Folios

Count The Sunrise

Oh, how many more 

Autumns will I know 

Burning leaves next door 

Just before the snow 

Seasons start to blur 

Forget how to feel 

Something strange occurs 

Time isn’t real 

You’ve been trying me on for size 

As I try to be honest about my lies 

It’s become like counting the sunrise 

I sit here counting the sunrise 

Within these four walls 

Camped out for a cure 

It’s an overhaul 

Feel so obscure 

Thought I could escape 

Maybe break the spell 

Played the mystery tape 

Went from hell to well 

That look in your eyes seems to recognize 

It no longer comes as a surprise 

There’s comfort in counting the sunrise 

Let’s sit here counting the sunrise

 

Little White Lies

Little white pills, Little white lies 

And you wonder why you meet suspicious eyes 

Little white lies, little white pills 

I hope you finally found how to be still 

An avalanche of disappointment 

Better than another night in jail 

A lonely stretch of unemployment 

Gone so cold along the trail 

(chorus) 

Now I see you through stained glass windows 

Walking down the street that bears your name 

I know you’ll just go where the wind blows 

You talk discreet and won’t be tamed 

Little white pills, little white lies 

You know you don’t have to die to lose your life 

Little white lies, little white pills 

I’ll keep a candle on my windowsill

 

Landlocked

 

What happens inside our heads 

When we’re no longer newlyweds? 

Can it compare to the affair before? 

Making up for made-up fights, 

Late nights, and lost appetites 

We’re landlocked but there’s an open door 

Ain’t it strange, ain’t it a mess 

We were just strangers more or less 

And then one day the stone fell from your ring 

Said I was fine, a return to form 

Hope I’m not just in the eye of the storm 

I’m landlocked but wouldn’t change a thing 

A morning like I’ve never known 

Taught me that I am not alone 

Got out on the first day of fall 

And dragged you under 

And I wondered 

Was it worth it all? 

Now our history has a place 

Between the cracks in your voice and the lines on my face 

I used to need a nudge, now it’s a shove 

One day soon we’ll run away 

Where the crow’s feet meet the grey 

I’m landlocked but at least I’m still in love.

 

Bad Penny

 

You flash a trashcan smile and disappear 

Preach to the choir and it falls on deaf ears 

A leprechaun whose crock of gold is gone 

Shane MacGowan without all the songs 

See you every time I come across town 

Like a bad penny rolling around 

I’m glad that you decided not to die 

What will it take to elevate your eyes? 

New lease on life but now the rent is due 

And Minnesota Nice is rather rude 

See you every time I come across town 

Like a bad penny rolling around 

Borrowing the sorrows that you drown 

Like a bad penny rolling around 

See you every time I come across town 

Like a bad penny rolling around 

What did you do with the class clown? 

Like a bad penny rolling around

 

Better Off Ashes

 

Not a far cry from a barfly 

When you first came around 

Didn’t scare you off when I bought us a round 

Sunday mornings might forgive 

Saturday nights before 

It’s no excuse for waking on the kitchen floor 

(chorus) 

On the day I die, baby, burn my body down 

‘Cause I’d be better off ashes than dirt in the ground 

I’ve been both parts of broken hearts 

Might have wrecked a couple cars 

I don’t trust someone without a couple scars 

Sweat down the small of your back, 

Pursed lips, and furrowed brow 

It’s too late to find a new normal now 

(chorus) 

Never meant to tell a lie 

Never meant to throw that punch 

At the bar I saw that guy and had a hunch 

In the rearview, reds and blues 

Meant I was going away 

For a year or two this time, they say 

(chorus)

 

No Line In The Sand

 

