Wind on the Water

Packed the broken neon in the trunk Rolled off the interstate line An old V8 clearing its throat Kicking up gravel and time After fifteen years away from here The autumn breeze bites a little too near Weekend basements and sweet cologne Speakers cranked up way too high Soles on the floorboard, eyes locked in Trusting the pull of an unspoken sign All those answers we were supposed to find Just washed away in the daily grind Now heads are bowed along the curb Fingers tracing glass and stone Weighing a life by digits and signs Afraid to be left on their own Empty booths through diner panes Even the lunch rush won't return Ever since the fever broke across the land The whole world forgot how to burn Unfamiliar vowels drift through the alleys Down where the foundry used to roar Now iron bones are strangled in rust Padlocks hanging on the door Every corner I swore I knew Looks like a stranger's foreign view Flesh and touch traded in for ghosts Masked names drifting in a wire-bound net There's no stool left at either counter No place to lay a bet Past the broken asphalt, beneath the pines A mirror of water opens wide Cut the ignition, kill the roar Let the canopy swallow the sky Deep down, everybody keeps A timbered shore where the water sleeps Rainwater sits in a battered old rowboat Holding the blue of an endless high A single ripple curls and fades The same old wind upon the oars Just breathing in Letting the water smooth the sores