Ocean Song

Paul eases into the driveway and kills the engine Sits for a spell, staring out the windshield Down the hood to the stalled garage door "Nothing ever works around here," he says to himself The ignition births the keys into his hand He opens the door, the world is suddenly different He senses something terrible awaiting A loose thread, a worsening In that moment he turns to the sky He notices that it's darker now than it used to be It's darker now at this hour, than it was last week Within or beyond himself A voice more primal, is urging him To go, run, to go, run To go, run, to go, run Go, run, go, run Go, run, go, run Across the loose brick, he prepares himself for the evening greeting But his inability to shake the warning sees him grinding his teeth Paul turns to the right, tracing the unkempt bushes aligning the house And the beds cracking beneath He reaches over to uncouple the latch And sweat forms on his brow and the back of his neck And years of servitude are at last present; He can feel them in his bones And Paul is overwhelmed with the urge to cry To crumple down to his knees and release But pride gives him a shove Nursing him across the muddied, neglected lawn He inhales through his nose "There is so much more to be done" Stopped in his tracks His youngest child, telling his father To go, to run, to go, to run To go, to run, to go, to run He explodes through the backyard like he's shot from a gun (Go, run, go, run) Clearing the fence in one leap Landing in a heap in the alley between the neighbouring houses (Go, run, go, run) Body broken by nothing, just falls Knocking over trash as he makes his way Sprinting like some wild animal A blur beneath the streetlamps Overhead, a terror-scream Everything he has is within him His shoes come up from off his feet The shadow haunts him for several yards The ghosts of what he was, desperate to keep up until gone Now the road, punching upwards into his soft, naked feet He is never-knowing, never again Forever flowing, no more waiting His muscles burn, deciding to run till he can run no more To find everything he can find To know, to see for himself If there is an ocean beyond the waves, beyond the waves To know, to see for himself If there is an ocean beyond the waves, an ocean To know, to see for himself If there is an ocean beyond the waves, beyond the waves To know, to see for himself If there is an ocean beyond the waves, beyond the waves To know, to see for himself If there is an ocean beyond the waves, beyond the waves