Fragments From the Decade

Fragments from the decade are splayed out on your floor
Like hundreds of locked doors
There’s a story that you’re trying to find
But the pieces don’t fit together in your mind

Your mother was a drunkard
Your father was not a saint
Your sister lacked restraint
And in photos you were always staring through the lens
To some distant place you would rather have been
Days are lonely and long
Walking in place where you don’t belong
Here on paved native lands
Time disappears from the palms of your hands

Fragments from the decade are dancing in the fire
Like marionettes on wires
And if you stare too long they almost
Seem alive
Too beautiful and helpless to survive

Days are lonely and long
Walking in place where you don’t belong
Here on paved native lands
Time disappears from the palms of your hands