of road to call his own

It's the closest thing to freedom

He can get without straying too far from home

 

And every day he revs his engine

To wake the fisherman and the last of the late sleepers

He's lonely as a lighthouse keeper

 

There’s a man been seen around

With a sheen of glass and glaze upon his eyes

He’s got a beard of twenty years

And a voice that makes the mountains creak and sigh

He's got a tattoo of a woman

On his arm and there's a sadness in her eyes

And with the salt and spray upon him

She turns away so you can't see her when she cries

 

She's the keeper of the rocks and reefs

The face that launched a hundred shipwrecked souls

The spirit of the light that keeps him safe

When the ocean rocks and rolls

And every day he counts his blessings

And says a prayer for all those lost out in the deep there

He's lonely as a lighthouse keeper

 

Heaven is aglow 

With a burning scar upon the northern sky

And it might set the sea on fire

Turn to glass he waves that roll for miles and miles

And you who watch and you who wait

Will be rewarded when the circle comes undone

And we will all turn on our lights

And shine them down like we are bringing back the sun

 

He's the keeper of the rocks and reefs

The face that saved a hundred shipwrecked souls

The spirit of the light keeps them safe

When the ocean rocks and rolls

And every day he says a prayer

For the fishermen and last of the late sleepers

He’s lonely as a lighthouse keeper

Green Dress

green dress

you wore with feathers one time at the circus

backless

open to the water, wind and sun

you could be waiting there for anyone

 

brown eyes

open to another morning’s sunrise

disguised

a fire burns beneath the old world yet

the glowing ember end of cigarettes

 

take off your shoes and settle down

even when you’re sleeping

the world stills circles round and round and round

take up your hair

and let it down down down

as your green dress falls

in circles to the ground

 

green leaves

a robe built from a canopy of oak trees

with green sleeves

to celebrate the coming of the sun

to usher in a season just begun

 

red veins

running up the trunk right through the wood grain

blue rain

for purple blossoms whirled around the crown

And two-part broken hearts that can’t be found

they shatter but they never make a sound

 

take off your shoes and settle down

even when you’re sleeping

the world stills circles round and 

round and round

take up your hair

and let it down down down

as your green dress falls

in circles to the ground

 

Nevada

They say that Reno has got it made

we can stay here at the circus 

we can be our own parade

but a tiger in its cage is missing teeth

It’s made of paper skin and fury

with no reason to believe

and it dreams of southeast asia

and the mist between the trees

and the blood of the barasingha

flowing eastward to the sea

but i’m stuck here on the south of nothing new

I wish that I was driving

through Nevada with you

 

somewhere north of Vegas there’s a ranch

a thousand dusty miles 

of empty gypsum flats

in the time before there was a lake

the same unchanging surface 

between here and Utah state

Now the screams of jet propulsion

crack the sky and make it shake

as i watch the cars roll by

heading east on the interstate

I wish that I could have that point of view

i wish that i was driving

through Nevada with you

 

i could dream a highway in my mind

It’s rolling through the mountains

to where the rivers all unwind

though i don’t know all their names

i’m certain they know mine

‘cause the water has a way

of remembering the time

but there’s nothing i can say to make it true

i wish i was that river

winding its way back to you

 

I could make it down to the inland sea

I could float on down on the Jordan

all the way to Galilee

your hand in mine we walk across

on a stretch of highway 93

that time and space have lost

just to watch the sun rise over

All the mountains, salt and dust

where they come to know the difference

between belief and trust

and there’s nothing much in common with the two

and i wish that i was driving

through nevada with you

 

i could dream a highway in my mind

rolling through the mountains

To where the rivers all unwind

though i don’t know all their names

I’m certain they know mine

‘cause the water has a way

of remembering the time

there’s nothing i can say or make or do

i wish i was that river

winding its way back to you

There’s nothing i can say would make it true

I wish that i was driving

Through Nevada with you

 

