Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (Sea of Tears)
It was back amongst the living,
your smile was giving
me a thrill.
Enough to come so close
to closing the deal - the steal of a century…
A century stolen from our hearts to a house on the hill.
But if that is what it takes, i
f that is what it takes,
if that is what it takes…
To be a stone,
a stone’s throw from your throne.
No man has ever hung
from the rafters of a second home.
No man has ever hung
from the rafters of a second home.
It’s true,
I needed you more
back when I was poor:
the wealthy dowager (the patroness), she guessed it - the answer wasn’t yes.
But her maxims were fine, the ethos that flew about her mind
like swallows in search
of a burnt-down bell-towered church.
But if that is what it takes,
if that is what it takes,
if that is what it takes…
To be a stone,
a stone’s throw from your throne.
No man has ever hung
at the temporary age of 24,
both feet on the floor,
listening to the bonafide stasis of sound, the eaves dripping
yesterday’s ill-timed August rain,
if there is such a thing as ill-timed August rain…