The Mail

Say hostage one more time And I’ll turn this truck around Until you reconcile The sharp black of tonight Under galloping foot You asked me to this And I merely obliged Clutching a lilac envelope A floral stamp and a lumped up throat Water mirage Gasoline Aspirin Lateral movement Congealing horizon Temper temper It’s too revealing A garrulous girl On an unbleached evening It’ll cost you about a buck to find out Stealthily folding on finger down Street cleaner Meter reader Post-man and woman We’re out to deliver The letter is heavy And the package is yours I can smell the curves Of the words and roads My body rights itself My words they write themselves In a most remarkable and rebellious stance Like telling time without seeing the hands Say “love you” one more time And I’ll tear this letter up And set the pages on fire Hell is for horses who sleep in the shade It’s by breathlessness that you can be made How many ways can I fold you up? Origami Don’t try to stop me I wanted to tell you but I never could tell So I send my songs out through the mail On and on and on I reckon All the times I tried to say this All the ways I tried to play this Broken blooms and fading fragrance Dresses strung with hopeful laces Don’t forget to tell the waitress She would never ‘ere betray us Sweet and low I’m bowing out On and on and on my treatise Until the sky returns for vengeance Trust the mail it’s never failed us Sweet and low I’m bowing out