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Descartes Highlands

by Paul Thomas Saunders

/
1.
Leave the house, Your lover, And children. Take the car, Drive it down to the ocean, Cut your cards, Burn the letters you were given, In every word they swore true love was hidden. Tear apart your black suit, Cut your hair to its roots, Smoke your last cigarette, One last comforting breath. Then you howl down that road, Where all your brothers and your sisters wouldn’t go, Dream of girls that made you feel fifteen, With the palest skin, And her mother’s sympathy. But that trail remains unseen. Take the urn, Spread its ash on the garden, Every leaf will carry her love in summer. Turn the dial, Let the long wave flutter, Fighting static and song beneath the ether. Under a clear crescent moon, You hum along out of tune, Every doubt is erased, Spills out the car and into space, As you howl down that road, Where all your brothers and your sisters wouldn’t go, As the fields turn to coast, Let the water scare away all of your ghosts, Of the girls you held at seventeen, They had skinny waists and teenage liberty. All these things that you have seen. Every star, Every stone, Every soul you’ll never know, Spiralled out that great spark, To let us know that once we weren’t so far apart. From the girls that made you feel sixteen, How your brothers t-­‐shirts hung above her knees. All these things that you have seen.
2.
So you danced in the corner. Shaking limbs under red hair. Storyboards every evening. They’re in yours, You’re in theirs. And she saw, Black eyes while sleeping. Lord, she saw, Jesus in clouds. All around, Forrest fires were creeping. While strangers left her house. So you feared debutants. With black nails, In a white dress. Clicked their heels, Kissed the boys Until their rosaries burned their necks. And she saw, Childhood friends whispering. Lord she saw, Old flames in sheets. All around, Prying eyes were glistening. While strangers left her house. You were the light. And you’d shine.
3.
Joanna, As I lie in your arms tonight, Let the carousel display you and I, As you close your eyes tonight. Let kaleidoscopic shapes that combine, Be your lullaby tonight. We’ll cry. Cry. But your eyes are dry tonight. Joanna, You can light up the road at night, But you leave me in darkest places sometimes. Won’t you stay awake tonight? We’ll cry, Cry. But your eyes are dry tonight. We’d dance. We’d dance. When we were high. When we were high.
4.
I fell into Santa Muerte’s eyes, Cadillac lips that shine but don’t smile, She said, “Listen love, I don’t ever cry, I can sleep at night, No regrets keep my eyes wide. You just looked lonely tonight.” It was a well-­‐rehearsed line, Told one hundred times. Put her hand on mine, And the world just turned under our feet. Lord, I’ve never felt so old. You were Lightning, Lightning and Flare. In a photograph, You wore L.A. shades, Under shelter hiding from the Northern rain. On the barest wall you hung there, unafraid. Oh those glory days, See how you’ve changed. As you clean the paint from your tired eyes, Love, in each line’s a tale. You were Lightning, Lightning and Flare

credits

released April 16, 2012

A home recording performed & produced by Paul Thomas Saunders. Co-produced and mixed by Max Prior.

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My new album ‘Figure in a Landscape’ is out now.

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