The Lion & The Keeper

Feeling like their storm fell down hard Tell me what you want now before the sun shines away Buried in that crowd feeling gone Leaving like a reason while that old standard plays The martyr braiding time like the rug maker Counting all her fingers, she said, "Living's for the weary" While the model braids her hair kissing God Another white horse before her fabled body's tarnished The wild ones they're creeping Alone you'll be dreaming Like a ship out at bay Turning like a promise made McQueen went out yesterday alone Firing off that rifle & I don't think he's returning Of restless nights in one night cheap hotels The muttering retreats on that sawdust ground in St. Louis Where Lazarus lays dead on the stone Six words for the paper, "Don't wake me when I'm gone" After all the clothes trail the floor The sunsets & the dooryards & that pigeon in your chimney The lion & the keeper The sweetheart & the vixen In that corner of your past What a short dance we had Heavier than iron the curtain fell Knocking on the screen, it's under them soles you've been beaten Her beige lips parting slow, cold as diamonds Your heavy metal mind you're turning down if she'll have you Eliot walking down into the parlor A thousand miles from God & we were dreaming of Manhattan Falling in the bindweed like a calm rain Under the silver moon with one hand in the ether The turnpike in the morning Empty as the hollow The shaman & the band I'll see you when the victory's had