One More Ride

Some go to schools of fine learning and become bankers with furrowed brows. Others take their father's dreams and blend themselves in, making Shirley Temples upon Grandma's walls. Some just don't know where to go or what to do. They just are, and the world holds them at bay. For some reason, Freudian I suppose, there are lovers for them and it seems crazy can drive passion pretty well for a time. But time catches up with everyone and the world will have it's joke, not allowing itself to be made fun of. There are rules you know.

saloons and highways
riverside byways
the paths to no return
drinkin his fill
while racin to kill
those on bridges he's burned

a gamblin man who knew no luck
traded his life
for a rusty old truck
on bald tires and
dirty worn dreams

never was much for care
cept maybe jus for goin some where
now his life, or just the shreds
all the deeds and all his dreads
are falling apart at the seams

and he races his luck
which ain't never been good
and stares at the far
which never he could
and others stare back
and see, whatever they see

and he thinks to himself
for Christ's sakes
whatever happened to me!

so he thinks himself tough
and he thinks himself young
til he sees in the mirror
at what he's become
and now in his heart
he knows it's the last run

for the madman and all of his ways

she'll leave him alone
as the stories all tell
to pour and to curse
and make his own hell
as down the road he goes
in final dusty glory

he'll race and he'll roar
on highways once more
and tell of the fights
and all of the scores
but his laugh will somehow be off
and others will see

cuz he'll know that damn luck
wasn't what got him stuck
just a fool of a man
in a rusty ol truck
he just never could see

beyond what should be
looking back to twenty and free

~Rick