Sunday, April 10, 2016

Empire Builder

This is not an escape
But I don't know how to hold someone 
without losing my grip
You'll say I was bound to leave
Since I first stepped across the border
Since I crawled into your skin

Thought I heard you whisper in the dark
That you knew where the light would be
Thought I saw your shape against the black
Thought I felt you moving beside me

We are not alone and we are more alone
than we've ever been
So hurry up and lose me
Hurry up and find me again

So I'll pass the lumber mills
I"ll pass the coal mines and the parks 
and the dried up oil fields
I'll pass a thousand lonely pines
that bend their backs against the sun

But I'll mistake the station birds 
for the sound of my phone ringing

Thought I heard you whisper in the dark
that you knew where the light would be
Don't wait for me to walk a straight line
You can only hold your breath so long

We are not alone and we are more alone 
than we've ever been
So hurry up and lose me
Hurry up and find me again

I am no less bound to you
Than when I crossed into your silence
when I held your solitude
But you never liked it when I'd play dead
and you wondered why my love songs 
are always the grieving kind
Why I wander off the search for 
my reflection in the crowd

Oh, forget I said love
and also, don't forget I said love

We are not alone and we are more alone 
than we've ever been
So hurry up and lose me
Hurry up and find me again

Laura Gibson