Just a Shot Away

Grab the cash Start the car She bites her nicotine fingernails, pale face perspires While the sun, like a fire, rolls down backside of the hill—serpentine desires I-80 west, construction zones These towns, trucks, trailers framed by orange cones Make a stop outside Elko I can't tell the time on this dying burner phone I listen to the train, gas station-slot machines, a revival on the radio All that we've survived you've seen through two black eyes Redemption on this two-lane road State trooper ghosts where the road bends I drift, hit the ruts, the wheel's slick with sweat You say, That mix should kick in I ask then swallow hard, How long has it been We dream of nights in the back, your yard, our bare feet dancing in the grass No, we're not young I know that But we'll cross county lines Never going back All that we've survived fades in wisps of white in the shadows of a pale-bone moon Something drags me as I fight across borderlands, divides In a brushfire I come to Now my ear's pressed to her chest Her heart fades, silent Slow escaping breaths, slow escaping breaths I collapse, I gotta rest Drag our bodies through the mess Someone had to see the wreck Someone had to see the wreck Now the train's bearing down A whistle howling through the night like a woman screaming out And I'll lean into the sound Maybe it can take me home wherever that is found In the tent they'd sing of peace My father and me Dust devils danced in drought Those words he sang to me, Let the water set you free Dressed in white, he held me down