Hay and a clean stall
and ivy on a garden wall
and a sign saying sold
and no coat for the bad cold
I believe in you
Do you believe in me?
What do you want to do?
Are we leaving the city
On the black road?
Through the gold fields
While the fields are plowed
Towards what we are allowed
The bridle bends in idle hands
And slows your canter to a trot
We mean to stop in increments,
But can't commit. We post and sit in impotence
The harder the hit, the deeper the dent
We seek our name, we seek out fame
In our credentials, paved in glass,
Trying to master incidentals
Bleach a collar, leech a dollar from our cents
The longer you live, the higher the rent
Beneath a pale sky,
Beside the red barn,
Below the white clouds
Is all we are allowed
Here, the light will seep,
And the scythe will reap,
And spirit will rend
In counting toward the end
In December of that year,
The word came down that she was here.
The days were shorter,
I was sure if she came round,
I'd hold my ground
I can do what they alluded to,
A change that came to pass
And spring did range, weeping grass
And sleepless broke
Itself upon my winter glass
And I could barely breathe for seeing
All the splintered light that leaked.
A fish is fleeting, launched in flight
But starched in light,
Bright and bleeding, bleach the night
With dawn deleting in that high sun
After our good run,
When the spirit bends
Beneath knowing it must end
And I did all I want here,
To draw my gaunt spirit to bow
Beneath what I am allowed,
Beneath what I am allowed