Back Around

more than a stone’s throw
less than a light year
you were already half long gone
i was standing right about here
now you’ve come back around
but a chasm has opened in the earth
our old favorite place was swallowed up
i don’t know what anything is worth

i wrote you a letter on a leaf blowing in the wind
you took your hammer and chisel
and carved a reply in stone
you took a bass drum mallet to a pile of violins
while i played pizzicato on a slide trombone
you put the script in the shredder
and the poet in his grave
even the silver tongued devil’s at a loss for words
i’m trying to keep my eye on a single pair of wings
in the swirling center of a flock of birds

i took the phone to the 13th floor
i tried to call in sick
but a voice on the line said the boss was dead
later i was told of his dying words
it seems he whispered your name
as he lay on his death bed
now i look over my shoulder
while i’m bouncing off the walls
sleeping on the ceiling and falling up the stairs
at all the places where our paths used to cross
they’ve put up signs saying closed for repairs

i’ve shivered and sweated and cried in the midnight hour
seen the sunrise lonely seen it go down lonely too
i used to pray to forget you then pray for your return
now that we’re face to face
i don’t know who from who
and now i see you’re getting that far away look in your teeth
but you can put away your maps and your traveller’s guide
there’s nowhere left to go if we got to go from here
so let’s just stay put and wait around for the next landslide