so far so good

you're coming to the bend at the end of the road

you put a hand to the belly that's foreign more

with every day like an oversize load



and you're thinking about clouds the color of fire

and the scent of an orange peel

the way Mt. Shasta explodes into windshield view

and your hands steady on the wheel



so far so good

coffee motel coffee diner coffee go on

styrofoam is drying like the tears that once did flow

starting 10 o'clock and ending at dawn



and you can't go back but you're going back

and you don't know what you'll say

you've got half-formed sentences

explanations for a life half-broken away

and they just may

they'll take you in their arms and then take out their knives

so you drive on thinking



so far so good

but you can't go on much longer like this you know

you're all alone in this world no that's not true

the nice Christian lady told you so



she was handing out pamphlets by the clinic door

saying "Jesus knows what you've been through

take the Savior into your heart my child

there's love waiting for the both of you"



well you don't believe but you have to believe

it's still crumpled there in your back seat

were you the hero or the worst kind of coward back there

putting pavement back under your feet

couldn't stand the heat

couldn't stand the thought of ghosts with a negative age

turn the page

OK



so far so good

you try to sing along to the radio

but it's not your language not your song

it's from some other time ago



and you're thinking about how someone died that day

the you that was so carefully planned

but then again maybe this life is like a sleeping mountain

waking up to shape the land



calm calm let it come let it come back to you

calm calm breathe on out you know you know what to do






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