Stone
Build a bridge just to burn it down
Hearts that break without a sound
Punch and fight because it’s war
You've been waging since you were four
Innocence crucified on a cross
Around your neck; you carry on your back
All the ones you sacrificed
It’s been years but you carry on
As you pour it all into a song
Saddle up and ride that horse
Till it dies then find one more
Cowboy up and load your guns
Give yourself for the ones you love
Heart of stone and bullet proof
So no one knows what you've been through
Say a prayer then curse the day
Opening eyes to all this pain
You've got a choice no room to fail
Heavens gates somtimes border hell
But you were built for whiskey rounds
Throw em back. Fill a hole deep inside
Never forget that what you lack
Was your hearts desire all along
Then pour it all into a song
Saddle up and ride that horse
Till it dies then find one more
Cowboy up and load your guns
Give yourself for the ones you love
Heart of stone and bullet proof
So no one knows what you've been through
Use to have a noble cause
Bring back all the ones you loved
They were lost and left behind
Now you see them through open eyes
It'll never be like it should
Like devastation after floods
You can’t carry the weight they have
We each have to dance along
Through these storms
So saddle up and ride that horse
And when it dies hang up your spurs
Fire off one last round from your guns
A dedication to the ones you love
A heart of stone is never bullet proof
It's just the weight that will bury you
The Breakdown
Why do good moods
Slip through my fingers
Then voodoo hits me in the chest
Puts me through the ringer
That’s why I’m throwing punches
At loved ones that linger
I’m in the ether with kush clouds
Doing my best imitation of a bird
On his way down, I feel absurd
In this skin prison, no outs
Did I leap or was I pushed?
Watch me creep past my luck
Flipping pages till they’re torn
Trying to figure out how I got here
When I swore I’d die young
Still not old enough for giving up
I’m getting up and dusting off
Yesterdays as I raise my gun
At imaginary enemies all around
This use to be so much fun
Age has jaded me except my edges
Gonna catch the wind again
From up high I can count my blessings
Getting better at my sins
Learning hard all my lessons
At least I know that they’ll stick
I pluck and pull at my own feathers
An anxious mess in my sleep
I know ‘I need you is better’
So why do I curse and scream
Putting curses on my own crib
I’m a ghost that’s haunting me
Not today, I’ve gotta live
Till the breakdown remakes me
Enough
Not enough gold or whatever men are beholden to
To replace or erase the way I feel about you
You’re the cosmic answer to my am I gonna die alone
The river that finally thins my heart of stone
I got your back, desires, demons or excuses
All our enemies will only hate cause we abuse it
Our freedom to make love, our guitar a different tune
Head bang to the way we make musical truth
Make mythical things into a tangible me and you
Caress each other’s tattoos as we would angels wings
Confess all we know about our inner workings
Rearrange parts of my brain I’d given up to the storming
Fortunately for me, you exist
Out of the ether wishing for someone who gets you best
Here I was floating along with no life vest
Technically dead from where I now stand
Heart fully beating from everything you just said
I swear I just rubbed a lamp, saw a genie; made a wish
Now I’m anticipating the four month rush up to your lips
My lioness, proud to be by your side
Bet we finesse what trips most up
I see chaos and good love making in sight
Take a bite bet I never get enough
Or come down from the way you say my name just right
The Good Dog
The smell of death wafted from the cabin, finding her nostrils on the covered porch, drifting heavily on the panhandle’s wind like the poisonous gas it was, but she did not move. Yes, it was the smell of decay, but it was also his smell and she would not leave it.
He was the “alpha”, and was all that was left of what had been her pack, a strong pack with people and dogs and live-stock. She was a social creature. She needed others. There had once been others of her kind here, but she was born into man’s world, so she was friend to man, as he was to her. She was proud to belong with the man, with her man. He was her reason. She had lived with his pack, and so she would die with it.
She lay now on the porch, her paws crossed in front, her chin on top. A rabbit hopped warily from the scrub oak, moving slowly, testing its luck. She watched him with her ears pricked, but her chin did not lift, so the ears laid back once more. Even a rabbit could not interest her now. How lucky he was.
She climbed in fits to her feet and walked to the room. He was lying on the bed. The smell of death was strong... very strong. The air was hot, putrid even. She limped on arthritic legs to the bedside and whined. She licked a still hand, hoping for a response, a pat. She gave a single, loud bark in trial, as if to say, “rise up!” But here laid God, unable to rise. She glanced at the water bowl but passed it by despite the heat. She pushed through the slit in the nylon screen door, her slit, and plopped heavily onto the weathered boards of the porch, boards scoured clean of paint by sand, red sand blown hard like rosin upon the West Texas winds. This place on the porch was her spot, the spot where she laid and awaited the man. The air left her body in a long sigh. She would wait here now, in her spot, for she knew not what, nor how long.
The man told her she was a good dog, and she believed.
A howl escaped her. A despairing howl. The rabbit heard the howl and hopped away. It turned its ears back in case of pursuit, but not in fear. The rabbit understood its adversary. The howl told him that the dog would chase no more.
The man told her she was a good dog, and she believed.
