FULTON STREET I

Found a body at the rest stop Buried in the woods beneath The garbage and leaves Workers clearing overgrowth Saw hidden in the brush Just beyond the line of the trees A jawbone and teeth Winter into spring on Fulton Street And cities grow weeds, and cities grow And cities keep secrets in the trees In the shadow of the pyramid The cities grow weeds, the cities grow By the river and the covered bridge The cities grow weeds, I know All the memories your dreams retrieve Pick a dress out for the funeral Hold the vigil in the field, release Lanterns at night and I saw On the shoulder of the interstate When I followed your eyes, when I followed your eyes All the crosses for the accidents All the photos in the flowers by the street Will I ever put flowers by the street? Will I ever put flowers by the street? Never needed to live and suffer through the pain All the tyrannies of grief, if I ever do Will I even have the strength to do anything? Could I go and leave flowers by the street? And I saw signs on the shoulder of the interstate When I followed your eyes And I saw lights fading every monument And the passage of time If I could just try, could I banish all the pain in you? Give you everything you need If I hid rose quartz underneath the mattress, would it help your nights When you're struggling to sleep, when you're struggling to sleep Will I ever be half what I can be? Can I ever be half what I can be? If you needed me to be anything Could I even be half of what you need? Will I ever be me? Will I ever be me? If I can take hands to shake you, would you want me to? If it shook you out of grief, if I gave chase Summers when you tunneled into nothingness Would it bring you some release? If I saw signs on the shoulder of the interstate When I followed where your eyes went If I saw nights spent after midnight in a eulogy Which you never got to give And I saw fenders bent hard on an oak tree Also sirens at the scene I saw cigarettes falling in the tangle of machinery Between the console and the seat And I saw hands reach, car jerked across the center line I saw it all in my dreams And I saw leaves hiding bodies in the treeline off the interstate But I've never put flowers by the street I've never put flowers by the street If you need from me, to be anything I could be everything you need If you need from me, to be anything I could be everything you need Every monument, every memory And I've never put flowers by the street --- Fulton Street I - La Dispute