LOST AND GONE

She’s the last one down the hall
Step quietly, and move slow
She can hear us well
Speak of what you know
The hills and of coal
And love, lost and gone forever
Your breath is so shallow
Your words are a whisper
I’m listening, I’ll stay until your ready
This home is not your home
You’ll soon rise above
All the sad and the sighing
The sick and the dying

I’ve done this all before
I know what I’m doing
Hold my hand, and recite your last words
Not much longer now
The last leaves have fallen
The pain will leave soon
And I can help you through
Lost and gone forever

COAL DUST AND SHADOWS

Floating back through
My fondest memories
At eighty years so much
So much that I’ve seen
If I could tell someone
I’d tell them all of these
I would, but the gaps are growing
And fog sweeps over me

Life has changed so
But hasn’t changed me
I still surround myself
With antiquities
And I feel I owe no one apologies
Standing up against inequality

So much is left behind
In coal dust and in shadows

If you listen I will
Pass down my story
I have no heirs or children to leave
And I’d like to think
That my life was meant to be
But now at the end
I’m not sure I believe

So much
So much is always left behind
In coal dust and shadows
Progress
Progress is always hard to find
In coal dust and shadows  

CANARY

We were so young, lost in thought
Yellow iris, and olive heart
Clean white sheeting, a nest is made
Expectations, company paid
She watched the window
And latch the cage
Always waiting, so disengaged
Day in, day out, our hope subsides
Locked away where we reside

She wakes every night
Falling from flight
Sing canary sing

The flock is flying
Through this little town
She keeps on trying
Though she comes back down
Hold your breath dear
The air grows thin
Fill up deep with it
They’ll return again

She wakes every night
Falling from flight

Sing canary sing
Oh my love, oh my love
Oh Clementine my love
What do the bones say?
Don’t let your youth die young

THE JONESES

Selling your blood
To oil the machines
For so little compensation

Sending your DNA
Through the electric lines
For another generation

They burn away the news
And just replace the fuse
And they just keep on sucking

Drawing deep the strata lines
It’s easy to hide
Holes in a canyon

Raise my wage
I can’t keep pace

They burn away the news
And just replace the fuse
And they just keep on sucking

We are the engine
That drives your world
With no recognition

Raise my wage
I can’t keep pace
With the Joneses
Or any one or anything

I can’t keep pace
With the Joneses
Or any one or anything
Time moves so slow
A mile under the surface

Rain on the ground
Run underground
Bathe me

ROOTS AND FEAR

You wake up before the sun
I turn over and you’re gone
Oh I’m losing sleep
Morning fog burns away
Mile-a-minute creeps our way
Oh the price is steep
Pour water on the wound
Oh what I’d do for you
But since you’ve been in the mine
The old you is hard to find
Oh and I can’t get through

Let’s get out, let’s get out
Of here my dear
There’s nothing holding us down
But roots and fear
I know you say, you wanna stay
But let’s be clear

There’s nothing holding us down
But roots and fear
Every night you come home late
Exhausted and sedate
Oh your losing years
You can barely get out the words
And I know I’m never heard
Before you disappear
Pour water on the wound
Oh what I’d do for you
But since you’ve been in the mine
The old you is hard to find
Oh and I can’t get through

Here our bloom won’t flower
Leave the trunk behind
What could I say
To sharpen the blade

STAY ON THE LINE

What should I do to provide
Quiet your voice we might unionize
Eighteen’s too young to decide
All that I might like to do with my life

Stay on the line
Stay on the line

Just peel the scabs away

Why so afraid, could it be a mistake
To throw on the brakes
And make things change

Stay on the line
Stay on the line

Just peel the scabs away

No I’m not scared
No I’m not scared
No I’m not scared
To open up this time, now

HOLD STEADY HANDS

Nostalgia come and haunt me
My youth seems so unfamiliar
You creep up in vague impressions
But my focus seems to blur
And a quiet violence consumes me
What little still remains
And though nothing’s changed Around me
Nothing feels the same

We sacrifice with a blessing
As awkward as it seems
We traded play for purpose
And love for laser beams
The past chews up the future
And only fools reminisce
But with infinite possibility
I can’t shake what I miss

Hold my affection
Hold steady hands
Take these seeds
And plant them
And grow them again

Just once I’d like
To feel that time
Is on my side
And give back
All those moments
That were mine

Nostalgia come and haunt me

LISTEN TO ME

Your gaspin’ love
You need to leave my love
Pack up your bag with all you’ll need
To ensure we’ll land on our feet again
Just listen to me
The contract was won
I’ll work all week my love
And save up some cash
And we’ll buy
Two one-way tickets out of here
Just listen to me

It’s the season for a runaway
Run, run, run, run

Sixteen tons
And what have we got my love
Just dust in the lungs
And swimming in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call so I can go
Just listen to me
The contract was won
I’ll work all week my love
And save up some cash
And we’ll buy
two one-way tickets out of here
Just listen to me

It’s the season for a runaway
Run, run, run, run

Run, run, run my love
Just listen to me

ECHOES CHASING ECHOES

Silence in the black
But I hear them calling
There’s no turning back
But I hear them calling
Echoes chasing echoes
But I hear them calling
Minutes till the whole thing goes
But I hear them calling

Ashes, flashes pound
A spark can change everything
Broken under mounds
All the rocks and the rumbling
I’ll feel my way
But I can’t feel anything
Tragic as the whole thing sounds

SUNDOWN

I know there’s something
Wrong tonight
I can sense the quake but it might
Not be the end
I’ve been wrong before
But I can feel the floor
The foundation moved am I right?

One more night it’s over

Heartache became me
At sundown

From the road a morbid sight
The crowd amasses but it might
Not be the end
They’ve been trapped before
But this seems so much more
I know they haven’t got much time

One more night it’s over

Heartache became me
At sundown

Something’s wrong
Like those dreams
When you never come home
Something’s wrong
Like those footsteps upstairs
But your not here
Something’s wrong
I’m terrified I’m terrified

NO AIR LEFT

The air’s too thick too black
Too short of breath
Eye’s wide headlight fades
There’s no air left

FEEL MY WAY

Don’t tell me, that this is how it ends
Don’t tell me, that this is how it ends
Just help me
Feel my way

THIS IS THIS

One step in the wrong direction
One footprint fills up with mud
One wrong word fucks you forever
One wrong word misunderstood

A terrible slight miscalculation
Only missed the mark by a fraction

How do we make sense of it
How do we make sense of it all

One step in the wrong direction
One footprint fills up with mud

A terrible slight miscalculation
Only missed the mark by a fraction

How do we make sense of it
How do we make sense of it all

This is this my friend
We must not pretend

There’s nothing in the end

This is this my friend
This is this my friend

WHAT WILL BE

They carried you out
Leaving no doubt
Your eyes were so clear
And confirmed my worst fears
And the warmth from your face
A silent embrace
We never did see
All we might be

I used to lay down with you
I used to lay down with you
But now you lay down without me
The future’s not ours to see
Que sera

And the shock that I feel
It still seems unreal
The pain has been sown
How could we have known
You worked too hard
To play the last card so soon
Now your lost and your gone
And I can’t move on without you

I used to lay down with you
I used to lay down with you

But now you lay down without me
The future’s not ours to see
Que sera