the other side of everything

it’s ending! it’s ending!
all colors are blending
i can’t say i want to die
but i’d love to close my eyes
and open them a world away
some dark night to this long day
and the end has finally come
to go back where i came from
like some place i’ve never been
i’m afraid, so afraid of the end
i’ve only heard rumors and fantasies
the time has come for me to see
so call it another beginning
to the other side of everything

second story

in the spring another fall
for the stubborn leaves that cling
to the now new budding branches
life pushes death out of the way
fluttering, twisting, fighting
bearing it’s own memory
these lonely strangers fall
once blessed with such a view
they gather in corners and whisper
tall tales from the elusive past
they wander dusty pavement
now slaves to old enemy breeze
settling on some cracked sidewalk
where Jeff loved Jane in 88
imitation immortality
fingers traced in wet cement
love now abandoned to excuses
once blessed with such a view

i am winter

1/4/2001

i am winter come to ruin
the promise of last spring
with freezing rain on window panes
i am death of everything

there is no guilt or sadness
for summer’s come and gone
each has had their day
i am dusk for every dawn

dallas

 

you died somewhere overe dallas
the sky was so clear that day
as we wept it hid itself
behind a mournful gray

so now we pick up the pieces
will they help us understand?
you were born to fly
in death, never to land

as the sun dips to kiss the west
and the east slides into shadow
we here who are left
wonder why you had to go

9/11/02

so many stories remain untold
hidden by crumbling walls
cut short phone calls
eighty story falls

we trade these imaginations
of unwitnessed scenes
over pennsylvania green
top floors and in between

this earth absorbs the stories
no tongue will ever form
it weeps them from the storm
when september nights are warm

rainmakers

watch the water claim the valley
hear all the rainmaker’s brag
we finally got what we asked for
now we can’t give it back

like a scar on young skin
we will pay for our mistakes
thunder rumbles
as the last time crumbles

nature is more thief than giver
another town joins the river

blue tie


a guy in a blue tie told me you had died
i didn’t believe him but i sat right down and cried
he said he was sorry, he said that he would stay
he put a hand on my shoulder and i cussed it away

i was angry at him, but i don’t know why
he told me the truth when most men would have lied
i’m sorry now for the things i said
to the man who told me you were dead

there are so many questions, i say i’m fine
besides you lies this heart of mine
but i can’t feel, and i asked God
to give me the sorrow to keep you
as close tomorrow

your mom isn’t crying , isn’t that strange
your dad is different, yeah, everything’s changed
the preacher says you’re in a better place
they painted a smile on your face

there are so many questions
i saw i’m fine
beside you lies this
heart of mine

cold weather

 


cold weather comes
sliding down that hill
and barges through open doors
like bad news

cold weather flees
in one morning of sun
high in blue sky
it’s gone

like the giants of cities now fallen
giving everbody stories
of the day without smiles
there was a day without smiles

cold weather comes
sliding down that hill
and barges through open doors
like bad news

flight 93

kiss me, my darling, before i go
my flight leaves at 8 am
i’ll see you when i get home
i’ll call you from the west coast

and when i say i love you
it’s for always
starting today

hey there, it’s me, from the air
i just called to say…i miss you
i’ll hope that you will be….

happy.

so kiss me, my darling, before i go

we will rebuild

i’m struck by the beauty i now see in you
i’ve long ignored the red white and blue
has someone switched you in the night?
i see you new by the dawn’s early light

rubble and reasons that do not stand
life slips out of a grasping hand
planes that turn and terrorize
dry are empty, tearless eyes

we will rebuild
a peace taken by fear
we will rebuild
and we’re still here

under your colors that wave in the wind
we fight in a war we did not begin
a spotlight to shadows, darkness will flee
we bury the brave and we rally the free

over our shoulder we carry you on
we raise you high, plant you on lawns
our sorrow is strong, but so are you
the beautiful red, the white, the blue