To Make My Peace With You: After The Fall

After The Fall

Dirty sweat and coffee grounds
Maybe you’ve seen some of the world?
They’re spilling out of the theater now
Hope they got their tickets’ worth
Have you been to this old brick town before?
Might I tell you of my fall?

Call me… Elvis Presley
The Virgin Mary
Call me Henry The Fifth, if you want
For I’m just passing through
Pretending nothing’s new
That nothing come to pass is my fault

And if I were a better man
I would not be a king
And if I were a braver man
I would not be standing
The choices I have made have past the point of undoing
No, you wouldn’t recognize me
I’m the one of whom you sing

An apple peel uncoiling right to left
So streams the news, the pulp burlesque
My attention is a jackknife
Jackknifed by the overhead set
The under-stocked and undermanned
Like a dying spider, the needy hands
They curl together into fists:
The bounded prayer of the forsaken
Seen through the eyes of the absurd prince
And the libertine and the masochist
“So shall we raise another tower, boys
Or build another vast fortress?”
Each to the other shakes their head
So long to now envy the dead
But the prince remains uncertain
That it was he who made his own… terrible bed

And if I were a betting man
I would not say a thing
My fortune would come through silence
And leave by the same wing
Of love, you took a gamble to change a loss unseen
Ah, but with my thirty silver
I saw and raised your golden ring

But now I’m haunting all the airports
Feeling for the stillness of angels
Struck by the beauty of the people as they wait
Quiet and alone in such numbers
Do you feel there’s something more to this hour?
Even I’m humbled despite my resolve

Call me… Moriarty
Laurel and Hardy
Call me Montgomery Clift if you want
For I’m just passing through
Pretending nothing’s new
That nothing come to pass is my fault…

…when it is all my fault

And if I were a better man
I would not be a king
And if I were a braver man
I would not still be standing
The choices I have made have past the point of undoing
Still, you wouldn’t recognize me
As I listen to you sing




September 21, 2007