Just Once in the World

Found the throughline

For all humankind

If given the time

They’ll blow up or walk on the moon

It’s just what they do

For personal gain

On Thanksgiving Day

I joined the parade

I stood at the top of the float

And threw out a rose

Watched a blast from the past

Indigenous dance

Started to laugh

And then I just started to cry

This world is waving goodbye

So cut a rug let’s throw a party

Birthday cards for everyone

Swallow hard and say you’re sorry

Just admit what you have done

I studied your work

Like architecture

Cathedral of words

The meaning’s not easy to tell

Comes back around on itself

Admirers, your biographer

The odometer

There’s no way to turn back the clock

It’s going to run until it stops

So excited to play

Turned up all the way

Electric, ecstatic, psychotic

Jumped into the drums

Was pandemonium

So if it’s time let’s go together

I will be your ballast now

Let’s sail into that stormy weather

No matter how it turns out

I just want to stand by your side

When everyone calls you a lie

I’ll be your shield

There’s still some truth worth defending

Let’s stroll to the edge of the cliff

Stop here and give me a kiss

Now we’re walking on air

There’s no hell beneath our feet

If it every occurred

Just once in the world

A love as absurd

As ours I would scream what we lost

From the mountaintop