Ghost Town

My heart is abandoned in a ghost town where lost dreamers meet
Neglected shutters rattle in the wind at the end of an empty street
Dust blows where nothing grows. Sadness howls within.
Crumbling remains stare from the hollow eyes of dirty windows

Where the fire played in the heat of day and burning desire lived
Now the desert night has descended with cold and loneliness
A flying scrap of paper tumbles; end over ragged end
A page torn from a life that is over; now tossed by the wayward wind

And in the vast dark emptiness I hear the echo of a human voice
But it is only a shadow and shade; this echo; a phantom of a noise
Speaking the syllables of a name that now rest carved in stone
Above the grave of a soulless man in this ghost town so alone

Beneath the name on the marble marker reads this epitaph
“With no tears left to cry in vain love has refused to laugh”
And when the laughter of life had died so did the poet’s heart
And the whiskey boomtown with its music dwindled to a spark

Soon the spark extinguished from the hearth and grate
Knew only cold instead of warmth where love came much too late
Seeking the remains of a bustling home; full of life and cheer
But no one came to answer the door at the vacant house so drear

My heart is an empty building of unswept floors and dust
Like rotting barns of ancient farms where dreams grew tall and lush
Beneath the wilderness skies once blue; beneath the dying sun
Dark shadows play at the end of day and now the night has come

The Water

Where the bright bow meets the sky
And rivers meet the sea
Where raindrops dance in puddles
Is where my voice will be

Where ocean waves are rolling
And my falling roars
From the cliffs and canyons
Onto the sandy shores

Where the lightning rips the cloud
And tears the sky asunder
Clothed in dark and misty shroud
Amidst exploding thunder

Where the dew has settled
On green fields of grass
And shimmering flower petals
To wash the feet that pass

In the lake reflecting bright
The winter’s golden sun
Or last red rays of dying light
When summer’s day is done

In the quenching of a thirst
Or tears that cleanse the eyes
Mixed with blood in every birth
To life and faith baptized

In the blood and spirit
I ever must remain
And ever be there near it
In all your joy and pain

Where the pitcher has its lip
And bottle has its spout
There my liquid life shall drip
Until my life runs out

Then, in burning desert sand
The living things must dry
They are given by my hand
But to dust they turn and die