(click title to listen)
Well it’s kind of you to offer, sir, to spend your time with me
When it’s plain to see I’m all alone, and no one’s loving me,
But I’m gonna speak the truth, sir, so look straight into my eyes,
I don’t want no man to take me home and try me on for size.
I don’t want no man to save me; do you think that’s alright?
So I thank you for your offer, but I ain’t for sale tonight.
Cause I got to say I’m fine now just being all alone,
Just turning slowly like the sun, just being all alone.
All the reasons that I would want a man have flown far from my mind,
And it’s true I do get lonely, sir, and yet I’m doing fine.
And though I ain’t smiled in the longest time, somehow I’m alright.
So I thank you for your offer, but I ain’t for sale tonight.
Well I know love is this very important game that all the ladies should line up to play,
You just believe in the love some man gives you, until time just strips it away,
Until the winds begin their turning and he’s walking out the door,
and then you piece your heart together and just beg the world for more.
And though I ain’t been kissed in the longest time, somehow I’m alright,
So I thank you for your offer, but I ain’t for sale tonight.
Now us ladies can dream that someday a man he’ll just want you all to himself,
And he’ll promise to love you forever, if you ain’t loving no one else.
And you can chain your hearts together, and get all dressed up in white,
And swear before an altar that you belong to him for life.
Well my heart don’t belong to nobody sir, and maybe that’s alright.
So I thank you for your offer, but I ain’t for sale tonight.
Well you tell me a lady has physical needs that it’s hazardous to deny,
Without the balmy touch of a man, I’m just getting hard and dry.
I just got to be covered in whipped cream and licked from head to toe;
I need to sweat and scream and shake, and be taken down on the floor.
Well I ain’t made love in twenty years and mostly I’m alright.
So I thank you for your offer, but I ain’t for sale tonight.
I’m glued to my chair like a leaf on a tree
My eyes have fallen to the ground
My shoulders rolled forward like the wings of a bird
My mouth has fallen into a frown.
My ears are all but closed up
closed to the words you say.
I wish someone could change my mind
but then I ain’t in a wishing mood today.
I see that look in your eyes babe.
And I think I know what you’re thinking of.
But I ain’t in the mood for making love,
I ain’t in the mood for making love.
You say you like the way that I sing
and you say you like my shoes.
You ask me why I ain’t smiling today
and why good times are something I refuse.
Your feelings are shining like an overcoat
will you throw them aside when we reach the door?
Your words are walking with confidence
I think they’re walking a road that’s been walked before.
Could you change the way that I feel?
Chase away them black clouds I’m thinkin of?
I ain’t in the mood for making love.
I ain’t in the mood for making love.
I wasn’t built for one night, some tiny delight
I ain’t fuel for some small and flickering thing
I suck my senses way back into my mind
until your words have blurred into a ring.
I got one lonely drop of life
did you come to take that away?
Are you a cowboy a knight here to find you a wife
until she’s purple from the rope of your ignorance and pain?
If its a worm on a hook that you’re offering me
well, a hook well it ain’t what I’m dreaming of.
My mouth is watering, my stomach is howlin’
but I ain’t in the mood for making love.
I ain’t in the mood for making love.
Don’t waste your time, just move on down the line
I’ve got nothing to give and nothing to trade.
You could suck me dry it might get you high,
but then you’d just go back to feeling the same way.
I got one lonely drop of blood
and it looks like you need a river of love.
I ain’t the one to tide you over babe,
I ain’t in the mood for making love.
I ain’t in the mood for making love.
In my hand I hold your stone
Dark glitter, black glass
I know I am alone.
Close my eyes I see your face
Surrounded by the black of space and the stars
They are friends to me now.
Alone- but not crying now
Alone- darkness glows somehow
Will God punish me? I don’t know
But in me something grows
Alone.
Close my eyes; I see the outline of your hand.
Cross my arms; the dark face of another man.
The dagger lying on the dirt, sleeping baby undisturbed
And the roots- they are friends to me now.
Alone- I see colors now
Alone- darkness knows me somehow
Will he find me here? I don’t know
But I know I will crawl to the throne
Alone.
In the night, something moves the air
On my skin, I feel his darkness everywhere
Tall trees bow and bend; I can not pretend
Power you have always been my friend.
Alone- no more crying now
Alone- darkness shows me how
Will God find me here? I don’t know
But I know I will reach for the bone
Alone.
