The Ghost Town

I’ve been rocking back and forth all night

In a chair of rope and vine.

My ear strains to catch an echoed sound

Of a song played in my mind.

Voices murmur eerily

From my mirrored parlor door.

I have grown so used to them

I pay mind to them no more.

The only movement left in town

Is the softest summer breeze.

The magnolias swaying to that old tune,

They put my mind at ease.

The problem is the old won’t go

So the new can move on in.

They may have all passed long ago

But they built this town of sin.

They’ll be damned if death with stop them

And I guess I feel the same.

My body’s weak but my soul is not

I’ll beat the devil at his game.

He’d love to have us all, we know

But I’ll be as strong as they.

And when I die I’ll stay right here

Until my judgment day. 

My Lonely Soul to Take

The ghosts that travel these southern streets,

The old as well as new,

Have gathered to haunt this ancient house

What am I to do?

I can hear them walk along my halls

They took my mirrors down.

But one promised me just last night

That death doesn’t make a sound.

I don’t know why they come to me

But each one has its needs.

Some search in vain for lovers lost

Others rebel against misdeeds.

All I can do is let them in

And open up my heart.

But none will speak of what they’ve seen

Or why they can’t depart.

It makes me wonder if it’s a trick

To lure me to the grave.

Red brick dust and a bible worn

Are all I have to save.

So if the midnight comes and swallows me

I’ll know this was my fate.

I’ll join with those who took my home

In the perils we create. 

Leading Him Away

I wanted to know if you recall

One night so long ago

When you promised me the sweetest dream

And told me I could go.

I can’t say you disappointed me.

We lived it for a while.

Yes, you remember those few years

I can see it in your smile.

You played music, I sang and danced,

We spoke of love and peace.

Old age could never touch us there

We had our sweet release.

Didn’t we, my brilliant love?

Oh yes, by god, we did.

It was before we knew how cruel life is

Before the secrets that we hid.

So pure and so innocent,

Those unreal summer days.

I want to take you back tonight

Out of your dying haze.

To hell with what the dawn might bring

Just take my aging hand.

Our hearts have always known the way

Back to our magic land. 

The Enchanted Box

The enchanted box you gave to me

With our favorite tune inside

I took it out last night, my love

To see what it might hide.

Leave it to a sorcerer

Such as you were then

To create a thing of memories

So I could go again.

There they were, once thought lost,

The days we threw away.

Laughing on the beach at night,

Making love all day.

You must have known when you left it here

Someday it would make me weep.

You can’t know how it felt to see us young

This close to my last sleep.

But also so much like you were

You forgot one part.

I couldn’t join the things you’d saved

So I just left my heart.

With a key made up of jewels and rust

I unlocked that dusty door.

The beat was strong when I took it out

I don’t need it anymore.

Maybe someday this box will find

Someone who needs it too.

They’ll see us in youth and they’ll find my heart,

They’ll think of me and you.

Until then it will sit in darkness on a shelf,

That precious soul-filled thing,

And my ghost will guard it next to yours

Till once more that box can sing. 

A Hippie Lover's Prayer

Your ghost won’t let me go these days

And it has me thinking clear

Of things I once gave up to time,

Things that you held dear.

The youth we praised, the love we shared

I never would have guessed

The day would come when you would go

And I’d be like the rest.

Since the night you left my trembling arms

I gave up dreams for gold.

I was young enough to be naïve

So those precious years I sold.

They pulsed with you and all you were,

All you meant to me.

Because you weren’t the one left behind

You’ve no right to disagree.

The ideas overdosed your mind, I think

They helped to knock you dead.

I feared so much I’d end the same

So I gave it up instead.

Don’t shake your head like you have a right!

You never had to live!

Those years that made you weary, worn

I’ve had thirty more to give.

Perhaps in that dream where we once stayed

I have longed to go.

But reality wouldn’t give me up

To the world I used to know.

Now my hair is white, my skin is broke

My time is drawing near.

And all I ask of you, old love

Is that you swear I need not fear.

Promise heaven is a ‘Frisco day

And Janis will sing her song.

I want to know that when I pass

With you I’ll go along.

5-7-06

I’ve waited for you oh so long

In this castle by the sea.

Made of bricks worn down by time

So much like you and me.

I listen to the waves crash on,

They’re whispering your name

Telling me that since you left

I haven’t been the same.

The angel you left over me

To protect me and to guide

Told me while we watched the moon

He’s sure to me you’ve lied.

That knight who stayed with us last spring

Said to me last night

“Put down that pen and take my sword!

He’s winning sure this fight!”

So, Prince Charming, is there truth

To what our friends have said?

Have you left me here all locked up tight

So you might be free instead?

If that is so I must explain

How it is I feel.

I don’t know what your stories said

But I won’t be made to kneel

Let alone to cry and beg;

You are so confused.

I was a wild one before you came

No way will I be used!

So take that charm and all your words

Ride out on your high horse!

An abandoned princess is not so bad

I suppose I could be worse.