stones and sticks

running on empty

when i thought i had my fill

assumed i could find my place

but it's always over the next hill.

just a soft kiss out of reach

yet never feeling close

when i thought i really knew myself,

just came face to face with a ghost:

he swirled his magic eyes

meant to hypnotize,

and a voice tempting all who heard

the honey-throated lies.

what I didn't realize

in the heat of the night,

feeling cold and alone,

mostly lost and rarely found

like a dog without his bone,

life's full of spells and mysteries,

slight of hands and tempting dreams;

plot twists and conclusions,

whispers and animal screams.

out on the dusty trail

or fishing through the waves,

it's never what a man loses sight of,

but what he saves.

so no reason to abandon what i see:

one plus one is never three

there's more than you and me.

let the figments fade away,

never to return some other day.

under the sun but in command,

helping someone take a stand,

needles and pins and stones and sticks,

no reason to be up to our old tricks.

hey, magic man with no remorse,

watch me stay my course.