listen
lyrics
no turkey in your oven
transistor chimes the hour
no bowl of mashed potatoes
a quart of milk gone sour
the card table’s waiting
but you still lay in bed
bullets on the mantle
a bullet in your head
i never said goodbye
now I scream hello
i never cried when you died
now here I go
newspaper mattress
seems you kept them all
turntable turning
side two of “the wall”
papers on your bedstand
stacks of writings you wrote
lyrics, ravings, cryptograms
and a note:
“winter spring summer and fall
the record spins i’ve heard it all
from dark to dawn, daylight to dusk
from seed to sprout to fruit to husk
running laps around the drain
all that work but still i’m the same
broken down in the driving rain
that faceless shame again and again
and again and again and again and again
and again and again and again and again
there’s a hole in my heart
where your love should have been”
the day that my life was ended
november 85
twenty five years longer
for the rest of me to die
one final thought before I’m through
to make things right before I go
i risk a hope:
is it true?
is it really you?
all goes dark as you say…