Eveline

Eveline unwinds herself from sleep and throws an arm across my side

She’s long and soft and languid and her heart beats close, her eyes are open wide

She says “Last night I dreamt of serpents racing down the mountainside

With their tongues all forked like lightning and their bodies forged in fire

They drove us to the water and with nowhere left to hide

We jumped in with all our clothes on and went out just like the tide”

 

Lines of sweat are forming, yeah she’s burning, giving off an inner heat

She’s coal, she’s fire, she’s naked under earth and rock and cotton sheets

The pressure building slowly every time her red heart beats

Like the world might split apart when our bodies finally meet

And there’s only stone and diamond where a woman used to be

All that fire all that fury making channels towards the sea

 

so open up

and swallow me in

I would like to feel the same way that i did when we began

i sail away

oh, you draw me back

the waters rush to fill the places where the ocean cracks

 

 

Eveline’s the sound that tears a hole across the blue uncertain sky

She’s a metronome of thunder sounded back and forth to keep the time

She says “Last night I dreamt of trumpets down from heaven’s gate on high

While the smell of burning sulfur seeps from hell’s one open eye

The fever finally breaking in the cooling winds that wind

From the falling walls of Jericho to crumbling mountainsides”

 

And I know that day is coming

And in my mind I plainly see

Two statues laid in embrace

Where our bodies used to be

And the years may treat us kinder

Than the years had meant to be

Yes I know that day is coming

When there’s only you and me

 

Eveline unwinds herself from sleep and throws the window shutters wide

It’s morning on the mountain she comes back to bed and lays down by my side

She says there’s nothing to remember from the dreams of sleep gone by

So we might as well just lay here with the sunlight in our eyes

Or we’ll walk down to the water laid before us deep and wide

We’ll jump in with all our clothes on and go out just like the tide

 

so open up

and swallow me in

I would like to feel the same way that i did when we began

i sail away

you draw me back

And the waters rush to fill the places where the ocean cracks

 

Harpo and Amelia

Harpo and Amelia

Walking through the backlot

She doesn’t have a flight plan

He doesn’t have the words

She asks him if he’d like to take

A ride up in her airplane

He just honks his horn

And pretends he hasn’t heard

 

Harpo and Amelia

Talking like they’re old friends

She offers him her hand

He offers her his leg

She knows it’s just a joke

But still it kind of hurts her

He’s the number one dogcatcher

But she doesn’t want to beg

 

All she wants is a night out at the opera

The touch of hands on 47 strings

All she’s got is the music of her engines

And he’s lost in the silver screen

He’s lost in the silver screen

 

Harpo and Amelia

Flight of passing fancy

They’ve been circling for hours

With no place to land

Fuel is running low

Altitude is dropping

She tells him that it’s serious

But he doesn’t understand

 

All she wants is a night in Casablanca

The touch of hands on 47 strings

But all she’s got is the music of her engines

And he’s lost in the silver screen

He’s lost in the silver screen

 

Harpo and Amelia

No more monkey business

She went west

And he went back to work

Now he’s a Pinky

Waiting for his Chicolini

And she’s an angel

Waiting for her fall to earth

 

All she wants is a night out at the opera

The touch of hands on 47 strings

But all she’s got is the music of her engines

And he’s lost in the silver screen

She’s just lost in the silver screen

Yeah they're both lost in the silver screen

 

Ida

We owe a rooster to Asclepius

When the time comes don’t forget, please pay

When they come to lay the coins across my eyes

There’ll be no one left to watch what I say

 

From my lonely bedroom spire

I can see the smoke from fires

Lit from pages of my book of days

Stretching out past Riker’s Island

Fingers reaching for the sky and

Blanketing the sun with haze

 

Do what you will, you libertine

The law of man will find its way

In stripes and bars or in quicklime laid

The silence finds you either way

 

So you summon elementals

In your bedroom, in your temple

New fires for the space between the sheets

Beasts you bore in wild abandon

Secret words of love and passion

A new bible for two hearts unleashed

 

