Mesa, Arizona

We passed 800 miles talking
Circles about living with loss
You said your sense of humor's
Always helped you get above & across
Every hurdle, every chasm,
Every shocking & unspeakable blow
Just proves the universe is chaos
So you laugh to clear the lump
From your throat

But if you're fixed on being bitter
Go be bitter on your own
We're still two hours from El Paso
Arizona's such a long way to go

The chemicals were coursing through
Our bloodstreams at incongruous rates
I was time-traveling inward through
A past life I can never erase
You were hanging out the window,
You said: We're just a beggar's banquet in space
You were laughing at the moon,
You were cursing it for wearing your face

Me & New Mexico are orphans
Or is it bastards? Either way:
I know a guy in Roswell
We'll hitch a moonride,
Steal you back your face

You sleep and whistle Blackbird backwards
While my eyes cut her name in clay.
You wake to Mesa, Arizona
Say, Let it go. She'll change her mind someday.
You took the wheel in Mesa, Arizona.
Said, I got the rest, man.
You can drift away.