17 Minute

17 Minute

flowing river don’t mean much to me

nor wind from the north rattling the leaves

only steam and whistle and wheels that shake the joint

metal on metal on to the vanishing point

train pass by every 17 minute

each one got one of my old loves in it

oh I’m gonna miss that train

sweet jellyroll and whiskey in the jar

I rolled for the nine I got snake-eyes in my own backyard

but I’m alright with how she got free

my watch keeps good time and my knife keeps me shining company

train pass by…

train blow a whistle like baby’s loving

sweet in the leaving as it is in the coming

oh I’m gonna miss that…

stars fall from a quiver in the sky

by a pond I shiver splashed by the sound of goodbye

but everything is diamond everything is coal

‘round a blues bend there’s a bluegrass banjo roll

train pass by…

Points of Light

A Little Silence

I don’t care anymore

you can say what you like

you’re old enough to know better

I know what I like

I like a little silence

I like a little space

between your voice

and your remembered face

you know the sky turns grey

when you think of yesterday

so bring me the sun I don’t mind

bring me the sun I don’t want to go blindly

there’s a hint of westcoast wnter

in a late september rain

falls like names and faces

we will never see again

I like a little silence

I like a little space

between the visions that have gone

and the ones that I still chase

you know the sky…

couples can live forever on brackish water

mutual affliction

bread that will not rise

they show me that’s not what I am after

I search the wings of southbound birds

in a new love’s eyes

there’s dust between the pages

that’s what all form becomes

grave spirits dance like fools

to the beat of rusty drums

I like a little silence

I like a little space

but between the sky and skin and stars

I hope I always stay amazed

you know the sky…

1990

silence spoken here

'A Startle of Wings' (lyrics for all 14 songs)

morning comes on/through the fog I check my legs they both seem to move right/anew it begins/commerce and hammers hungover lovers caught in the headlights//it’s so good to be here/with a river of love inside me/so many are gone/and the morning comes on//used to be beside me/sometimes I think it might be lying in the next room over/listen to its breathing/in its dreams we’re rolling hot in the clover//there’s leon and lily/a laundry line staring at a laundry basket/love can grow wild/when you have coffee and the question and the courage to ask it//and it’s so good…//see that young girl/you wouldn’t know it to look but her heart has been broken/there’s a young man/you might not think so but his cup is often out of hopin’//and it’s so good…//sun’s hard on your tears they don’t burn off when they gather in the small hours of the morning/I won’t tell you about mine but I’ll for the right to know when I'm lonely//it’s so good…//stains in the memory/friends I don’t know which road in the wood has been taken/so long since I've seen you/I can only pray for us all when I've awakened//no slamming of doors/no racing around yelling honey where are my clean shirts/state of high flies its blue/song sparrows come in close when I sit quiet

one time in twenty’s plenty darling if you fall in love/do it for jesus do it for G-d above/there’s a pine tree with the sweetest resin in the darkest wood/we can go for a little while or we can go for good//smoke your cigarette look me in the eye/show me your silhouette I’ll try to draw that fine line/open up your heart do it just for me/do it for yourself little darling we’ll make some cool history//thirteen dreams I had I recall but a single one/we were skipping stones and each one traveled on and on and on/I looked across the water I called out your name /woke to a single strand of hair threat of thunder in the vacant rain//one time in twenty’s plenty darling if you fall in love/do it for jesus do it for the devil in the mud/one time in twenty’s plenty darling if you fall for real/I hear what you’re saying now tell me what you feel

speak to me now I wish you would/I've lived on the mountain on the song of birds/I ache to answer you from out of the wood/so much to tell so much I’ve heard//I’m hidden here beyond the red/mix black with blue is what you get/spirit’s kind dream in a buried kiss/music found by the dowser’s fingertips// wake me in the wood/singing always made me feel so good/wake me in the wood & wire/voice coming down the line rising up in heart’s desire//never has so little meant so very much/feel my pulse quicken beneath your fingers’ touch/dawn sweeps across the chosen sky/so much goes on beyond the human eye// you remember my raven hair/you remember how I was always there/you don’t know how much I've wept to see my children grow/to tell them all the things they need to know//you know the way of the bone/cleaned by wind wind blows through on its own /what you left gets gathered by the breeze/sweet flute notes flutter beautifully// wake me now…//like the cage around the bird/the lamp around the genie/eclipse between the moon and you/the ache round what you mean to me//I’ve waited for darkened rooms/stars above quiet song below/a bit of mist between frozen tears/one bird in the slumbering mahogany//wake me slowly now and do it kind/touch me gently tip of finger on lid of eye/kind of chilly now but I don’t mind/been sleeping for a long long time//

