carrying wrong
I'm a' walking along
Carrying wrong
Trying to miss that moment
Where it belongs.
I’d just started talking
When he ran to catch his train.
It was five years ago to the day.
I never thought I’d see him again.
But as time would have it
Our separation didn't last
That November day in Union Station
With people rushing past
We caught each other’s eye and held each other fast.
Somethings need telling even when no one asks.
Before we started talking
A thought quick as a rifle shot
Started somewhere in my mind
And tore its way out
Landing in my heart
And felt its way about
Tried to find expression
Somewhere in my mouth.
About the vision some people have
And how it relates to you direct
That you enter their painting
And know that it’s correct.
It’s Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks
With that hard luck isolation.
Look into the distance
And try to carry the nation.
It’s Dorothy Parker’s men
Self-indulgent, self-adulation.
Look out into the distance
You only see your reflection.
I didn’t know then
They were destined for heaven
The same year four years later
In nineteen sixty-seven.
Well five years ago I was gonna say,
"I’m searching' for the past
And a worm is frantically tryin’
To get back to wet grass.
I take pity for its life
Not wishing it to end
Because of man’s dry macadam
All things need a friend.
I pick up the worm
Place it on the grass
Awakening a bird
Now about to eat the last
Bit of food it needs
Before its waste is passed
Onto the head of a nanny who instantly slips
Dropping an infant as she loses her grasp
I was given to understand
In a way that I can't reveal
That if that child had lived
He would have had the power to heal.
He would have saved us all
From the mess created by our will.
He would have taken away
The lies with which we kill."
My friend looked at me in horror
Though I’m not still sure why.
Was it because he saw the truth
In the look in my eye
Or did he look into my soul
And see that bird in the sky?
I'm a' walking along
Carrying wrong
Trying to miss that moment
Where it belongs.