lamentations and lust
and sometimes we just fight
making love for a moment
and it doesn’t feel right
these children a’ crying
these dogs that don’t bark
superstition and faith
holding hands in the dark
and i met you once
on the way to success
and where you are now
i can only guess
and me, i don’t know
i must still be here
waiting for the smoke
of ambition to clear
or just walking in this mansion
of circling dreams
with uneven floors
and busted out screens
and the wolves howling
outside like the rains
that lash so fiercely
against these windowpanes
or stuck in the lull
lying somewhere between
the stillness of nothing
and something unseen
and i had to get out
the air was too thick
all these freshly painted regrets
were making me sick
so i punched my way
through these thin gypsum walls
and i won’t be there
to answer your calls
and maybe i never was
really, at all
an aberration, a spectre
a spook in the hall
so send me a letter
if you know how to write
and i’ll read it like scripture
in the dark of the night
because somehow
i forgot my lines in this play
and the costume i wore
never fit so much, anyway
and these visions, johanna
they never made any sense
and now they’re torn and they’re twisted
like this old wire fence
and the farmer’s a memory
his cows are all gone
and i got drunk last night
and i slept past the dawn
and i woke to revise
these thoughts in my head
but perspective had left me
over something i’d said
and now there’s nothing
but the hallowing roar
of the lingering spirits
that don’t dance anymore
and i hear them, maria
and how can it be these footsteps
they’re always following me
and i hid from you once
and i might hide again
and if you close your eyes
we could try to pretend
that laughter and love
are always to find
hiding like children
in the back of your mind
and this world has no rules
just boundaries we define
and illusion likes to smile
when she crosses those lines
and sometimes i can’t breathe
sometimes i’m okay
rising like the sun
turning darkness to day
Greg Alston is a gardener, cook, father and some other things, too.
