I regret my words were so sharp,

I do.

I regret they sliced your throat wide open,

I do.

I regret I ever had regrets, but

You no longer do.

the ghosts scream in my ear

while I sleep and it sounds

like wind rushing in for the kill,

fading to the howl of a creature

that unloads hate at my skull.

my mind opens to fear but

my body closes to impulse

in this closed-eye consciousness.

I wrestle within my darkness

against the talons on the other side.

there's pressure on my back

but I can't move and toss the carcass

off of me so I can wake.

I can feel the thrashing

and I may never know

where the wounds are,

my gauze may never drink,

ointment may never find a crack to fill.

morning brings uncertainty,

when I wake I will rise into a fog,

not knowing which side I belong to.

Oh, I'm singing country western

promising to Walk the Line.

I Wish I Were in Dixie Tonight

But She’s Out of Town.

All my friends I telephone

say Here’s a Quarter, Call

Someone Who Cares.

I tried to tell my girlfriend, Dixie,

Get Your Tongue Outa My Mouth

Cause I’m Kissing You Goodbye.

I Fell in a Pile of You

And Got Love All Over Me.

She Made Toothpicks

Out of the Timber of My Heart.

She Had Velcro Arms

And Teflon Heart.

But I Don’t Believe My Heart

Can Stand Another You

Even though I Can’t Stop

Loving You

I tell my buddies

Thank God and Greyhound

She’s Gone.

But I’m sitting here alone

My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend

And I Sure Do Miss Him.

So I wish Dixie was still In Town.

Two women sit in a silent room, sunlight radiating a luscious glow on the cheekbones of the younger; mother and daughter dressing for the day. One waits their entire life for this day; a new dress, pearls and diamonds, tears and smiles as family remembers the days of the young woman's youth. The ceremony in a church a few miles away; mother lifts up her daughter's golden locks and wraps a simple chain of peach pearls around a cold neck. She was ready, her gentle eyelids closed; her mother cried, awestruck at the youthful glory. The mortician came in, 'twas time to go; a life cut short, preparations for the wrong event in a disordered mess of emotion and unplanned circumstance. 

Drowning

In a World of lies

Bedazzled

By war

And alien skies

We stumble

In stupid wonder

While rich men

Steal our lives

In TV cinch

I flinch

At "zombie hoards"

While the Rich

Foul tics

Become

Engorged

The planet rots

In fetid plots-

And by the way

Who really killed JFK?

Did he die to clear

The Dark One's way?

Was 911 an inside job?

Is the Antichrist here?

Has Man killed God?

Will ever

The blinds part

On Satan's fraud?

And when we question

Who has our backs,

"Look out!

Here comes

Another

Terrorist attack!"

From the ramparts

Of news media

We're told to fear

Each other

And our lives

Held dear

Just Know

The Apocalypse

Is s i l e n t

And already here.

REPRISE:

To break the crust

Of Satan's spoof

Open your eyes

And suss the truth-

The Devil is the lie.