This Train

This train only runs on a one way track
Once you head east, there’s no turning back
Once you’re on board you can ride for days
Through the evening fog and the morning haze
But there’s no getting off once you’re on the rail
Come to win and come to fail
The big wheels rumble through the frozen night
Past the heartbreak hotel and the neon lights
I ride the handsome as the wind blows by
And the trees all bend to the cry

I searched for love and I found it whole
But a drifting heart and a wandering soul
Kept me moving down this eastbound line
Picking up pieces of what I thought was mine
Packing the bags I’ve carried so long
An old guitar and an older song
But I’ll find it someday and I’ll put it in place
Give it a name, give it a face
I ride the handsome as the wind rolls by
And the trees all bend to the cry

This train keeps my heartbeat steady
Line up t he rhythm and the roll is ready
This train keeps me right on track
Only the wheels and the west at my back

This town looks good as a town can be
Far from the mountains, far from the sea
Winter behind me and spring so near
Everything I hoped for, everything I fear
Think I may get off when this train comes still
Find ma a new start, find me a will
Write up the written and roll up the rest
Stand down the sorrow, stand put he best
I ride the handsome as the wind blows by
And the trees all bend to the cry

This train keeps my heartbeat steady
Line up t he rhythm and the roll is ready
This train keeps me right on track
Only the wheels and the west at my back

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Angel of Love

In my dreams we’re walking quietly
And there are angels all around
And the poetry of madness
Is a distant doppler sound
And the ghosts of my undoing
Are unraveling in the glow
To ease the crease of anguish
I am certain I must go

And it’s a dream that’s based on vision
And it’s truth that’s lacking tough
But if our dreams can all come true
Then the angels are enough

Well I live the truth of consequence
Of memory and math
Of history and hungry days
And echoes of a past
And there are storm clouds that are hiding
The promise of a sun
And the rain falls down in crying sheets
Until the pressure’s gone

And promise pulses plenty
And the past is but a rift
But if the future is a shadow
Then the present is a gift

Angel, Angel
Angels all around me
Angels up above
But tonight I need the angel of love

So I call upon the saints
Who watch and guide me through these days
When I cannot tell what’s up or down
And my mind is but a blaze
And the ticking of my heart
Is all that keeps the timing so
I’d rather not get turned around
If I know the way to go

And I trust your hand will hold me
AndI fear your heart may burst
But if all this leads to loneliness
Then nothing could be worse

Angel, Angel
Angels all around me
Angels up above
But tonight I need the angel of love

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All Over Town

It’s a time I still remember
From a place that I will never forget
It’s a piece of broken pottery
From a veil of deep regret
It’s the sound of voices in the waves
It’s the sound of sea on sea
It’s the beat of all creation
It’s the heart of you and me

And it’s all over town
It’s all over town
It’s all over, over town
And it’s all over town
It’s all over town
It’s all over, over town

But I’ll find you in the news stand
I’ll pass you in the underground
I’ll see you at the country fair
I’ll see you around town
I’ll call you on a bet sometime
We’ll laugh outside the schoolyard
And wonder how we ever find our way back home

There’s a storm outside the window
There’s thunder in my heart
And the rain lets fall the teardrops
And the sunlight breaks apart
It’s a sense of something sacred
It’s the sound of sea on sea
It’s the beat of all creation
It’s the heart of you and me

And it’s all over town
It’s all over town
It’s all over, over town
And it’s all over town
It’s all over town
It’s all over, over town

But I’ll find you in the news stand
I’ll pass you in the underground
I’ll see you at the country fair
I’ll see you around town
I’ll call you on a bet sometime
We’ll laugh outside the schoolyard
And wonder how we ever find our way back home

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Ancestors

She gazed down softly at him
Her special handsome beau
At 93, her love for Pa
Did ever brightly show
Three quarters of a century
Through hard times and the good
They never spoke an angry word
I hardly think they could

I watched her smile sweetly
Her twinkling eyes of brown
A young girl at the heart of things
Though age had slowed her down
“We never thought that kids would come”
Then Pa turned with a grin
“Ah, but when we learned, we couldn’t stop
Then quit after the twins.”

Eleven children all in all
And a grandson taken in
Loving tales of years gone by
Through the thickest and the thin
A farmer needs a lot of help
The kids all worked each day
Plowing fields and digging peat
And bringing in the hay

Grandpa had the toughest skin
He’d never seem to mind
Packing in the silo
And putting in the time
The boys would stamp and shiver
Through winter’s deepest chill
He never seemed to freeze like them
That strong Norwegian will

Then as they aged and needed care
A new life soon arose
With heavy heart at 90
The sweethearts still so close
With failing eyes and failing ears
Reluctantly agreed
To leave their home in Keister
And move on to Albert Lea

It was common knowledge in the home
With all the lights turned down
With all the elders tucked tight in
And darkness all around
Pa would push his bed up next to
Ma’s there in the room
Hand in hand across the reach
The sleeping bride and groom

Pa would always say he hoped
He’d be the first to go
He couldn’t bear to live without
His precious Anna Flo
As fate would soon decide it
Clemet passed away
At 96, a sweet goodbye
Was all that he could say

Ma passed from us two years hence
Peacefully at ease
Reaching outstretched arms to someone
Only she could see
I do believe she reached for Pa
I’d like to think it so
Waiting from the other side
For his precious Anna Flo

All that we remember
All we never will
The grandsons and the granddaughters
And generations still
We’ve written down our memories
To pass as history
We cannot lose the light of
All our precious ancestry

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High Wire

I’ve swallowed my tears like a shot of tequila
That burns all the way to my heart
I’ve turned round the mirror that shows my reflection
To hide how I’m tearing apart
But I’ll fly again one day with hardly an effort
I’ll soar to the top of the sky
Like a bird on a zephyr, I’ll float on the wind
And I’ll fly

I’m gasping for air like the wind knocked right out of me
Choking on things I can’t say
I’ve closed off the rooms I can no longer heat
Though my fire is running away
And I’ll climb to the top of this treacherous mountain
I’ll scale it one rock at a time
And I’ll brave all the avalanche element perils
And climb

Cause there’s nothing to keep me from crashing to earth
Though my tethers and torn and refused
And there’s everything here to prevent me from falling
My safety net’s hardly been used

‘Cause I’ve worked it so often without any guidelines
I’ve walked my life on the high wire
With seldom a spotter and never a moment
That all my life wasn’t on fire
And I’ll seek you and find you in all of these ashes
Through the flickering fire and flame
And we’ll walk inside promise and swear to the fact
That love is all that remains

And I’ll fly again one day with hardly an effort
I’ll soar to the top of the sky
Like a bird on a zephyr, I’ll float on the wind
And I’ll fly

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Willing

The sun is breaking through this morning veil of cloud
And my heart is breaking in two
One half of my heart is open to the rising day
The other half is open to you

This daybreak raw is chilling the marrow in my bones
But soon it will be fading like the dew
I can’t make the sun rise any faster in these hours
When I am cold from missing you

And I am willing to bend
I am willing to cry
I am ready for this journey of my life
I am willing to go
I am will to try
I am willing myself into the sky

I hear the birds start singing when the dawn is on the wing
But my wings are broken in two
Flying isn’t something I am willing to let go
Flying brings me closer to you

And I am willing to bend
I am willing to cry
I am ready for this journey of my life
I am willing to go
I am will to try
I am willing myself into the sky