Time Not Set Or Sun To Rise

 

[source]

Time not set or sun to rise
Around my world and all my lies
Time forgets it's going to die
No matter will matter
Just wait for signs

Space to turn around and fold
Sheets are wet with blood and cold
Space is good to have I'm told
No sins or friends
Just know you're gold

Being born with all my bones
Broken now from all your stones
Being here but all alone
No sun but some
Just won't go home

On the Train to Mayfield

 

[ Photograph by Nicholas King ]

It was on the train to Mayfield
that celebrated Birthdays,
conductors standing straight and tall,
and all the the rolling earth.
There we stood and heard the choir
and saw the people dancing.
I said, let's take the next stop.
You nodded absently.

So we got off in Hiding.
Walked the streets together.
A light rain was falling.
And the prophets on the street corners
were calling out your name.

Well, the house was cold and dark but open,
with crosses made of birch and twine,
hanging above our bed
with the covers kicked away,
revealing you to me
and now my thoughts are drifting,
remembering a memory
and what you asked of me:

Have you made up your mind?
I've already decided.
I'm staying here in Hiding
until I can really get away.
And I can't hear you, Mary Ann.

And I am dreaming, Mary Ann.

The broken shutter's swinging
woke me up the next morning.
Then I heard you singing
from underneath your pillow.
Outside the sun was shining
with such intensity
that we took our time awakening
to say our good-byes.

And at the Station we stood apart,
afraid of retribution.
Here's the Lie and here's the Sign
that this will last forever.
And I watched you from the window.

I'm going on to Mayfield, Mary Ann.

I am leaving, Mary Ann.

Simple Head Sitting on a Simple Man

creature discomforts; equus | Shelton Walsmith | 2006

Simple head sitting on a simple man
Draw a circle around your bones
We drew a straight line
We're doing what we can
Simple head sitting on a simple man

Totem poles all lined up in a row
See a figure eight lie down and dream
Stand straight as you can
Look down below
Totem poles all lined up in a row

Kelly Bellows in a dreamscape full of rain
Tears falling, falling down your face
We danced with the clowns
Sang the song of the human race
Kelly Bellows in a dreamscape full of rain

Exploitation is simple and up on the wall
The simple man he's screaming at you all
The metaphor falls apart
And still you see the water fall
Exploitation is simple and up on the wall

Sixty-three days in the Bellingham haze

[ source ]

Sixty-three days in the Bellingham haze
Dues down paid with the dealers only made
Me want to get up and with the bimp down grades
My love is long gone, fingerprints will fade

So no one will know if I just don't go
Back to Austin to stand in the Chicon Street glow
Over red rocks spit out of you told me so
I'll hide in the dumpster so the smoke won't show

Know that it's over in forty days
Quarantined bad dreams, a skull for a face
Know that I'll be back there to take my place
As another man dances through a stranger's days

Take seven from eleven and I'll pay you two
One for myself and here's a silver tooth
We're both burning rocks on the Fresh Up roof
A psychopathic liar and a lover of truth

She tells me again it's sin to fall down
High tales told in a cold northern town
She traces tattoos on my skin in the lost and found
I'm walking to a rodeo trying not to be a clown

Holding all the memories that are tearing me apart
There's a hole in my chest for a dead dog's heart
Take a bottle from the desert, drink in all the bars
Falling off my barstool trying hard to play the part

I got a mirror in my trailer that's cracked three ways
Look into it long enough and you can still see her face
Up to facts about it all, those long summer days
In the smoke and the flame, the shame and disgrace

We burned up all her toys and sold all my books
About the bones and the language and everything it took
To take a dollar from the boy with the rabbit's foot
Set fire to the skies, lie about all we could

Now we stand in the front yard and she slaps my face
The bed's got a hole from where the dog took my place
Driving around the East Side for days and days
Crawl into the backseat to hide my face

I call out for forgiveness into a hung up phone
Digging through the snow, a dog for a bone
Trying to bury all the memories before I hear a dial tone
A recorded voice telling me that I'm not alone

Sixty-three days in the Bellingham haze
Holding my breath for a measure of grace
Amazing as it might have been, it's not my place
To try and start it all to end again, both of us insane

Burn A Skull Long Enough It'll Start to Sing

Leonardo Da Vinci | Anatomy Studies

Another day and I don't have a dollar
Winding up in the starched white collar
See the ties getting brighter and tighter
Step into the ring and try to be a fighter

Another night in the room downstairs
A shelf full of books and the same nightmares
Wake up to whispers and the sad gray scenes
Adding up the negatives in the American Dream

Another song that sounds just the same
Express the flesh and the limits of pain
A few tired chords on five rusted strings
Burn a skull long enough it'll start to sing

The World Turns to Bone

[ source ]

I sit in my chair
In my room with a view
I sit in my chair
Thinking of you

I open the door
Walk down the street
I see your face
In all that I meet

I walk past the house
Where we once lived
I walk through the memories
Of all that we did

I stand before statues
Of beauty and truth
I stand before monuments
Built all for you

I walk through the gates
Leave the city behind
I walk through these gates
For the very last time

I hold in my hand
Two rings of gold
I hold in my heart
What will never go cold

I lay down to sleep
After many long miles
I lay down to rest
In the grave of your smile

I close my eyes
Forever alone
I close my eyes
And the world turns to bone

Kingdom Come

I'm going to lie so still now

Going to take my time today

Back down to a place I know

I got a raft

I'll float away

My body is so full of bones

Always going to be my home

No matter what the devil says

Not with his sticks

Not with his stones

I've got a soul on fire

And every old man that I know

Is sitting playing dominos

Getting drunk

In the choir

I'm going to take my words back now

Going to take my name away

Lie down in that grave

With a smile

On my face

God Won't Leave Me Alone

All of these are nameless

O I've been drinking

All night again

O I've been thinking

About dying again

You won't forgive me

For my sins

You won't forget me

Again and again

God won't leave me alone

Even though he's broken all my bones

O I've been writing

A book of blood

O I've been fighting

Almost everyone

God won't leave me alone

Even though he's broken all my bones

A bow of thanks to The Boat Lullabies for the image.

Shadows Fade to Emptiness

[ source ]

In the corner of a window

In a shack out in the woods

There's a mirror in a spiderweb

A time we called childhood

Sliding out of the darkness

Is an old man called Regret

He sits beside that window

Just waiting until we forget

When we do he's ready

To wrap us in his words

To tell us dreams of easier things

How the world was so absurd

Slowly sliding his web around

To hold us tight in time

To wrap us up in innocence

Like there never was a crime

A childhood lost in ignorance

Is every old man's dream

Shadows fade to emptiness

In every old man's dream

About his life.

Dust Is Dreaming in the Rose

Angel with the Key to the Bottomless Pit

Albrecht Durer, 1498

 

See the burning face above me
Feel the burning fires below
Hand of God marking off each hour
Cutting deep down into the bone

Every day is getting longer
Every word is said so slow
Time is sleeping on the crosses
Dust is dreaming in the rose

You with your ring of judgement
Around the flesh and around the bone
You never told me where your soul went
I saw it creeping back into its hole