Welcome to the second act 

We made a deal, we had a pact 

I can hear you counting down from ten 

Sorry I’m your chosen one 

The anxious and unfrozen one 

A letter somebody forgot to send 

A fraud was all you ever saw 

Applauding was the fatal flaw 

Gonna take a knife to my red pen 

It’s in the air, it’s in my cup 

It bums me out but sums me up 

Never gonna sink that low again 

No place for proclamations 

No helping hand 

No time for a vacation 

No line in the sand 

Further away from the end 

Better than I’ve ever been 

I know that there was no other way 

Spring and Summer slid away 

I hope Autumn is here to stay 

I reset myself at Galway Bay

 

Weekend Holiday

 

Born on a Good Friday, my story ain’t half bad 

Could say I needed saving but that sounds really sad 

My hair’s a bird’s nest, my pocket’s falling off 

I’m a hobo professor, a slinger of songs 

My list of shortcomings is embarrassingly long 

Throwing pebbles at the window of your loft 

Let’s go on a weekend holiday 

Your hair color’s changed, your handwriting’s the same 

You’re mixing drinks and signals, and whatever became 

Of the gal who left her cardigan in my car 

Apocalypse slips from your lips 

As you straighten up and I come to grips 

With the fact I haven’t come that far 

Let’s go on a weekend holiday 

I say bootleg and you say boutique 

One could say we complement each other uniquely 

Living check to check, at least we’re cheek to cheek 

There’s no ring on your finger, no cuffs around my wrists 

Cigar box stuffed with memories you forgot existed 

An avalanche romance on a hot streak 

Let’s go on a weekend holiday

 

Porch Song

 

She walked with him through a purple patch 

Hellbent on content but with a catch 

Wondering why he would wander 

Even though she knows 

Absence makes the heart grow fonder 

Would she have let him go? 

Emerging in a gown without a sound 

He held her hand at the lost and found 

They weathered the storms together, 

Walked on broken glass 

A cracked lens of a memory 

Hoped for a better past 

Grieving for a soul without a name 

Leaves space for a whole new kind of pain 

When the loss becomes our albatross 

Growing thicker skin at such a cost 

Two thirds of a triangle 

Still carrying a torch 

To tend to homefires burning 

Light out on the porch

 

4508

 

When you went down 

I couldn’t be bright by your side 

My promise now 

Is to be along for your ride 

You’re so sedate 

And it hurts so much to move 

I showed up late 

And all that I’ve got is my love to prove to you 

When they closed the door 

And I was told I’d have to wait 

The whispering walls know more, 

Telling me how I’m supposed to pray 

Your body betrayed 

You when you seemed so strong 

We’ll get out one day 

Back to the family we dreamt of for so long 

I have visions of 

You on our wedding day 

There’s a decision love 

And what it is I can’t say 

This is not goodbye 

This is just an interlude 

I’ll be on standby 

Waiting in solitude for you 

I just never want to see the inside of 4508 again

 

Year Of Palindromes

Gaze upon the days long gone 

A self-made hero haunting your hometown 

Place your bets on your regrets 

A labor of love always lets you down 

Give my regards to the bonfire girls back home 

Welcome to the year of palindromes 

Was it love or lack there of 

That took away the wonder from your eyes? 

A bullet dodged was a mirage 

Honey, hear me when I sympathize 

That’s how it is when you feel all alone 

It’s hard in the year of palindromes 

I suppose we’ll decompose 

I don’t take stock in ticking clocks for now 

With hindsight, set our minds right 

Been so out of touch and wondering how 

To make amends with friends we thought we had outgrown 

Reliving the year of palindromes

 

Moving Shadow

 

Got the vampire sweats 

Waging war within 

Empty idle threats 

Stealing from my evil twin 

Had to stash my mind 

You can mine it when I’m gone 

I’ll respond in kind 

If you won’t leave the lights on 

I’m a moving shadow 

Pad around the house 

Drop the needle, crack the spine 

See her summer blouse 

Hanging on the line 

Please give me the grey 

Drown me in the bluest sounds 

Playing the long game 

Guessing you won’t see me around 

I’m a moving shadow 

It’s not a losing battle...