Let the river bed flow
I want the world to know
You can hear ol’Gray Bird
Doesn’t matter what season
Doesn’t matter what time
I want the world to know
Shouting out loud
In a forest around here
Alive with rounding music
Hardly lonesome while dreaming
By the river bed swimming
I want the world to know
Carry me on, carry me home
Collapse of reason had me leaning
Swung arrows behind my back
With a growl about my shoulders
A howling I did go and seek
Underneath the covers
Uncovering what’s left to consume
Richness of heart believing
Leaking in to a celebration
Lanterns in the sky float
River takes me home.
I am an outlaw on the run
Hear my voice see my gun
Find new horses at every ranch
River is my daily refresh.
Each night campfire is not lit
Though I lament not having warmth
A bedroll isn’t much sense
One eye open all night long.
I am an outlaw on the run
I hear coyotes calling every night
Starlight is my campfire light
Moon is my memory of home.
Mountain paths take me forever on
Guided by the sun
Constant watch for food that moves
I am an outlaw on the run.
Like a warrior’s window
I have taken my bold chance
Sent my spear forward, spinning
To make my impression
In your days ahead,
Gypsy on a river boat.
Set idle by your fire
In an old wooden rocking chair
Watching tomorrow set away,
My spear slows down to rest;
River dances away.
In earnest I ask
Which old coyote song
Begets a lone call from you tonight?
For fear makes me
A sentimental man
As lines running through
An old hickory handled spear,
Rocks in a river bed.
Lost on the river
Deep into my soul
Forgot another memory
And I’ve got you to hold
Diving deeper still
I used to know you here
For I whispered
Every single song
A holy ghost
That settled home again
Rise with me, Joy
Rise with me
In exaltation
Rivers bending
Around many stones
Mirrored sentiment
Crashing loudly
As breath breaks
A new seed
Floating amidst
And rising with.
In the great time of y’or
When my Grandfather Thick Neck
Roamed these wild lands
His deer were thousands strong
And each Autumn they’d collect
From all four corners of
His vast kingdom
He had roamed all Summer
And would gather near
The great Big River
To Winter in collective warmth
The power was in their numbers
It was impossible for predators
To attack such a strong group
And in the darkest days of Winter
They had fellow deer
To remind each other
Of the bountiful Summer days
Coming soon again.
As if in the ransack of time a little mouse could foresee such a circumstance, little unbeknownst to him and his furry paws scuttling to and fro about the forest floor – roots for here and roots for there, but left in a random mess that danced like bliss – as the owl hooted loud the shakey graves below the folly could tell ten thousand stories of arching madness and screaming terror; look out look out look out my friend, I have not come to be thy penance, no, I am here to hold thy candle brighter, to make thy night much less weirder, to the side of willow river and make a dart into thy deepened hole of safety and say to thy family you love them better and listen to your little mice that complain of washing and complain of chores but lead your life as you best can for times will come and leave you better beside the river and your cavern and your pretty mice wife, hither.
Dancing through the Kingdom of Joy
Alone, the rupture had a sentence
A package of unexpected buoyancy
Laid about thy path.
Oh, shame shame the clouds have come
Accept thy fate and look back no more
Forgive each breath you once deplored
Let run deep thy river’s mane.
Stepping aside, a willow tree
Called thy name twice in vain
But on the third day, as time began
A shift in conscience pulled at thee.
Then with a rod of sixfold and reel
Twang at last, the pauper’s gold
Gifting all that had been told
Left alone in a field of wildflowers.
Tell me how time came
Took away my mind
Left me floating in a cloud
– So low –
Mississippi river’s got my soul
Floating down my day
Hanging from a big fir tree
Gone between its cracks
Watching for the moon to show
My river rambles on.