New Year’s Day

end of the year
with cocaine dreams
vague plans to stick around
this old farm town.

where the turkey vultures wheel
with the Sun in the fields,
and I burn and break my back
to make my freedom real.

the way she stood in the doorway
make a poor boy cry
but the way she looked on the bridge behind me
enough reason to say goodnight
to

another day
staying clean
sponsor on the phone
when I hit Pike Creek.

another year
that I ain’t done wrong
blues and trouble with me
singing they songs.

down in the devil’s lair
drivin out round Mermaid’s Run,
the cops don’t mess with me out here
when it’s dark and wet on 71
so

pull up a chair
and come on in
I’ll hit the lights
as you count back from 10.
take off your clothes
and tell me your name
wake up with me sober
on New Year’s Day.

(c) 2007