whatcha wanna tell me/whatcha wanna do/x2/you better make your mind up baby/you better hurry up and choose//you got something (cold and twisted)/tugging at your sleeve/you got something blowing a blizzard/in your veins and you can’t sleep//look at your body/you’re thin as a rail/twitchin’ and a ramblin’/ripped as a storm tossed sail//what’s that voodoo magic/what you burning when I’m not at home/what was my lock of hair doing there/with my fingernail that black cat bone//I got this smile on my face/whenever I sing this song/cause I love to hold my old guitar/knowing that you’re gone//you long gone in the morning/never liked your coffee the way I do/you long gone in the nighttime/my bed was never big enough for you//I remember how you said (whispered) my name how you liked your love/a bottle of red wine on the table/your hands in white satin gloves//sing glory hallelujah/strum it on the old banjo/singing auld lang syne in double time/watching you go//whatcha wanna tell me

it’s not about your girl it’s not about your guy/not about the poison left behind/to summarize: the flesh is a precious little lie/all things fall apart in time//see the buildings start to tumble down/the river swelling up with salt/a broken doll the killer’s hands cannot be found/each one says ‘it’s not my fault’//it’s over and late/a broken heart a busted gate/it’s over and past/what don’t come and what don’t last//the oracle has spoken smoke from the prophet’s mouth/greed and garbage where the elders used to dance/a ring of orphan keys a rusted door and one way out/a hole in the sky the size of france//it’s over…//I hope some cure is rolling down the line/I pray it gets here soon/something going on in that court on high/it’s still cold and it’s still raining and it’s june//it’s over…/…it’s over and done/falling leaf and setting sun

sunrise over the barn old hound in slow steep howl/never knew he mourns lousy neighbours and I know it now/all roads lead to ruin so I lie back in my own heat/fresh bread and coffee smell like flesh burning in my sleep//my thoughts are darker than they’re deep/from an old abandoned well/stick around I’ll write the end of this small town novel//fix that broken glass torn screen whines on rusted hinge/bloodshot eyes roll past the finish line of another binge/sweating alcohol I lunch on pickled eggs/and a dozen smokes on the porch/this year’s schoolgirls are the youngest yet//my thoughts are darker//oh my sweet relief I got to cash you before five/I got nothing to offer same as what I got to hide/and all you wanna know about me you can get from what my enemies say/there’s notches on my barrel all I'm afraid of is walking away//my thoughts//you start out bored you get used to the running creek/you get used to the smiles for every thief and whore and thug and cheat/I looked in every window and I know who loves his wife/I know who tells the dirty little lie I know who lives the dirty little life//my thoughts/blue steel oiled and racked someday my Sunday bell will ring/the paddies stripped me down love hung the rest on a wicked west wind/keep a bottle by the bedside an orphan key around my neck/a few pale blue forget-me-nots grow where I last stole someone’s breath//my thoughts

I can tell you how I'm feeling/nothing seems right/the kettle’s boiling over/it’s the middle of the night/it’s a dream that I can’t wake from/even in the light of midday//I'm perfect for you you’re perfect for me/in every way//I can finger in the socket/I can hand upon the stove/I can head upon the train tracks/o hear that whistle blow/I can speak for the flames/licking my ankles like waves//I'm perfect for you//I'm tired of talking/when you’re not near/you know what I'm saying/is not smoke or veneer/call me when you’ll come through/that’s the deal ‘round here babe//I’m perfect for you…//don’t worry ‘bout the hard times/we’ve seen the last of those/this tree will never ever bend again/no matter what sweet wind blows/it’s gonna be a great ride/like the loving we made//I'm perfect for you…//there’s someone at the window/counting all the stars/tracing constellations/doesn’t see they’ve moved so far/got lovers got hunters/all kinds of beast and they all say//I'm perfect for you…

next time you see this man/tell him what you want and when/summer and winter in his hands/doesn’t always know which one to send//to find a word that’s true/sky says: speak your truest name/I don a cape of blue/sea myself and sky are the same//every hour of every night/ starlings wishing they were stars/hear them all through the night singing/how’d you get so cold and far//one two three four five/number my left and my right hand/laugh and then you cry/things don’t always end up as you planned//a stone thrown through your song/you had to walk cause you felt bad/someone touched you wrong/or didn’t want what you had//every hour//another simple song/another smoldering straw/another road to gone/lit by the distant star

