Jim Carroll

Desert Town

Jim Carroll


I hitched a ride to a desert town
(I never planned this trip)
I saw my past in the sun like a tongue
(that slowly dripped)
People faced me with Lazarus eyes
They were red and dazed like fat horse flies
I was lost in twelve directions 
I was searching for my own reflection

In a desert town I found 
a future old and broke like Roman ruins
I been turned around it's true
The postage past is due
This heat is twisted like a knife

I got the picture but I lost the frame
(Where did it begin)
Thought I was holy but that's not the case
I'm just too tired to sin
Sun glistening like a frightened fist
This latitude doesn't exist

In a desert town I found
Nothing is going to be the way it should
What I thought I lost I could get back
Take the blade and hack my way back to another day

Instant that, instant this, instant that, instant this . . .

In a desert town I found 
a future old and broke like Roman ruins
I been turned around it's true
The postage past is due
This heat is twisting like a knife

In a desert town the sound
Whispers like like the women at the well
In this dry high wind I bend 
like a cactus in the sand 
I'm waiting, waiting for your hand