In the dried up riverbeds Of my dreams Ran the streams Of my most delicious schemes The water was sweet Summer without heat When the rains roared And riverbeds soared Then rain fell like spit Dreams quit And that was it Dirt, mud, and grit Blowing off bit by bit In the delta or the plains When dreams will not rain Hope just dies In a scorching cloudless sky In the midst of being near The sharp edge of thick despair I was too self obsessed Too absorbed in myself To notice that clouds left the sky While my riverbeds ran dry Years of pain and thrills Like floods from the hills Reality and myth A lifetime cluttered with Birthdays and weddings Sickness and death Lies and worship Heart attacks and choking breath Family reunions Singing off key songs Cousins playing hide and seek Before daylight is gone Laughter and pain Magic and shame Books to read and movie scenes Dialogues for coming schemes Those were the rivers of my days Before the clouds of purple haze Before a kingdom of delays Before the walks with feet of clay Before restraints we must obey Built the dams along the way Before the ending of the dreams Came the starting of the schemes The schemes of everyday The schemes of nothing more to say The schemes of passing by this way The schemes of cashing in my pay Getting saved by the sinners Getting cheated by the winners For glitter and gold In a world where even rain can be sold There are storm clouds rising Darkness on the horizon But it’s too late to soak the ground Turn the soil a deeper brown Pray for the glory of a shower That soaks the hero and the coward Waiting and wanting Pacing and taunting Beds of rivers seared As the dreams disappeared Prayers will not change The absence of rain Learning too late That dreams do not wait Waiting too long To leave desire alone In streams that will not run Once the drought has begun The slow betrayal of the skies Intruded on our lives The riverbeds of dreams gone dry The lasting pain of every goodbye Rains I thought would not pass me by Stayed still inside a stormy sky The rain of dreams lost in the ether’s edge Memories of all my riverbeds
