10,000 Maniacs

[Nenad__]

"Death Of Manolete"

There were women holding rosaries
On the day manolete died
Teenage girls in soft white dresses
Standing silent peace respecting
Groups of boys held in their hands
The fragments of a shattered idol
The old men with their traditions challenged
Refrained from tears

Neck neck hook
Poles of wood
The picadores stood eyes ablaze
To view brutal contest
In the vale of years

Courage unfailing
Agility exhausted
Youth entered challenge
Reached for title shelved

Patrons in attendance
To disarm a common myth
Homage played to the victor of immortality
Cloaked in bold tones

In the stockyard the beasts
Did climb their barriers
Bid by a frenzied ring

Bred for one purpose only
To die in man's sport
Dash against his spindle

An instant fell to wounding
On the day
Swords penetrating
On the day
Torches igniting
On the day
Flower wreaths encircling
The day
On the day

 

[Nenad__]

"Don't Talk"

Don't talk, I will listen.
Don't talk, you keep your distance
for I'd rather hear some truth tonight than entertain your lies,
so take you poison silently.
Let me be. Let me close my eyes.

Don't talk, I'll believe it.
Don't talk, listen to me instead,
I know that if you think of it, both long enough and hard
the drink you drown your troubles in is the trouble you're in now.

Talk talk talk about it, if you talk as if you care
but when your talk is over tilt that bottle in the air,
tossing back more than your share.

Don't talk, I can guess it.
Don't talk, well now your restless
and you need somewhere to put the blame for how you feel inside.
You'll look for a close and easy mark and you'll see me as fair game.

Talk talk talk about it, talk as if you care
but when your talk is over tilt that bottle in the air
tossing back more than your share.
You talk talk talk about it, you talk as if you care.
I'm marking every word and can tell this time for sure,
your talk is the finest I have heard.

So don't talk, let me go on dreaming.
How your eyes they glow so fiercely I can tell your inspired
by the name you chose for me. Now what was it? O, never mind it.
We will talk talk talk about this when your head is clear.
I'll discuss this in the morning, but until then you may talk but I won't hear.

 

[Nenad__]

"Dust Bowl"

I should know to leave them home.
They follow me through the store with these toys I can't afford.
"Kids, take them back, you know better than that."
Dolls that talk, astronauts, T.V. games, airplanes, they don't understand and how can I explain?
I try and try but I can't save.
Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away.
I've tried and tried but I can't save.

My youngest girl has bad fever, sure.
All night with alcohol to cool and rub her down.
Ruby, I'm tired, try and get some sleep.
I'm adding doctor's fees to remedies with the cost of three day's work lost.
I try and try but I can't save.
Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away.
I've tried and tried but I can't save.
The hole in my pocketbook is growing.

There's a new wind blowing they say, it's gonna be a cold, cold one.
So brace yourselves my darlings, it won't bring anything much our way but more dust bowl days.

I played a card in this weeks game.
Took the first and the last letters in three of their names.
This lottery's been building up for weeks.
I could be lucky me with the five million prize, tears of disbelief spilling out of my eyes.
I try and try but I can't save.
Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away.
I've tried and tried but I can't save.
The hole in my pocketbook is growing.

There's a new wind blowing they say, it's gonna be a cold, cold one.
So brace yourselves my darlings, it won't bring anything much our way but more dust bowl days.

 

[Nenad__]

"Eat For Two"

O, Baby blankets and baby shoes, baby slippers, baby spoons, walls of baby blue.
Dream child in my head is a nightmare born in a borrowed bed.
Now I know lightning strikes again.
It struck me once, then struck me dead.
My folly grows inside of me.
I eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now.

Well, the egg man fell down off his shelf.
All the good king's men with all their help struggled 'til the end for a shell they couldn't mend.
You know where this will lead, to hush and rock in the nursery for the kicking one inside of me.
I eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now.

When the boy was a boy, the girl was a girl, they found each other in a wicked world.
Strong in some respects, but she couldn't stand for the way he begged and gave in.
Pride is for men; young girls should run and hide instead.
Risk the game by taking dares with "yes".
Eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now.

Walk for two? I'm stumbling.
Breathe for two? I can't breathe.
Five months , how it grows.
Five months now, I begin to show.

 

[Nenad__]

"Eden"

We are the roses in the garden, beauty with thorns among our leaves.
To pick a rose you ask your hands to bleed.
What is the reason for having roses when your blood is shed carelessly?
It must be for something more than vanity.

