Back Into The Sky

She said she wants me to be a star
High above the clouds, where darkness drowns
But I don't think the moon will waltz with me this life
So I'll just take dreams and place them back into the sky
Isn't that where stars live anyway
Soil was meant for bones, hopes for the Milky Way
I don't think I have the luck to leave the ground
So I'll just sit here and watch my blessings all burn down
I can hitch my wagon to fantasy
Isn't somewhere else a wonderful place to be
But I don't think this world would let me stay for long
So I'll just throw diamonds into the ditch and call it done
She said she wants me to be a star
High above the clouds, where darkness drowns
But I don't think the moon will waltz with me this life
So I'll just take dreams and place them back into the sky

Being Pretty

The cost of being pretty
Well I guess I'll never know
In a world built for giants
So hard to shine in their shadow
Smiles come so easy
And love comes so much
They cry when kisses leave them
As I wait for even a touch
The boys all throw them lust
And the girls all throw their dreams
They shoot arrows like plagues of locusts
And I've yet to catch a thing
Ballerinas complain of losing grace
And seek comfort from elephants
Who've only known the gawkers
Whose feet have never known the dance
The sun asks the moon for sympathy
Because it's scared of turning cold
A flu asks a cancer for condolence
How the pretty can be so bold

Lemonade Days

Lemonade days
Now don't you be so shy
I have a feeling we'd be friends
The two of us, you and I
I don't know why you left
And you don't have to explain
But when you tire of the others
Come around this way again
I have some things to offer you
Some treats to wet your tongue
They don't make 'em like me
Not where you come from
And if I should bring boredom
Well, you just stick around
Lemonade Days c'mon now
Let's burn the darkness down

How I Bleed

Where the road ended
The Mississippi took its place
Teeming through every current
Echoed the hiss of diamondback snakes
So I picked up a pen
And I scribbled down their eyes
The onyx of their scales
Their bite, their power, their size
I wrapped my hand around them
Swallowed the venom on their tongue
I slept with them in the moonlight
And I slithered with them in the sun
And when I came to shore
The people asked how I still breathe
I gathered them around me and said
Because this is how I bleed

A parchment I laid out
That ran from north to south
Of all the muses within my head
Of all the words within my mouth
It spoke of toil and trouble
And it told of passion and hope
Phrases built on darkness
Desire, dreams and rainbows
Every emotion I had garnered
From my years set adrift
I placed before the people
And my blood dripped off their lips
And what they saw next
Well it caused them all to gasp
With only a pen and a notebook
I set out again upon my raft

Sing My Songs

Sing my songs from the blacktop
While your wheels go round and round
Where your smile seems to fail you
Those words won't let you down
When the traffic moves too fast
Or the lights are always crimson
Gather round you hope
In the shadow of a mandolin
Up upon a mountaintop
Where your lips can touch the clouds
Down in musty gutters
Drown out the rats with my sounds
When you stand at the jukebox
And your friends have all gone home
Feel my arm around you
No other friend has loved you more
If the room has fallen dark
Or the sun exploded in your lap
Whether you pine for the ones before you
And curse the ones in back
I'll send you words to pull you forward
A melody to light your eyes
Like the tide will bring for eternity
Now sing for me one last time

Green Bananas

Green bananas on the stem
And I sit and watch the sun
It slowly rolls from east to west
As I bite the nail upon my thumb
I wait for them to ripen
From olive to saffron
I dream of their juices
And the day they take to blonde
It's a tedious job in the jungle
To spend your days craning your neck
Swatting at thirsty mosquitoes
That want to throw you off the edge
Futility rules paramount
And straight to the devil's hands
I climb up to the mountaintop
And dangle my foot over the expanse
I smile at the graveled voices
That whisper inside my head
You've waited for the heavens to notice you
Now crash through their gates instead
There's an escape hatch in the soil
Six feet beneath the trees
Their dance, it looks so pretty
When you're down on your knees
But macaws call me homeward
And I stagger back down the trail
I follow their distant song
When my sense of direction has failed
They tell me I must bide my time
And they promise a change to come
So I sit beneath my green bananas
I sit and watch the sun