Prairie dust in my lungs

Another unmarked highway straight as the skyline

Black hills like ink I spilled writing this all down

In my mind another mountain range now resides

I lost sight of the woods

Another memory venerated in the sun that beats down on my back

Borne against the wind

I am the dust of earth and I exhale the man I wish I’d been

And the distance between where I am and want to be

Seems to lengthen every time I think that I’ve finally arrived

Recurrent white lines stitch the road together for miles on end

As if in an attempt to achieve some level of unity despite its opposing directions

Some compromise

But we adhere religiously to our respective sides

And bound by the laws of this world we pass each other by

So close yet so far

We exist in perpetual parallels

Well maybe I’m looking for a head on collision

Because right now my destination eludes direction

And every hitchhiker begs my attention with a cardboard sign

They’re ever so compelling

Take us here, take us anywhere

We’ve been on the highway so long even the recollection of solidarity is gone

But I keep pressing on and pressing on and pressing on

I’ve got to find my mountains and beyond that the sea

But no boat waits for me in which to traverse ardently across the ocean

And fall off the edge of the map of my dissatisfaction

These hands will build anything they set their mind to

And the woods will provide all I need for a vessel

To escape the journey and grasp finality

Finally I can see the forest for the trees and you’d think that I’d be pleased

But no matter how much timber I fell

I can’t carry but one trunk down the mountainside alone

And it’s just as well I didn’t pick up any hitchhikers on the highway

Because then I might actually have to share the load

And by the way I’ve never been that great at trusting people

But I’m breaking that today

So brother, sister if you’re within earshot

Put aside your indifference and I’ll spit my guts

You see I’ve come to believe that we need each other now more than ever

We need vulnerability in the face of dissemination

We need a resurrection in the lost art of conversation

And if we’re speaking candidly then this is for the record

We are a children of privilege squandering our blessing

Honestly we’ve all been through the wars

This is for those brave enough to share their story

For those trying to let go or hold fast in the storm

And the rest of us caught in the tension

This is for the sorrow I can’t stitch back together

And this is for the kind of pain that lasts forever

This is for the reasons I cannot reconcile

And this is for redemption the night I lost my child

There’s an Anchor inside my heart

It holds true every beat is for you son

And at the bottom of the sea neath every high and lofty gail

I know you’re waiting for me

On every dusty road from desert to shoreline

Hope keeps me grounded though I’m not quite sure why

In my frailty I fulfil my design

Complete dependency on a fathers love for his child

We were all lost and broken

Till we found your loving arms