Ariel Zevon

Here on the road less traveled  

Seeking refuge in the clouds 

Here on the road less traveled  

Far from voices of the crowd 

Here on the road less traveled  

Solace of trees do resound

Here on this road I landed

…

Maybe it's too broken
Been cracked too many times
Fallen and bruised too blue

Still trying to fill it up
But it all seeps out too quick
Nothing holds inside

No light, no air
No love, no hate
Everything just…

Is it fear or is it dread,
That stirs up in my head,
That turns my gut into led,
That makes me want to run instead?

Is it free falling I fear?
Fallacious vows I hear?
Whispered wishes in my…

I made a promise to myself...
and then I broke it.
A promise to someone else,
I make sure to keep it.

I will forgo my plans
To assuage others.
Bend over backwards
To satisfy their plans.

If I believe…

     Sun or shine
     Nevermind
there's
     Work at hand
     They demand
you
     Feed them hay
     Slop some whey
just
     Keep moving
for
     It's in Doing
that
     Life is found
then
     Comes around.

Somedays, there's not much to say.
     Words have no meaning, 
          Fail to translate
            the quagmire of ruminations
            that slither themselves into knots
            like contortionist Cnidaria.

Somedays, thoughts are too scattered.
     Ideas have no weight,
          Float in a pit
            so infinitely…

Did Femida go missing
The day Bill killed the Buffalo?
Alas, it was long before then.

Femida had disappeared,
     in 1842,
When Elphinstone's men
     died at Gandamak.

Femida wasn't there,
     in 1838,
To stop Colonel Snodgrass
     at Waterloo Creek.

Femida…

"I'm not political,"
     he says,
While stripes and stars
Adorn his back,
And war cries bark
Across his chest.

"I'm not a bigot,"
     he swears.
"But don't jew me,"
He jokes and winks.
"Why should I care,
How others live."

…

Let me spare you from your demise,
Too short sighted to recognize.
It’s nothing to me, got nothing to lose;
But your pitfall will make us both fools.

Your tactics are less than unique.
Confiding your woes makes you look…

There's a lot of things
I never thought I'd do...

There's a hundred things
I never knew I'd be...

There's a thousand things
I never said to you...

There's a million things
I cast away into the sea...

But in…

Every morning, I get up,
Sip salvation from my cup.
Thanks, I'll skip the daily bread,
Fill my head with news instead.
Then it's tend to this and tend to that.
Breathe and act normal, feed the cat.
Then back…

Come one, come all,
      Welcome to the Promised Land!

Nevermind the truth, it's only an illusion.
To reveal the hoax will only cause confusion.
Our denial is our national persuasion.
The wool on our eyes is too thick for revision.

…