But those sad words

Of tongue and pen

Erased and changed

Then changed again

The pages frayed

The marriage spent

But Babalon

Will rise again

 

Little Egypt in a see through shirt

Blowing kisses to the men in back

Little Brooklyn on the workhouse floor

Stripped naked showing welts all down her back

 

From the jury box they listened

To the same words they’d imprisoned

In a jail made of paper leaves and glue

Breaking down the bonds of wedlock

Giving her the choice of hemlock

Or chains that she could not break through

 

Do what you will, you libertine

The law of man will find its way

In stripes and bars or in quicklime laid

The silence finds you either way

The silence finds you either way

 

In the air the angels hover

Whisper names of spirit lovers

That wait just on the other side

Bonds of pleasure, not creation

Words of love and liberation

For the phantom and his silent bride

 

But those sad words

Of tongue and pen

Erased and changed

Then changed again

The pages frayed

The marriage spent

But Babalon

Will rise again

 

We owe a rooster to Asclepius

When the time comes don’t forget, please pay

Blood draining down from his beak to the altar

Where the record of my last words lay

 

In the body sung electric

A new truthful dialectic

There’s no bars across the golden doors

No stitches running down the hemline

Where our lips and songs are untied

I can’t tell if they are mine or yours

 

But those sad words

Of tongue and pen

Erased and changed

Then changed again

The pages frayed

The marriage spent

Let’s never say

What might have been

 

Row

I wanted to ask you

How the sea rose and fell

When the sirens awoke you

Were you under their spell?

Did they flash out a warning?

Did they sing you to sleep?

With your friends at the bottom

In the deepest of deeps

 

Row, row

Row til there’s nothing but

Oh, oh

Ocean behind you and

Go, go

There’s gold yet beneath the sky

 

Then the pictures of women

That you loved in your time

Drift by like a slow dance

In three-quarter time

Were they one in a million?

Were they one with your heart?

Did the troubles come later?

Were they there from the start?

 

Row, row

Row til there’s nothing but

Oh, oh

Ocean behind you and

Go, go

There’s gold yet beneath the sky

And no, no

There’s no time or reason

We roll, roll

Change with the seasons

And go, go

Grow shadows and touch the night

 

There’s nothing you can’t fix

With patience and twine

If the rod turns to splinters

Don’t throw out your line

 

No, you just row, row

Row til there’s nothing but

Oh, oh

Ocean behind you and

Go, go

There’s gold yet beneath the sky

And no, no

There’s no time or reason

We roll, roll

Change with the seasons

And go, go

Grow shadows and touch the night

 

 

I wanted to ask you

How the sea rose and fell

The Space Between Our Hearts

i’m going to tell the whole story this time

i’m going to lay all my troubles out

along the dotted line

i won’t waste the things i’m given

i won’t waste whatever’s mine

or any more of your time

 

the kindness that you will extend to me

the mercy of your wings conceals the

bones that you can’t see

did you say that there was room for me

in the stories of your dreams

in the songs you sing to me?

 

I was running

you were crying

“there’s nothing left for us to do but part”

we were talking

you were singing

a song about the space between our hearts

There’s a bird that nests between the crooked parts

two beating wings that flutter fast and sharp

a song about the space between our hearts

 

There is time that was and time will be

there are words that i have written

In the spaces you can’t see

i have nothing more to offer

than a reason to believe

no more that i can be

 

there are things i’ve said and said again

you can trace them down the lines

back to the mouths where they begin

did you mean to open up the door

and invite me safely in

into your heart again?

 

I was running

you were crying 

“there’s nothing left for us to do but part”

we were talking

you were singing

a song about the space between our hearts

There’s a bird that nests between the crooked parts

two beating wings that flutter fast and sharp

a song about the space between our hearts

 

i’m going to tell the whole story this time

from the earliest beginnings

to the last undotted line

i won’t waste a single word

i won’t waste whatever’s mine

i won’t make those mistakes 

this time