one more night stayed up late/looking for love where there was none/there was a fevered touch and hearts that raced/in all that breath there was no oxygen//what will you do with your hour/and how is your sleep so untroubled/how will you stay warm through the winter/now the fields are cut down to stubble//one more night…//now fall back but don’t fall too far/find some arms and call them ‘lover’/find a wall of water that won’t tumble down/a shooting star that will last forever//one more night…//will come a time of nothing to drink/no fragrance in waking or dreaming/no zephyr wind blows sotto voce on the skin/and bloodhounds lose the trail of meaning//one more night...

happy new year baby/though you’re no baby of mine/everyone’s gone home now/and if we’ll ever have it now’s our time//a little secret in a little light/forbidden breath at the end of the night/we won’t tell though we’ve done no wrong/between you and me and this first dawn//it’s not a game of hide & seek anymore/you’ve found the place I conceal my heart/count down from ten and here you are/close as shiver and desire//a little secret…//you say ‘close your eyes and reach out your hand’/you stand beyond my touch/statue in the shadows and your gown half-off/it was all you said you’d give but it was so much//a little secret…//happy new year baby/it’s getting cold outside my door/it was nice to see you baby/now you’re my drug and I only want a little more

in the murdered rain in the graveyard hour/as a huddled rock beside the radiant flower//declare your love//in the fields of snow where the battle’s fought/and the red red rose where the soldier dropped//declare your love//on the streets of plague by the carts of death/the church bells black use your dying breath//declare your love//declare your love to the burning flame/declare your love to the passing train/declare your love on the blade of Cain/declare your love//in the beggar’s rags in the regal cloak/in the battered town where the bombs explode//declare your love//in the midnight hour with the strength of ten/when your strength is gone then even then//declare your love//by the waters deep under ash-white stars/tiny speck of soul little scrap of heart//declare your love//declare your love for the rites of spring/declare your love like a mad blind king/declare your love for anything//declare your love//on the humble eve by the simple stream/upon a fallen leaf as you float to sea//declare your love//on the harp & lyre to the Holy King/on the whisky glass toast the drunken spring//declare your love//on the mountaintop where the word is Om/the snow falls soft on a man alone//declare your love//prepare for love with a suit & tie/prepare for love with your skirt hiked high/prepare for love with what’s true inside/prepare for love//on the day of the saint with the tunic soaked through/blood and tears and the faint drum tattoo//declare your love//on the day of the saint if the sun be dull/declare your love if it shines at all/declare your love//in never more and once again/in everyday and forever amen//declare your love

something ‘bout some trouble you caused or you tried to avoid/the day you handed her a string of pearls and promised her a baby boy/something ‘bout some wisdom you searched for but did not find//gotta walk a big footstep/gonna leave a faint footprint behind/ /something ‘bout the moon and sun one’s always there when the other’s not around/this little world keeps turning your heels keep wearing it down/something ‘bout some wisdom says the balance is so delicate and fine//gotta…//might be some holy gate a little Persian smoke/words from a monkey skull or from a man dangling from a rope/might be a little wisdom vivid visions of the blind//something ‘bout a heavy heart nine dollars and a half a tank of gas/tornado coming takes a moment to suck up all your past/something ‘bout some wisdom in the cursive script of the vine//gotta…//might be a tiny prayer a sestina if you got the time/a stroll in a winter wood snowfall covering up the crime/might be a little wisdom an ounce from a ton of ore refined//something ‘bout the children laughing blonde saplings in the rain/the way their voices sing through time as you bend to tuck them in again/something ‘bout some wisdom running down the mortal spine//gotta…

my heart ascends a bare and a hidden tower/I carry a sweet bouquet to hand my love next May/it’s breezing like fall the leaves are coming down/dry things with one thing left to say//lay by my side/lay by my side/lay by my side right now//I’ll turn my voice into a curl of smoke/I’ll fill a room with ferns and shells and wishing star tails that never fade/and butterfly wings to cool your dreams at night/carry you home when you wake//lay by my side…//beside your breathing the moon’s the only sound/bell of a baritone sax playing for the midnight flower/and I’d be vain as the weather if I thought I brought you here/I just watch the unfolding of the hours//lay by my side…

