Eternity's Shadow

_____________________

“Inside this shell
there's a prison cell.”
-Jon Foreman


Never wanted to fail.
Grabbed the fire and
Pulled back a handful
Of ashes.

It has poured for
Four days,
Yet the scent
Still remains.

The stench of the
Past is strong in
The gutter, still
Filthy in the rain.

How long before
A man learns?
How long before
He closes the books

And exclaims
Aha! ?
How long before
The trap door closes,

Before the night
Shuts his mouth
In the weariness
Of waiting?

How long will
The fool sing
In the rain?
Don’t let the

Laughter delude.
It is only a drug.
Only a mask.
Only a shadow

Of what’s to come.

--111309--
© 2009 vagrant moon

Rain Dog

___________

“For I am a rain dog too!”
- Tom Waits

for Marc Ribot


You play guitar
Like I walk in this
Sacred ghost:

The connect.
The disconnect.
The reconnect.

You confound and
Perplex,
Fingers dancing
On wood and steel
Like a drunk
Looking for peace,
Looking for shelter
From his storm,

Himself.

The earth died screaming*
And you woke up
With your paintbrush,
Your picks,
Told the world
To Clap Hands,
Then buried the
Conventional corpse
To the Cemetery Polka,

All the while
Adjuring the critic
To close his ears
And open her mind.


*Earth Died Screaming, a song by Tom Waits, who Marc Ribot collaborated with on Rain Dogs and other albums.

Click here to listen to a sample of Marc Ribot's guitar work.