No more

I walk into the room
and you ask me why I've come
well, to see my life in bloom
and to find out you're the one
that I've been waiting for
so I would wait no more

I walk into to fields
and wonder what I'll do
will I wait or will I yield
to the mystery of you
that I've been waiting for
so I would cry no more

I look into a book
and my mind just goes astray
into crannies into nooks
wond'ring could this be the day
that I've been waiting for
so I would try no more

I talk about the past
and dream about the future
but the tension cannot last
be my Minnie and my moocher
that I've been waiting for
so I would want no more

1991

Oh my love

My daddy was a drunk

my mother was a slave

the marriage was blue funk

now how do I behave

the past did never go

the future never came

the only thing I know

is things just stay the same

   The days are endless

   and the nights are long

   I am defenseless

   and the feeling’s wrong

Oh my love

Oh my love

My first love was from Spain

but she became a whore

the second was a saint

she ran her parents’ store

the third was like the rain

the land cries out for more

now I’m alone again

just minding my own store


1990

Caged bird

Living in a bedroom cupboard

with food and drink and books

listening for the noise outside

and the phone stays off the hook

     I don’t know how to enjoy things

      only how to miss them

      while the caged bird sings

   

Still you meet some women

and one gets somewhat close to you

but when she writes down her address

you lose it, nothing you can do

      refr.

Your cynicism may well ease the pain

but surely you’ll get to use it once again

like heroin you’ll need some more

till it’s eaten up your core

     refr.

1988

     

Thirst

Sit beside me when the drunkards rave

come and hide me when my hands both shake

do not chide me for the things I take

I’m just watching, I’m not catching

their disease, I’m just at ease

Hover near me when I’m drifting on

say you’ll hear me when I’m singing on

do not fear, see when all is said and done

I’m all wonder ‘bout them going under

in a street of pointless dreams

                  Acting out our will

                  For better or worse

                  If it blesses if it kills

                  We’ll just have to slake our thirst


1984

Mad desires

Oh how I've hankered for
you and you and then more
blood and sweat and tears just flow
around us and around we go
we long and cry and hope and fear
we never seem to be right here
now I stub out my cigarette
thinking of the day we met

     

   And so much seduces you

   sex for sale reduces you

   to parody and farce

   feelings cheap and sparse

   Mad desires

   frozen fires

   sad desires

   douse the fire


I'm drinking in a bar
I'm wondering where you are
all the women passing by
full of beauty so damn right
flickering like flame and fire
on the altars of desire
you never seem to be right here
but your memory's so dear


      refr.


1990

Grow old

To see how every face

gets sucked into old age

and how every experience

becomes its very own past tense

in the lines around your eyes

that can’t lie although they try

    they could see the signposts

    but didn't know what they were told

    so they never grew up

    no they only grew old

   

To know that every heart

in the end is torn apart

to show its own complexity

and that’s a lot for us to see

you don’t want to but you cry

and don’t we all know just why

    they see the signs along the way

    but can't make out what they say

    so they'll never grow up

    no they'll only grow old

              but to you and me it means fuck-all

              'cause it just ain't rock'n'roll

1990

Perfect anecdote

I'm writing you a letter
'cause I don't know which is better
feeling good while it hurts
or feeling bad as it burns
the blues for a woman or a girl
whose life is lived beyond these words

      so I writhed and I wrote
      a nearly honest note
      about the way our lives got
      polished into perfect anedote

Yes I'm writing you a note to
tell you 'bout someone that I wrote to
needing to know just what to do
about the changes I go through
it's so hard to let things be
and get on with what I see

      refr.


1991