I woke like a lark with a song on my tongue/the way that I sometimes do/it was a simple waltz that a child could hum/I knew I would write it for you/daylight shone down and I lost it/I lost my little tune/I would gladly give it up/if I hadn’t already lost you too//waltz with me through the hours/my arm around your waist/your head on my shoulder/one-two-three our hearts and our steps in place//now this can’t be right to be given a gift/the next minute it’s taken away/seems like a flicker a flutter ago/we danced the new day awake/daylight shines down on my losses/I no longer fit in your arms/and someone is there when I call you/how’d you dance away so fast and so far//waltz with me…/woke like a lark with a song on my tongue/I wanted to write it for you

Air of Spring

With a nickel in the pocket

With a tune on the tongue

You can go down walking

Run away flying

to where the stars are hung

With the left boot on the left foot

The right worn on the right

You can plant your steps

like seeds, from the kiss

Of morning ‘til the dawn of night

When the shadows fall and the old ghosts

call you up to give your tears

When your hands are empty

Your dreams are bare

Cold whistles whistle there

You gotta take the past from off your back

Pack up the days to come

Where the sun is blonde

The sky’s blue eyes

There’s music dancin’ on the tongue

Y’see I’ve watched my friends all turn

like leaves in the autumn breeze

And I’ve watched the lovers

fade like rainbow colours

When that arc dries and leaves

But I pull my cap onto my head

and I turn my head around

And break from the sad

deserted days

For where the air of spring in found

Now my blood is a mountain bird

I feel it rise and soar away

And my feet are winged

All the world is mine

As I walk a soft kiss of wind and say":

There’s nothing that won’t drift your way, no

Nothing the days won’t bring

And you can say I’m crazy

You can say I’m lost

but better, blame the air of spring

Yeah, you can say I’m crazy

You can say I’m lost

but better, blame the air of spring

1981

The Green Album

Be Leavin'

there’s tears in your eyes

you say they’re tears of sorrow

but past their glistening grief

pure water cascades towards the morrow

there’s someone on your mind

he don’t look much like I do

could it be someone I was

when love was green and new

now you say: I’ll be leavin’

before I’ll be beleavin’