I can feel your hands reach into me,
the breath and scent of your queer geography,
the wild tribes who are guarding your door,
the secret sands that have slept on the floor of your sea.
You – would you ever think of me?
Think of me and the shape of my body,
the stone walls that I kicked down to be with you,
the wild mountains for which I was named.
Your poison I drink, like a tonic it strengthens me,
the strange fire of your breath on my body,
America, would you please consider me?
And the southern birds will sing again with me,
and the blood that fell will rise again in me,
and if I have comrades at all we will meet on the shore
of the cities and towns that have fallen to the floor of the sea.
And the ancient hands with fall again onto me.
Year by year, on his way to the southern sea,
through the river’s bend and the curl of the willow tree,
the village, the children, the dogs even stare at him,
their eyes are like thorns how they rip and tear into him.
His blood spills like a pearl and like a seed.
Oh fisherman, you can lay your hands on me.
Call to me and the shape of my body,
the stone walls that I kicked down to be with you,
the wild mountains for which I was named.
Your poison I drink, like a tonic it strengthens me,
the strange fire of your breath on my body,
Oh fisherman, would you please consider me?
And America will fall like a man onto me,
America will fall like a man onto me.
In the woods they eat their cake
I dare not move now, move now; I sit in wait
I draw my knees up to my chest
Because I know the foods that they like best.
In the woods, they sip their tea
Their eyes dart back and forth so casually
They make their jokes at my expense
They know I’m somewhere somewhere, behind the fence.
IIIII
The night has come. The trees are black.
Do I feel fingers, fingers upon my back?
I need to run- but where to go?
Animals are the only world that I know.
IIIII
They’ll never leave; they’ll never lie
Their yellow teeth, by design
I need to run, but where to go?
Animals are the only world that I know.
IIII
They play their games upon their boards
They toss their heads, they’re growing bored.
Their weight is shifting upon their seats
I know that I should run but I also need to eat.
IIII
They’ll never leave; they’ll never lie
Their yellow teeth, by design
I need to run, but where to go?
Animals are the only world that I know.
Stars that watch me from above
Stars that watch from within dreams
Everything I knew of love
Turned much darker than it seemed.
Oh God those stars around my head I let him
Lead me to a bed just like a golden flame, golden flame.
Fumble with my hands, I need something to help me
Stand so I can hold myself to the blade.
I never wanted to be anything like free
I only wanted something kind
But when you took me by the wrist that is the time I changed my mind.
Things that happen in the dark
In the alley down below
Where you’re not supposed to be
Where the good men never go .
But I must find the kitchen sink I need to have another
Drink this is no time to cry, time to cry.
Angels in the air we’ll gather for another
Prayer and then we’ll say goodbye, say goodbye.
I never wanted to be anything like free
I only wanted something kind
But when you took me by the wrist that is the time I changed my mind.
I read the book line by line
Men like women but not all the time
Because women travel in the dark
Women have no friends at all
We just take our greasy hands
Lay them right against the wall.
I saw a man upon the hill he tapped his hat to me
I smiled and that was my mistake, my mistake.
Angels can you stay I’ll need someone to
Pray upon my bones when they break, when they break.
I never wanted to be anything like free
I only wanted something kind
But when you took me by the wrist that is the time I changed my mind.
I only ever wanted someone who could feel me
Someone I could follow from behind
But when you took me by the wrist that is the time I changed my mind.
Making Love on the rocks and the sand
Touching the bones that were tied to your hand
Cooking for you on a stone
And the flag of our clan it was tied to our home
But it’s all over now.
And it was probably just a dream anyhow.
Visiting you where you live
Beaming with pride at your wife and your kids
And the sky is a memory now
And we don’t talk about savage things anyhow
Cause they’re all over now.
They were only a dream.
Button your buttons with pride.
I’m going back to the trees where we’d hide.
Back to the woods of our kin
Unearth the fire and I’ll start it again
Was it only a dream?
Was it only a dream?
You’re a great Englishman now
Propping your words up with curtsies and bows.
By Apple Creek do I lie
Making the sign of our clan to the sky
Was it only a dream?
Was it only a dream?
Sliding the bone through my ear
In Apple Creek my reflection is clear
Tying my hair up again
Putting the ribbons and feathers back in
Was it only a dream?
Were you only a dream?
Daddy I want you to know
You’re going someplace that I’ll never go
Daddy I want you to call
Whatever you’ve done I will not feel ashamed of you at all.
It was only a dream.
