MINNESOTA

Indian children building a fortress,
building in secret, building in the forest.
Lorelai-lady with her hands on a musket
chase ‘em off smart-like, never seen her throw a fit.

Safe behind a door but I’m worried for my brother
it’s early in the morn and it’s sure to raise a fever.
Considering the odds and inquiring the hour,
Charles then calls and sounds the alarm.

And we’re going to have a good time,
when indian children arrive here.

We’re singing to the Lord and we’re singing in the forest.
Aside from the doctor we got a fine chorus.
Lafayette Benson a friend of Minnesota,
comes around often, always keeps his toes up.

We tidy up the house and we’re counting down the hours,
mother’s in the side house sifting through the flour.
Lafayette smiles at his boots like a neighbor,
Charles then says it’s twelve to one.

And we’re going to have a good time,
when cousins from Iowa arrive here to entertain.
“I pride myself on homemade bread,
but Charles keep guard, there’s oligarchs
with lips that smell like Caroline’s geese and eggs.”

THE HARBINGER Pt. I & II

(Part I)
There’s going to be a storm says the radio.
Better sleep inside for the weekend.
Raindrops falling through the open window.
Laying with my eyes closed I’ll be dreaming.

Of the snowy hillsides, and there’s mittens on my hands.
Pulling snow out of my long-johns and I’m rubbing snow in your hair.

Down onto the pond to see the swan that I call June.
Ugly blue-headed thing, but you ask him how’s he do.
We used to play like children now we act like we’re best friends,
[but] that’ll change with a kiss from me to your forehead.

Moonlight breaks apart as the clouds move to the east.
One moment at a time as I stare upon your face.
Snowflakes gently fall onto your lips and on my tongue.
Frozen lips and faces together keep us warm.

All on snowy hillsides with our eyes upon the stars.
Right beside me I can hear you breath into my ear.

Yes I’m quite aware and I won’t avoid the draft.
“Godspeed be with you.” We kissed and then we laughed.

(Part II)
And I, I believe in the wings of your disease.

To rest your souls in birdbaths and clinging ivy vines,
express opinions undeveloped, forgetting what we’re told.
Let the dew drops sing the last line, and let the curtains fall.
As we celebrate the seasons, we are never growing old.

Then we go to our ordinary jobs, and breath ordinary air,
but think extraordinary things whenever time is there.

THE EASTERN SKY

Fly, fly, fly through the eastern sky,
past the war-torned scorned fields of nigh.
Try, try, try. Try to loosen your mind.
Behold, your son is wounded, left aside.

“Shoot, shoot, shoot!” Cries a man of war.
Lofty goal for men with cocoa, yet no rounds.
Lie, lie, lie upon the earth [and] we’ll die.
Men of strength will raid the enemy supply.

Oh, there’s no time to wait!
In a cloak of black we’ll fly.
Oh, if morning should break!
We’ll hide him ’til he wakes.

Timing changes nearly everything.
Timing has its disadvantage.
The Earth swings under the Heavens.
The Heavens are void of our timing.

Weep, weep, weep; come the dews from Heav’n;
The mortars’ glow ne’er compares to light above.
Hear, hear, hear; hear the cries of men,
The rival God helps the enemies advance.

Oh, nothing has changed. The lure of gold remains.
[Learn] the methods of men – Fear and indolence.

Timing changes nearly everything.
Timing has its disadvantage.
The Earth swings under the Heavens.
The Heavens are void of our timing.
The Sun stands alone in the Heavens and moves!

THE CASPIAN SEA

In the trade routes of Africa, between Senegal and Spain,
left beneath the stern and set by convolution waves;
I’m marooned on reef and surrounded by sea
yet I have my eyes set on Russian gold.
And the irony is like a tale from the Yukon
[or] like a Greek comedy when all the stars are aligned with me.
Lest the deaf man hear lest the blind man see,
I will conquer the Caspian Sea!

On the 38th I swore in wrath, lest God himself decline,
a simple man and ax would claim the oil fields as mine.
Every Soviet son has the worth of a gun
buried deep in loam and burned in haste retreat.
Like the Sadducees, they opposed the greater plan,
They denied the very fact that the stars are aligned with me.
Lest the deaf man hear lest the blind man see,
I will conquer the Caspian Sea!

I will conquer the Caspian Sea,
with luck, with toil and a lot of gold.
They’ll honor my excellent name!

But after eighty days of shipwreck I said a little prayer;
“Take me off this reef, to where I go I wouldn’t care.”
In the Lord’s stern voice, as the waves rejoiced,
“There are mountains nie; go live a simple life,
never praise the thought that the gold makes a man,
but the man makes the gold into gifts they give to me.
And the deaf can hear, all the blind can see
that you’ll surrender the Caspian Sea!”

“Yes, you’ll surrender the Caspian Sea.
My child, be calm, you’ll live a wealthy life,
lest you welcome the devils tempt.”

CARIBOU

Caribou wakes with the sun on her face.
She listens and sighs.
She knows by the breeze that there’s rain on the trees
and sleeps awhile more.

To Dawson I came in a moment of shame
to release the hounds of sin.
That terrible cold and the lure of the gold
leaves a man to shout refrain.