that you’ll ever change

you loved this walking dust

gave it wings of flight

wrapped days in ribbons of touch

strummed the night skies banjo bright

I should have said: how do I love thee

let me lose my way

let me klay down by your seasons

after I kneel thanks and pray

now you say…

it always starts with wings

soar a common heaven

always pulled to earth by all

that can’t be promised or forgiven

why faces grow so hard

nobody ever knows

why out of a sweet leaf song

a grey stump forest grows

now you say…

a few years down the road

I may wander past this time

and see your face within

and hope you’re doing fine

but now the window’s rimed

with filigree frozen dreams

and shiver is my spine

don’t want to say what I really mean

lord turn my head around

keep the dust from falling

I see her face in cloud

sad silver bells are tolling

1990

silence spoken here

Beauty Has Been Hid

sail a splendid melody

was a time I did

on waters that flowed smooth and free

o but beauty has been hid

where’s the gold-leaf page the ancient chart

to mark where down she slid

I told her I’d give up my breath

to find where beauty has been hid

a couple copper coins are all I hold

I place them on sleeping lids

I bid her come in from the cold

but beauty has been hid

the inkwell of a stormy sky

a blouse the breeze undid

the heart that even now would try

o but beauty has been hid

unrecorded — video of early version here

Bed of Nails

he got a face like a catchers mitt

pitch a little mother’s love at that

she gets by without a trace of wit

who’s on first when no one’s up to bat

she sells cheap pills by the schoolyard

on Sundays from a back yard shed

he sails up and down a ragged shore sure

his drowned child’s not really dead

it’s so pleasant on my bed of nails

staring up at points of light

try not to move don’t think about too much

falling stars and fireflies tell you it’s alright

she got the stripped elm body of a boy

wild child with wind in flaming hair

he got a flask of silver by his heart

all the joy and love tin-man needs are there

he got strips of duct-tape stuck to his head

they help him hear the voices when they call

she got a mirror mirror on the wall

seems nothing’s fair at all

it’s so pleasant…

aqueducts and order legions on the hill

coliseum nights and other blasts

all fall down like jack and jill

tragic tale and a kamikaze cast

it’s so pleasant…

Points of Light

Been a Long Day

been a long day

from a blistered dream into a blue sky alone

high-noon cicadas

buzzed about my baby and how I’m on my own

I set her adrift

she got the strong oars I got trajectory of the sinking stone

and the mud is thick

no one gonna haul me up and warm these bones

some of them have new men

some of them are born again

with the dark and the autumn coming on

one thing’s sure: none of them are coming back again

been a long day

asking the earth not to be so greedy

leaves will fade

after all my carelessness could someone still need me

I’ve wasted time

more time than many even get to spend

all along the line

I plant white lilies and ask when the losses will end

some of them…

been a long day

it’s a little later so I feel a lot more like myself now

half-moon is pale

even the stars are settled behind the cloud

and a little jazz 

papers the walls of the rooms downstairs

and a little breeze

says there’s room for me in the wind out there

some of them have new men

some of them need to be born again

with the dark…

Points of Light

Clear as the Air

Last winter you loved me, invited me in

When the cold was a hard and angry spinner of winds

And I was a lonely singer of songs

Spinnin’ tales of lost love’s angels

every night ‘til the night was gone

Now it’d be easy to say I never doubted our dream

I often sing for the sound, forget what I mean

But the dream while it lasted was clear as the air

Now it’s over and past, we’re free as the air

Blonde hair was sea-froth and cloud in the sky

Your legs flashed like razors

your scarlet skirt slit to the thigh

And a harsh wind was stilled when I stepped in your room

Turned warm and sweet the moment

you pulled me into your arms

Now it’d be easy to say…

What started with white sheets and oceans of time

Streetlight and starlight pouring

through the window like wine

Now turns with the drumbeat of seasons again

To distances and silences, another

harsh winter wind

And it’d be easy to say…

1982

The Green Album

Crow Dark Wind

crow come flying through the cold grey dawn

arrow aimed at the heart of the sun

I watch it cut a path through the pines

sign of spirit that says move on

crow come flying through the cold grey dawn

dark the maze of day to day

look for light to lead the way

got to walk it got to walk it to the end

heart’s the north star you got to defend

dark the maze of day to day

wind bring changes come from miles away

howl of wolf and the hillside blaze

I feel it I hear it on my skin

what will be meets what has been

wind bring changes come from miles away

in the crow

in the crow dark

in the crow dark wind

crow dark wind

Dawn Song

There’s wakin’ in the windows

There’s mornin’ in the bells

There’s dreamin’ in your eyelids

as sleep still holds you under her spell

There’s a callin’ in the sunrise

And memories lace the air

And there’s a movin’ in my highboots

and a lilac laced in the braid of your hair

I’d fallen with the lovelorn

Found loneliness holding me down

But my sadness quickly melted away

the first night you took me, held me all around

The nighttime quickly travelled

And dawnlight started to sing

As the sky began to open its eyelids

bringin’ the first rays of our first days pouring in

Now there’s a wakin’…

You opened with your body

I opened with my mind

And we passed and drank the love between us

as we passed and drank the time

Now the skies are clear and the winds blow free

And I gotta be movin’ on

But the feelings living within me

and I’ll see you again before long

Cause there’s a wakin…

1978

rec “Green Album”

Declare Your Love

in the murdered rain in the graveyard hour

as a huddled rock beside the radiant flower

declare your love

in the fields of snow where the battle’s fought

and the red red rose where the soldier dropped

declare your love

on the streets of plague by the carts of death

the church bells black use your dying breath

declare your love

declare your love to the burning flame

declare your love to the passing train

declare your love on the blade of Cain

declare your love

in the beggar’s rags in the regal cloak

in the battered town where the bombs explode

declare your love

in the midnight hour with the strength of ten

when your strength is gone then even then

declare your love

by the waters deep under ash-white stars

tiny speck of soul little scrap of heart

declare your love

declare your love for the rites of spring

declare your love like a mad blind king

declare your love for anything

declare your love

on the humble eve by the simple stream

upon a fallen leaf as you float to sea

declare your love

on the harp & lyre to the Holy King

on the whisky glass toast the drunken spring

declare your love

on the mountaintop where the word is Om

the snow falls soft on a man alone

declare your love

prepare for love with a suit & tie

prepare for love with your skirt hiked high

prepare for love with what’s true inside

prepare for love

on the day of the saint with the tunic soaked through

blood and tears and the faint drum tattoo

declare your love

on the day of the saint if the sun be dull

declare your love if it shines at all

declare your love

in never more and once again

in everyday and forever amen

declare your love

(including extra verses not in version that appears on ‘A Startle of Wings’)

