Winding Down

So vast

This Expanse

The moon surface

Of my mind

Lamp-light frames the snow

And we go

Deeper into that gentle night

Which is blind to the past

The roles we’ve been cast

The dreams that have been denied

Chorus:

Winding down

The lights flicker in town

Then they die

They die

They die

I have no illusions

I’m paid to entertain the delusions

Of the hierarchies and their disaffected

Sons

Conditioned to think creative work

Represents a nobler birth

In our country of bibles and guns

But I’m hardly cynical

In fact, I’m quite equivocal

About my replenishing of funds

Chorus

And your eyes are a respite

Though we may fight

About what you call my

Callous attitude

We have our bench and pond

The graceful sense of being beyond

Each other’s disappointment or gratitude

Yet you feel so acutely my fear

That I had a life that disappeared

Like a flight lost at cruising altitude

Chorus

From where does this bitterness come?

You live a dream, that’s supposed to be freedom

Instead I’m the absence of joy

In the state at large

The teenage girl crying on her birthday

Her businessman father with nothing to say

The mother hardened by too many days in charge

At least my students believe in writing

And you leave me alone with my faulty wiring

Like my father drinking alone in the garage

Chorus

Summertime now and I could leave

Then its winter again and I’ve begun to grieve

And in autumn my mother didn’t provide

Any indication

When you talk about next January

My madness feels almost sanitary

Maybe I just need a good, warm vacation

You say I’m doing great, I’ve got it together

I look like a knight in this coal black sweater

Kiss me on the forehead

Because we've arrived at our station