Believe me, the truth is we're not honest, not the people that we dream.
We're not as close as we could be.
Willing to grow but rains are shallow.
Barren and wind-scattered seed on stone and dry land, we will be.
Waiting for the light arisen to flood inside the prison.
And in that time kind words alone will teach us, no bitterness will reach us.
Reason will be guided in another way.

All in time, but the clock is another demon that devours our time in Eden, in our Paradise.
Will our eyes see well beneath us, flowers all divine?
Is there still time?
If we wake to discover in life a precious love, will that waking become more heavenly?

 

[Nenad__]

"Ellen"

Eager to please was just the way
that he was though his attempts there falling short,
expectation see he would tell of all his conquests, was he bragging?
but in the evening all alone Ellen unplanned delays saving for someone
who really cared about you invincible
they say married to your name she was the kind between a child and a lady,
quick was her temper like a blaze from an ember no one had measured
to her standard, so in the evening all alone all alone how do I tell them
to open their minds and to take a chance maybe on finding
life's treasure stubborn they stay set in their ways really not wanting
to be lonely not alone

 

[Nenad__]

"Even With My Eyes Closed"

Funny how I know it's harder, it's harder now.
Young girl in my young girl days, thinking I could live for always.
But like an ocean tide, I'm drawn back inside and I know.
Seasons pass like sand inside a glass and nothing, nothing returns.
Standing with the friends I've made, I'll race them to the grave.
Well who won, won the extra days?
When you take away the years toll on the waters wide, shallow high and low.
In the autumn sky, happy to know I'm going home.
Even with my eyes closed, funny how I know it's finally, has it finally begun?

 

[Nenad__]

"Everyday Is Like Sunday"

Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is a seaside town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon - come armageddon come armageddon come
Everyday is like Sunday
Everyday is silent and grey
Hide on a promenade
Etch on a post card:
How I dearly wish I was not here
In the coastal town
That they forgot to bomb
Come, come nuclear bomb!
Everyday is like Sunday
Everyday is silent and grey
Trudging back over pebbles and sand
And a strange dust lands on your hands
(And on your face)
Everyday is like Sunday
"Win yourself a cheap tray"
Share some grease tea with me
Everyday is silent and grey

 

[Nenad__]

"Everyone A Puzzle Lover"

Why are some men born
With minds that earn degrees
The loving cups
Gilded plaques
Grace their study walls
Hide the cracks
While their genius is turned
To works of tyranny then
Off to market to market
Go selling these

With words so fiery and persuasive
They steal cunningly
Riches no one can exceed

And why are some men born
With a fate of poverty
One firm bed
For a swollen back
Year by year
The bodies wracked while
Their obedience is had
With gradual defeat
By the pace by the pace
And the urgency

Through a muddled thought
They phrase it
God knows we're deceived
Barter for
What they need

And where they go
Disdain and jeering
For fools to call
The noble peasantry

O how it puzzles me

I pressed flat the accordion pleats
That had gathered in his cotton sleeves
While he thumbed
Yes thumbed I wouldn't say caressed

The final piece
A mountain's crest
Soon to reply assuredly

O for man aged ninety years
No words to waste on sermons
He'd be pleased to answer
Short and sincere

Girl there's a nonsense
In all these heaven measures
It's a heathen creed
So your grandma says
But better to live by...
Drink it all in before it's dry

He ended there with a rattle
Cough cough
I took away the long gone cold coffee cup
As a trail of Camel ashes fell
On the floor

 

[Nenad__]

"Few And Far Between"

Times are far between, and few I bet, when we can look upon our lives without regret.
Of all the things I have done, you think I'm proud of everyone without exception?

'Till you make your peace with yesterday, you'll never build a future.
I swear by what I say.
Whatever penance you do, decide what it's worth to you and then respect it.
However long it will take to weather your mistakes, why not accept it?

My hands, for now, are tied.
I'm a body frozen.
I'm a will that's paralyzed.
When will you ever set aside your pain and misery?
No matter how I beg, no matter how I wish or plead, you'll never be more than alive.
You'll never do more than survive until you expect it.
Do you want to build a world with our lives?
You better soon decide or you can forget it.

My hands, for now, are tied.
I'm a body frozen.
I'm a will that's paralyzed.
'Till you drop that heavy baggage you're dragging behind, there won't be room for us to both go this ride.