Did Not Reach

morning, I’m so happy

to be air and liquid fire

it’s not much to count on

so many go down in the black water spiral

I dreamed I was drowning

there was light upon the beach

her heart was that lantern

it was just beyond my reach

I reached but I did not reach

damn all the flowers

beauty doesn’t last

paper boat in the gutter

and the river’s flowing fast

small purple crocus

shivering in the heat

world out of focus

dangerous hammer in the heartbeat

I reached but I did not reach

it’s too late to talk

smile of a girl is gone

it’s too late to talk

she will never hear her song

and all we ever is anger

and all we ever say of greed

should steal away ashamed

at all the times we never heard her say ‘I’m in need’

strum on the banjo

beat upon the drum

shout out to the new light

‘I love everyone’

there’s storms on the ocean

In the heavens too

storm in the heart

of everyone that she knew

she knew but she never knew

1999

Didja Feel It

summer’s lush and summer’s warm

some are safe and out of hands of harm

summer’s rich and summer’s blind

putting faith in colour the sober eye won’t find

didja feel it in the shimmering green

I was drunk of tongue and dazzled I was a poetry machine

didja feel it in the the melting sun

I was soft and off balance over someone

love’s a cliff and it’s a vertigo spin

it’ll drop you like a thought into a land of whispering wings

some fall like light some fall like dew

some fall like stone one’s love is not enough for two

didja…

I remember what my heart was singing of

how I longed to speak your name to the ones I love

I remember it felt so sudden true

how come I’ve forgotten how to talk to you

didja…

Do You Love (Is That Enough)

mary mary come to the phone

your boy’s calling you collect

mirages and dunes ephemeral blooms

thinks there’s only echoes left

I got his voice his hands and his smile

where’s the rest of that good man gone

been walking the valley of the shadowy mile

since I saw the soul slip from his skin

now everyone reminds me of someone else

do you love?

do you love?

everyone reminds me of someone else

and if you love is that enough?

fingers stagger towards a melody line

got no thumb for the green

it’s a man of straw doused in sour wine

fears he may forget what the sparrows mean

now everyone…

morning morning set the table again

been taking my tea in the dark

no sugar no cream just one bad dream

goes on beyond the clock’s sharp bark                                  

now everyone…

unrecorded

video version: here

words and music ©2019 Noah Zacharin

(click here to hear…)

Done Gone Gone

I wake with words I might have said

stale upon my tongue

before I can reach the bottle

I taste every one

other words I might have kept inside

call me deacon at the dawn

the sun shines bright and I can’t hide

it’s a good thing you done gone gone

it’s a good thing you done gone

I never minded my life alone

I breathe easy in the dark

you came careening in overdrive

at a man contented in park

I should have seen it coming

you quickly made yourself queen to my pawn

your smile it was a hollow thing

it’s a good thing…

cause we were head and tail

hare and snail

farm and jail

rock and sail

we might both be flesh and bone

one’s precious gem 

one is sinking stone

pull back 

bullseye

baby’s gone

a time or two I told my life

life, let’s just pack it in

I was saved by the vision of my mother’s face

or the sound of a guitar string

often still I shiver

you might be back a little further on

all’s well that keeps going (keep going)

it’s a good thing you done gone gone

it’s a good thing you done gone

it’s a good thing you done

it’s a good thing

you’re gone

Points of Light 

Down in the Valley

down in the valley where hard luck does call

where I went to watch Icarus fall

where the trees are bent

like dreams as the dreamer gets older

I went without fear of love

took a single eyeful of tears

a handful of ghosts

a heartful of someone said never

down in the valley the valley so low

all you hear is that bitter wind blow

down in the mystery of why should I wake

I could not move between sheets and the shaking

there was no sky

nothing larger than life leaking through the window

and to all who were not there

I spoke using second-hand air

and words that could count the stars

burned in the stars’ cold fire

down in the valley…

down in the forest of skeleton trees

birds are the singing leaves

down in the night of lightning on lake

went two-wheeled throttle full on the take

down in the knowledge of new lost friend

what breaks what we thought would bend

down in the valley where hard luck does fall

where I went to hear Icarus call

in fear for his wings

as they failed

and the valley drew nearer

1989