Oh Caribou I hope you’ll never stop your dreamin’;
we’ll take one step at a time.
Oh Caribou I know you’ll help me find renewal;
we’ll deride in tacit pantomime.

With summers’ advance and a slight fate of chance
I would find my wealth deserved.
Those violent streams and turbulent dreams
are painted on Yukon skies.

Oh Caribou I hope you’ll never stop your dreamin’;
we’ll take one step at a time.
Oh Caribou I know you’ll help me find renewal;
we’ll deride in tacit pantomime.

When our joy is full as we live in common unity.

THE PLANET

I’m waking up the world today, I’ve got a new smile on my face!
Looking up from this time-tried-trial to a miracle into space.

When it gets here, I’ll tell you, boy it’s going be fine!
[When] the gold of the world is like a head of a mouse, pray a miracle into space!
Won’t you stand up,
stand up for the planet.
Reverence to each of the Gods who have
designed a miracle. So stand up!

Solar flares and magnet shifting, even giants are fain to lament.
Every lie, every coin repudiate.

Then you have to wake up,
wake up Vladi Lenin.
Tell him that the prolet has fought and won, huzzah!
Everybody wake up.

When life begins again…
I’m gunna run on that highway,
and everything will be ok.
If you have the while to make false claims,
well then that’s a shame.

Sun and light; not unlike Aurora’s delight.
From the Plains of Abraham, come divining tribe!

Won’t you stand up,
stand up for the merit.
Common to the conference of gods below,
their jeweled endowment as they stand up.

When life begins again…
I’m gunna run on that highway,
and everything will be ok.
If you have the while to make false claims,
well then that’s a shame.

Sun and moon and light and life!

THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE

The autumn leaves were floating ’round
in vibrant orange and red,
an honored sentiment of fall.

Behind an ostentatious mob,
an idealist can speak their thought,
and burn a candle for their dead.

A million flames can barely shine,
like the Vatican skyline.

They needed Jack to sound the call,
but honey, that’s not change at all.
Another motionless ideal.

I hear there’re mountains way out west,
(and) a little time to reinvent.

I know it’s you, I hope it’s true,
I know it’s you, (I hope it’s you.)

They say the war has worn me thin,
it’s only clarified my sin.

I know it’s you, I hope it’s true,
I know it’s you, (I hope it’s you.)
I know there’s snow, it falls on mountains way out west!

THE STONE

Moonlight is scarce when beneath Feather Creek.
Judgement is even more so.
A shovel a mask, I can breathe under water!
A man, his gold and a stone.

Come, see the old enemy
he is old he is wise
and there’s nary a surprise.

Come, learn the methods of men;
some are young, some are bold,
most are driven by the cold.

The length of an arm and the grip of an ox;
a cold hoary frost overblown.
Old sentinel place your burden on me.
Leave the man, severed hand, curse the stone.

OLYMPIA, MY DAUGHTER

It was a snowy Reno day, and as the locals used to say
it was completely common, yet so uncommon.
In the quiet, sterile part of a hospital in Sparks
lie your mother with happy father.

No one noticed what had happened;
a child was born to loving parents.
A proud first child for a proud new couple,
who’d soon be blessed with a few more others.

You had that good old miners blood, like any good Californian should.
You grew up strong, you grew up fast.
Playing guitar with all your friends, reading books and making pretend
that you’re not a redneck just like everyone else.

But everyone knew who you were,
as the pretty girl from the downtown diner.
Who was swept away by a blonde boy from Southern,
who’d dream with you through the changing weather.

Olympia, Oh Olympia, my daughter.
Olympia, Oh Olympia.

Father time stuck his ugly face inside
and he smiled. I swore he smiled.
A once youthful miner, now strides the aisle
with his arm around his first born child.
But before you go, let your father know
that he’s not a fool, ’cause I’ll be no fool!

It was a rainy August day, and as the locals always say
it was completely common, yet so uncommon.
When a life of love and war, caught a glimpse of something more
my inner cadence resigned to sleep.
One thing leads into the other,
a migration toward warmer weather,
Lying calm like a lion in winter,
then floating on through the clouds of aether.

THE SEA OF GLASS

How do they say in the olden-day;
“When a man makes a fortune and it turns him the other way?”
That’s why, my old friend, you failed to stay the claim.

What’s this strange condition? [It's] more than rational cognition.
Threaded gold enrobed stand a seer at my station!

Verity borne and American men are aghast.
I know, I know, it’s not eloquent at first, but soon revealed.

Come, holy man, what makes a life if not learning?
Stare into the stone and watch the universe expand!

Across the sea of glass,
The glory! Aurora’s retreat below.

On solid ground, valley peaks on horizon.
The sun permits a stare, I see the form of man descend!

Across the sea of glass,
The glory! Aurora’s retreat below.

the man, the fear, the hand, the stone,
the earth, the shake, the fall, the dirt,
the wet, the ground, the gods, the hills,
the sphere, the joy, the lift, the plan,
the now, the proof, the cause, the choice,
the chide, the eyes, the wounds, the Son of God!