This Old House ...

This Old House ... This old house has fared me well Halfway to paradise, halfway from hell I got radishes in the garden But I don't eat them anymore I prefer a sweet peach or honeymelon Or something fresh from Steadman's store I got a piano on the porch That still rattles out rock 'n' roll I got a woman in the cellar Screaming, "Sweet Jesus, save my soul!" This old house has fared me well Halfway to paradise, halfway from hell I got a well out back But the water has a peculiar stink All I can offer is Old Pete's moonshine If you're inclined to want a drink I got a piano on the porch Plays real good 'cept it's missing middle C I got a woman in the cellar Screaming, "Sweet Jesus, hear my plea!" This old house has fared me well Halfway to paradise, halfway from hell Some days people comes to visit Some days no one comes at all Folks are like boats adrift on the prairie sea And seems like this place ain't no one's port of call I got a piano on the porch Full o' downbeat blues for the malcontent I got a woman in the cellar Screaming, "Sweet Jesus, I repent!" This old house has fared me well Halfway to paradise, halfway from hell Seems I lived here more than a hundred years Good times, bad times and some hard to know Last summer the wife run off with the Fuller Brush man Only got her back for good about two weeks ago I got a piano on the porch Plays a pretty mean ragtime even in a minor key I got a woman in the cellar Screaming, "Sweet Jesus, set me free!" Copyright © Kennedy James, 2011. All rights reserved.

if ...

if ... if i ask you for the final ounce of your love pour it in a glass and as you hand it to me let it spill upon the floor and remind me how i once told you that love has no limit and is for evermore if i cry out in the darkness and ask you to find a priest to hear my last confession ignore the weakness of my anguish and the selfishness of my pain and remind me how i once believed that life continues joyfully like the laughter of ephemeral children dancing in the rain if i plead for some last mercy and woo you in my softest voice to pull the tubes and wires from my decaying body or i coax you to ignite a bullet from its cruel and patient barrel remind me of how my will once stood bravely between you and every peril if i sleep long past the sunrise and push your waking kisses from the fever of my brow or from the hollow of my cheek do not be rebuked by such a weak and trembling shove and remind me how the strength of faith in one another is the doorway that opens to the promise of love if my tears catch fire in the candlelight and melt the sinews of your determination let the wind blow in from the window until every flickering flame falters and goes cold and when every shadow begins to unravel remind me that you are waiting and that death is only certain for those without a destination and without a lifetime still to travel Copyright © Kennedy James, 2012. All rights reserved.