The desert gas station
Blasted by sun with sand
Lifts the eye from out of the ground,
250 miles across Arizona,
The day has melted down,
Cooling the engine while legs are stretched
Looking out across the savannahs
Wondering how wide the sky is
Why we never have the clouds visit ...
Coasting towards the sierras
Blinded by the light
Seeking our horizons wanting a brief respite,
We are near the motel
Or are those lights another dream,
The next morning
The searchers’ arms wrapped
Themselves around the car
As I sped
Head
Long
Into another session of driving –
Though breathless we are diving
Through sunlight, dryness jiving
For the ache of travel
Is the ache of searching
Despite the spectacular surrounding
The greyness of not finding
Is the lead weight of expectation.
The desert high jinx swallowed me whole
The smiling spirit of the plateaus
Point a wary finger at shimmering hotel bars
My mind’s eye pierces this nonsense
As we cruise at 60 mph
As we search for the road covered in sand
As we dissect this moonscape land
As the spirit of desert puts out its huge hand
Feeling the forced of circumstance
Knowing the journey to be wise.
I’m able to ignore the reluctance,
Give out each day so much more.
We glide across Arizona
We sweep into the Texas range
For help is always around me,
Never once did I find this strange.
Listening to Chuck Berry
On the local radio
We swing across the highways
With no particular place to go?
We Jim Reeves into Huntsville.
We have come
Listening we’ve always done
To the sound of distant drums.
The electric man was asked to go
The gas man not allowed
We meet the medic
With the devil in his hand.
The smile of death was in his head
As he administered midazolam
Plus the last rites into those –
Who in their dread
In their prostrate stranglehold
Struggled no more,
The Lord’s work for sure
Yup the comfort of only doing what is right
With God on your side
You can drug the murderer outta sight.
With The Move drumming out its sound
I’m a California Man
We swing our journey to the Golden State
Lifting the murky carpet high
We have the electric date
Of – let’s see ‘em when they fry.
The love and peace of Frisco
Seems like a pathetic disco
Where the decks have exploded
The discs were made of ice
Sizzle ye your citizens
But not at all very nice
For although God is on your side
It’s the other side you have to abide
Listen not ye to duty’s fame
Watch out for damnation’s flame
As you – American kill off the lame
Electrocute gas hang shoot shoot up
Unrelenting God’s work
Revenge, bathing in blood
The downfall of empires
Sent from above.
You who have killed love
You who drink the blood
You who deny the spirit
Your rewards are centuries away,
You reap only what you sew
Watch out when you go
For you’re dealing in death
Won’t let you go.
Your duty to the State
Will diminish your own fate
You will return to this Earth
Stay here till you have learnt
The wisdom and love
Of the Universe
Not getting out of the plane
As we touch down again
In the middle of Arizona desert
For all I can see through the sweat
Are plateaus, sand and blazing skies
I’m bored by the red and blue
But I’m buoyed by the coming hue
That reflects the ancient eyes.
Oh Arizona!
Your Indian braves
Your men and women of fame
Have a pocketful of stars
Give us this day our daily blame
Forgive us our stupidity
As we forgive those
That are stupid towards us
And lead us not into execution
Deliver us from duty
For thine is the kingdom
The Power and the glory
Forever and ever
For all men.