THE DISTANCE AHEAD they came from concrete circles subdivided on the plains they came from grids and girders commuters rushing through the rain they grew up on the honeyed streets BMX skidding in the dirt smoking under bleachers left to stumble and to flirt they found solace in the stereo the reliquary of sound liner notes like scripture hymns from the underground anarchic and insatiable as time echoed down the lane the new life open and waiting in what territory remained me I was one of those lost in in-between space straddling the centuries, trying to keep pace - illusions painfully shattered they were still children full grown fledgling birds learning to fly lighting out on their own searching ever for balance anxious and so unsatisfied sleeping in the red rock canyons on transcontinental drives - the desecration of the mountain west offended their very souls the clearcut wasteland stretching ever on the animal damage control somewhere in the Olympic range a campfire by a roaring stream a woman sat down to tell them stories of all the things she’d seen - how there were others out there in valley and watershed the savage and the tender looking into the distance ahead - northwest harbor by desolate docks tattoo parlors and old haunts I met them all with dawn coming on we covered the waterfront the threadbare and the chosen green fire in the eye with aching hearts heavy as stone we ranged under the starlit sky - shouting at the faceless walls negotiating terms injunctions filed, emotions riled their passions brightly burned buried up to the neck in roads living hundreds of feet in the air they drove at night in old pickup trucks anything to interfere - they healed their wounded bodies found what refuges they could in the mossy dreams of ancient trees and thousand year old woods - they grew accustomed to the conflict the cycles of rage and loss they wavered and tore at each other paid a terrible cost some protections were offered due to their demands and they are legends every one these protectors of the land - one November it came to a head tear gas and percussion grenades a Troy of their very own they shook the citadel gates there were more of them than they ever knew with courage to match desire she shaved her head and serenely smiled walked out into the crossfire - they suffered and they sacrificed eyes stinging when the law came down their hearts were ever golden deep green with the foggy crown - now it’s grainy film lost in terabytes archipelagos of floating junk robber barons who want to live on mars progress gone giddy & punch drunk somewhere out where borders blur colors bleed on sand and stone I want to tell these ones I love them all as I drive the desert alone - it all happened in slow motion when we still were memorizing roads pulled over at a service station losing quarters in a broken pay phone crumpled maps in the glove box a motel pool full of tumbleweeds I’m searching for Hayduke and Bonnie I’m searching for Seldom Seen - in the Chiricahua Range the Jaguars return again they stare out across the desert into the distance ahead the distance ahead

lazy and languid bright may morning at play in the fields almond a summons from your hair telegraphing riddles ciphers and signals pollen floating in air pollen floating in air the grasses tamped down where we’d lain at play in the fields diaphanous girl with a chip on the tooth at play in the fields absorbing the light bright Phoebus spilled from his cup and falling over myself I careen, i tumble arms all reaching up arms all reaching up and we left our mark as the sky grew dark evening fell on the meadow bloom telegraphing riddles ciphers and signals long into afternoon long into afternoon the grasses tamped down where we’d lain at play in the fields

The memories live inside of you You've done your time in the trenches It's written in the lines of your face a scar that will heal but never be erased and you wish no more to roam so sad and lost, all alone but there's a green field where you'll be free over the mountains in the salt spray of the North Sea Silence echoes through these rooms and fades into the arms of night one by one we travel on and the best of us will still live in a song so sad and lost, all alone but there's a green field where you'll be free over the mountains in the salt spray of the North Sea you count your love and you count you dead for they are one and the same and you hear a voice lonesome on the wind and it speaks your true love's name it speaks your true love's name so sad and lost, all alone but there's a green field where you'll be free over the mountains in the salt spray of the North Sea