listen to the music come from underground
and the sound of it coursing through lead
bullets in a bible you once flipped through
though you always swore that you read
wrought with indecision and brimming with
ideas for a scriptured hit
from a friend you won’t ever see again
though you both swear you don’t give a shit

help me out
help me down from the soapbox
i am never preaching, still
there’s more i could say
for the ones who swayed
between being what they want or willed
out of a choir, singing
now on the ropes and swinging

tell me a secret; whisper soft and sigh
with a feeling of a want in airs
clean your mind of a distance, finding
close to be a whom or where
clinging to fires, burning clean and stark
through the darkness of a cavern, now lit
with a sharp reminder flames will strain
your eyes and your unsharpened wit

help me out
help the crowds return
to homes built brick by brick
and swear you don’t give a shit about it
living on the streets
relying on the kindness of strangers, fleeting

here we are
tripping down elm
and it’s cold and it’s dark
here we are
at sunday worship
growing old, growing stark

and it’s dawn
and we’re still up
and we’re still drunk
and we are
stoned and offset
by an old regret
and we’re walking home
from the barroom

jennifer
drive me far from the corner
store where i worked and we met
jennifer
lead me strong from our band’s last set
we were stealing it

away and a dance for steven
we lost it
the beat on the ground
both feet on the ground
just rockin’ it

oh, there we were
tripping in forests so green
and there we were
stoned by the fire
hours went by
and we went to sleep
and i was scared by the moon
slept past noon
and stoned again

jennifer
drove me home from the corner
store where i worked and we met
jennifer
passed me by with a smile
and left me at the max station

to lead me on
we never left

indiscriminately forlorn
it is positively born from an age
coupled with its history passing
discuss its posthumously being born
again from an age whose history is passing
again from day to day
it is gone away

here and there i’ve been
wanting a reason
for who are you, wild
committing no treason
this is an hour
for winning smiles
are you a feeling
of captured trials

‘cause here we are
tripping from bar to bar
there we were
causing no stirs
we were on fire
but not for long
you were a liar
from song to song

and now it’s over
and long and out
for seeing to reason
to scream and shout

our winning smiles
win no arguments
but are long for living
out our apartments
love or leave me