What are you doing are you reading a book
Do you see what I see when you take a look
The ocean’s rising it’s moving in
Just like an army of Gunga Dins

The flag is flying but it’s upside down
The tide was high but it’s low now
If I could get you alone in a crowd would you
Shoot out the streetlights in this beach town

I search in every car
I want to see your face
In the sticky summer
In the pouring rain
Every circumstance a shifting sand dune
Fine and temporary until your new dream comes

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ICE

Ice only ice
Far as far could be
We slept beneath it
In the arms of the gingko trees

And nothing moved
And nothing wept
In the stillness
While we slept

But all we know of here is change
And the fear that rocks these
Moveable plains

And in the thaw
The night was thick
Waking up
In the middle of it

Over the streets over the pier
Over the harbor
Over Liberty’s ear
We’re far and near

We’re over the harbor now
The lights are low
We left our little prayers there
Under the ice and the snow
It’s only ice
It’s cold as ice
It’s only ice

I HEAR A RUMOR

I hear a rumor and
My heart flies on rumor
I hear a song and
My heart flies on a song

You shoot out of cannons
Swing over writhing serpents
Chain yourself to the bottom of the ocean floor
And then you jump on your motorcycle
Rows and rows of Darts and Novas
Crash and burn them rise up like a sun

I’m going wild watching
You pull another one
But I’m a freeway driver
Taking a dangerous turn

I hear a rumor and
My heart flies on a rumor
I hear a song and
My heart flies on a song

You shadow rising storms
Navigating deadly currents
Sniping in your beautiful war
Your heart is lying open
Masked and caped and death defying
You’re up there all alone

I’m going wild watching
You pull another one
But I’m a freeway driver
Taking a dangerous turn
I’m going wild watching
You’re up there all alone
But I’m a freeway driver
Taking a dangerous turn

HIGHWAY 65

Moon glow
Sunrise
Lit out
For lucky skies
Leaving behind
all those
Sorry lies

Trees blow
Through blue skies
Birds sing
My new guides
Water so cool
It could quiet
The cries

Promises that
All fall short
What has a
Promised land to
Report
The weeds
Have come up to
Claim Detroit

How can I sing when still I know
There is no end to these wells of sorrow

The sky’s a storm
A rage
A scream
Here is
A show that
We all
Have seen
Heaven knows
We will see
Again

This I say and
I believe
When spring
Returns
The color
To our dreams

40 DAYS

In the morning always
Walking east
In the evening always
Walking west
Hunting pools where
I can cool my feet
Where the sun will give my
Eyes a rest

Winter’s never colder
I won’t get no older
Sailor’s daughter sold her ticket
For a dime

Oh I swear I never
Saw a man look better
Batten the hatches now
He’s pulling in the line

His head is spinning all around and round
His heart is in there but it’s tightly bound
And all those circles they don’t look quite right
Seasick like it’s been raining 40 days and 40 nights

Behind us all
Castrated and embalmed
Storming at the walls of time
Time
Time

You had her now you lost her
Cast a shadow on her
Sailor’s daughter tossed her pennies down
Down in the bottom of the well

BRIGHT FALLING STARS

Have you ever been happy
Have you ever felt joy
Believed that your sorrow
Would soon be no more

Sometimes I remember
When I hear a song
How close it was to me
Seemed like I’d been waiting
For so long

I had a love once
Or so I was sure
A heart that was mine
Oh my love true

And there was light shining glory
Through heaven’s open door
For the price of my story
Nobody ever wanted more

(Shine your light
Open up your door
I was always yours)

A bright falling star
The spark of a fire
A sweet breath of smoke
The blink of an eye

I let it pass by me
I walked right on by
I blew out the candle
I never said
Goodbye

CICADAS

Cicadas clinging to the trees
It’s all a mystery to me
Could we just leave them be and
Cease our wondering

Is it such a crazy thing
The sound of their invisible wings
Confess that you believe in
The thunder
Or the geese are
Calling
Wake up

But you don’t want to wade in there
Don’t want to swim in there
Don’t want to wade in the water

Wake me from the spell
Leave me nothing but a shell just
A memory of the place that I left long ago

But you don’t want to wade
Don’t want to swim
Don’t want to wade in the water

ONE SMALL CANOE

Up from the wilds
Up to the wall
You were so big and
I felt so small
Over and over again I fall
On my knees before you

If I could say
Or do anything
Get up off this couch and sing
You the dream I have inside
Mountain high
River wide

Or will I run
Or will I crawl
Fields of trees lie behind the wall
Reaching endless branches tall
Breathing no real air
At all

Up the mountain
Over the river to your side

ETHAN’S DREAMS

Walking
Where are you walking
These wide November stairs
Your steps are habit
They are the steps that go nowhere
Pull your coat up
All around you
Take a ride in a rocking chair

Your mother roams the yonder
With no more weight to bear
She is smiling in her sleep because
She knows that you are there
She has come this far to tell you
Rare is the trial that is fair

In my wildest dreams
I was a painter
I painted the scars
That held your skin
And when I fell
I fell like a rider
Out of the wildest western
Falling out of Ethan’s dreams

I’m careless with your gifts
Like I am careless in the garden
But it was time to split
With so much baggage to be saved
Still I’d hoe the ground all around
Your early grave

In my wildest dreams
I flew out among you
I held the hand
That held your head
It wasn’t broke, open
Or even shattered
It caught the white light of the window
Out on Ethan’s dreams

HERO WINGS

Hero wings unfurl
A fisherman of pearls
In a distant atmosphere
With higher waves than we have here

I see you far from me
Circling another star from me
Through milky waves that would part the sea of stars

The tops of my trees are swaying
The weaks of my knees are shaking
My core is an earthquake
That’s just about to be

Baby take your rides with me
Out and away
Take your rides with me
Let’s go far away
From the messes we made

Down the rivers in fog you go
Looking for something to improve your mood
When I could make you feel better
Than any drug could

Baby take your rides with me
Out and away
Take your rides with me
Let’s go far away
From the messes we made

It’s a beautiful world
And I’ll always be yours

Here we go now
Over the harbor now
Over the city
And the light you shine
You radiate
Oh, here we go

LE MACHINE

I love the machine
The bolts the wires
The coil in every spring
Shiny chrome
Metallic, two tone green
I love the machine

Where do you go when
The last whistle screams
Vanish down the track
In locomotive steam
Break a sweat and drown
In your own dream
I love the machine

It feels good
Riding between my knees
Feels good
Like the way it ought to be
The reigns are mine
This time I ride for free
Nothing like American machines