this old revolution

Lately you've started to stutter
as though you had nothing to say.
To all of my architects let me be traitor.
Now let me say I myself gave the order
to sleep and to search and to destroy.

Into this furnace I ask you now to venture...

Yes, you who are broken by power,
you who are absent all day,
you who are kings for the sake of your children's story,
the hand of your beggar is burdened down with money,
the hand of your lover is clay.

Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows,

i didnt think you would like that
this light in your darkness

but i revel in its destruction of your desire
for darkness

the cracks are where
this light shines in

-m

NIGHT COMES ON

dont love me quite so fiercely now
you now that you are not sure

( you say you have turned away from me
but i can feel you when you breathe)

i should tell you
but i never will
because it is mine, its what you can't take away and you cant own
you have no right to claim more anger, you have already been over justified for your actions

yet karma comes
and i am now the one that knows.
m

everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

hallelujah!

you say i took it in vain, i dont even know the name
but if i did, well really whats it to you?
there is a blaze of light in every word
it doesn't matter what you heard
the whole or the broken,

There was a time you let me know
What's real and going on below
but now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

i did my best, it wasn't much
i couldn't feel so i tried to touch
i've told the truth, i didnt come to fool you
and even though it all went wrong
i will stand before the lord of song
with nothing on my tongue

Maybe there's a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

will there ever be a relief from these cat and mouse games i have no intention of being eaten
i have no intention of staying or being entertained this heart has potholes and rocky bumps and i dont want you to be the one to figure them out i cant stand that you look and smile as you push me away and i cant stand that you hold me so far away but wrapped up in your arms i feel nothing at all except the longing to feel and yet i am trying to feel without feeling at all and my heart is torn again into the rage and it finds no relief and i wonder why i decided to play in the first place.
m

chelsea hotel

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
you were talking so brave and so sweet,
giving me head on the unmade bed,
while the limousines wait in the street.
Those were the reasons and that was New York,
we were running for the money and the flesh.
And that was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left.

Ah but you got away, didn't you babe,
you just turned your back on the crowd,
you got away, I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don't need you,
I need you, I don't need you
and all of that jiving around.

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend.
You told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception.
And clenching your fist for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music."

And then you got away, didn't you babe...

I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best,
I can't keep track of each fallen robin.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
that's all, I don't even think of you that often.

famous blue rain coat

It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better


I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.


That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?


What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.


Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.

That night that you planned to go clear

is there a difference between a foot and a mile
if your heart has made a decision

can you be bound in open space
can you love what you despise


will i even return to myself
will i shed my skin like a snake
and my life like a chameleon
needing nothing but the skin to shed

a book is bound by rationality not by choice
if i chose it is it invalid

if i chose you will i lose

will this be freeing or fleeting

m

Ballad for the absent Mare

Say a prayer for the cowboy
His mare's run away
And he'll walk til he finds her
His darling, his stray
but the river's in flood
and the roads are awash
and the bridges break up
in the panic of loss.

And there's nothing to follow
There's nowhere to go
She's gone like the summer
gone like the snow
And the crickets are breaking
his heart with their song
as the day caves in
and the night is all wrong

Did he dream, was it she
who went galloping past
and bent down the fern
broke open the grass
and printed the mud with
the iron and the gold
that he nailed to her feet
when he was the lord

And although she goes grazing
a minute away
he tracks her all night
he tracks her all day
Oh blind to her presence
except to compare
his injury here
with her punishment there

Then at home on a branch
in the highest tree
a songbird sings out
so suddenly
Ah the sun is warm
and the soft winds ride
on the willow trees
by the river side

Oh the world is sweet
the world is wide
and she's there where
the light and the darkness divide
and the steam's coming off her
she's huge and she's shy
and she steps on the moon
when she paws at the sky

And she comes to his hand
but she's not really tame
She longs to be lost
he longs for the same
and she'll bolt and she'll plunge
through the first open pass
to roll and to feed
in the sweet mountain grass

Or she'll make a break
for the high plateau
where there's nothing above
and there's nothing below
and it's time for the burden
it's time for the whip
Will she walk through the flame
Can he shoot from the hip

So he binds himself
to the galloping mare
and she binds herself
to the rider there
and there is no space
but there's left and right
and there is no time
but there's day and night

And he leans on her neck
and he whispers low
"Whither thou goest
I will go"
And they turn as one
and they head for the plain
No need for the whip
Ah, no need for the rein

Now the clasp of this union
who fastens it tight?
Who snaps it asunder
the very next night
Some say the rider
Some say the mare
Or that love's like the smoke
beyond all repair

I came so far for beauty left
so much behind
My patience and my family
My masterpiece unsigned
I thought I'd be rewarded
For such a lonely choice
And surely she would answer
To such a very hopeless voice
I practiced on my sainthood
I gave to one and all
But the rumours of my virtue
They moved her not at all
I changed my style to silver
I changed my clothes to black
And where I would surrender
Now I would attack
I stormed the old casino
For the money and the flesh
And I myself decided
What was rotten and what was fresh
And men to do my bidding
And broken bones to teach
The value of my pardon
The shadow of my reach
But no, I could not touch her
With such a heavy hand
Her star beyond my order
Her nakedness unmanned
I came so far for beauty
I left so much behind
My patience and my family
My masterpiece unsigned