Thatching our roof up again
Singing our songs to the ear of the wind
You be a man of the world
I’ll paint the sign of our clan on the door
Was it only a dream?
Was it only my dream?
I’ll send you love songs that fly on the wind
I’ll weave your hair through my ribbon again
I’ll walk inside of your footprints once more
I’ll tell the Earth she can carry you back to my door
If it is what she dreams
Hold my head in my hands and I struggle to think
I cannot understand, I can never be sure
Though I struggle to stand, still I have one more drink
Then I follow the hand that will open the door
And he will be there for sure.
In the blue of your room where you fall over me
I begin to forget when you hover above
Till our minds overlap, like a bubble I break
Spilling into your hand, dripping down on the rug
And we will live for love.
Change me. Change me.
You could teach me the things that you know
You could give me the money that you’ve made
Lay your hands on my fingers let me know
All the things that you want for me to say.
As long as you will stay
I tried so hard to pray, but they didn’t respond
They just fluttered away, so I reached for a pill
Till the waves came to crash, cold and aquamarine
I swore I would obey, I would follow your will
As long as you love me still.
Change me. Change me.
You will teach me the things that you know
You will give me the money that you’ve made
I don’t know where the things with wings they go
Why the sound of a scream they flow away…
And so I will stay.
I remained in the bath till you pulled me beneath
Till you pulled at my hair but I didn’t resist
I could feel you around blending into the air
Looking aquamarine and I gave you my wrist
And we will live for this.
Change me. Change me.
I remained in the bath till you pulled me beneath
Till you pulled at my hair but I didn’t resist
I could feel you around, blending into the air
Looking aquamarine and I gave you my wrist.
I could see in your mind, it was just like a dream
All the things that were gone and those that stayed
But I stayed there to long and I struggled breath
But we always knew there’d be a price to pay.
The Arrival of the Robed Spirits (for the Pine Fairy)
The ace was overturned;
The sticks had all been thrown.
He couldn’t think of a thing that he had learned
Just from being alone.
The meat had all been eaten;
Nothing but oats remained.
So many things that life had taken away,
So few things had been gained.
Although he could not see them,
They had gathered behind the gate.
There was nothing to do now but wait.
No messages by foot;
No signals sent from birds.
The bubbles in the creek made noise
But he couldn’t make out the words.
One of his friends had lied to him and
The other friend was dead.
He didn’t feel like riding into the town
With a price upon his head.
Although he could not feel them,
They had gathered behind the gate.
There was nothing to do now but wait.
He opened books from time to time but
The words looked like a blur.
He leaned over to pet his dog and to smell
The earthy scent of fur.
Why cry? He was a man
And a man he intended to be!
But sometimes the hopelessness swept over him like a wave
And water in his eyes made it hard to see.
But, although he did not know them,
They had gathered behind the gate.
There was nothing to do now but wait.
When at last the autumn came, he was wishing that the summer would still remain
the leaves were crackle and crisp, flaming, exhilarating but still the same
he didn’t feel quite ready yet, he didn’t feel quite ready for the sound,
the earthly crinkle that would snap and crunch each time he laid a footprint down.
What beat to make, he wondered, what sort of rhythm should I impose
once all the leaves are gone too many clear cut lines will be exposed,
where will I lay the silence, where the tinny tap and leaden thud,
is this a dream or must I actually know bad from good?
* Leaves fall, animals grow thick hair
apples sway on the trees
you, sir, will spend the fall on your knees.
Pumpkins, squash, persimmon and cranberries,
autumns sword can be kind,
kneel down, fly away in your mind *
All his life it seemed, green leaves had swirled around him like a smoke
languid fruits that dangled there for him to eat if he felt so disposed,
leaves that dappled light swelling in an air as thick as butter
made it seem alright somehow to say one thing and do another.
Time was blob then, it never held him at gunpoint and made him choose,
he could make various gains, never needing to select a battle to lose,
and any loose ends could be scattered round the forest here and there
making him less that eager to discover the things autumn would lay bare.
**
People said he was handsome, but he wasn’t really sure how they could tell
green leaves controlled the light they twisted it just like a magic spell
he’d been in love so many times, so many people took his breath away
causing him to become intimately involved, still he dreaded to see them when the autumn came.
How could laugh it off then, when his soon his eyes would see so very far
things long forgotten coming starkly into view from his own yard,
he hadn’t really meant to lie, it was just the dappled world he was a part of
is it justice to try summer’s child inside the court of autumn?