Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore

Ring them bells, Peter ring them bells
Wonder where’s my mother been?
Floatin’ above that world of sin?
Wearing that cardboard sign again?

Ring them bells, Peter ring them bells
Wonder who’ll my children be?
Strangers like their mom and me?
Cork spots on the apple tree?

Some go chasing motorcars
Some rush inward as they are
Cat tracks on the reservoir

Orange in the grass, roll away
Mother McKenzie in the nightshade

Joshua resurrected Hemingway
Penny, leaded glass – get away
Heron of the past with a baked clay
Truth swans! Kaleidoscopic highway

Michael, won’t you row that boat ashore?
Your little brother can’t paddle anymore
Another dark star bottled in a bell jar
They say the river runs deep, but it’s not wide
You wanna guess who’s sleeping on the other side?

Harry’s still alive, just fine
No cancer, now just a little throat line
(Wonder where’ve my friendships gone?)
Craft mines! Our needle of the white pine

St. James Sabbath of the 8th day
Still part Rabbit like his uncle A?
(Lies that I was depending on?)

Andavanay, Andavanay
Sammy with his daddy in the foxhole
Voice of a jaguar and a heart of gold
(Boastin’ talk gonna sink my soul)

Michael, row that boat ashore!
(Brother, lend a helping hand)
And if either of our wives need a little time
(But you, poor children, how you gonna land?)

You and I’ll take the kids to the county line
I bet you Sarah knows the place I don’t have in mind
What voices you been hearin’
As waters rise and darkness comin’ in?

Andavanay
Have you heard from heaven today?
Tell me then, what’d Gabriel say?
Am I still on that narrow way?