I saw the two chevy minuet in the alley
I heard Maggie call Hello to a toilet flushing
And Angie say she guesses I`m not home
Sammy laughed Maybe Grandpa`s
napping in his chair
Eyes half open and head thrown back
His teeth slip to tempt his chin`
I was a shivering bombadier
when I married Maggie
Angie was eight months old
when I first said Hello
She was thirteen when I lost her
when She`d grown too big
to dance on her daddy`s toes
And I was but what 23 in Memphis
22 through Dresden and Essen
My think weak tin canteen`s
bent seam`s slow dribble wet
My hip with each step
I learned my airport and train station
lessons in
The heavy heave and whistle
of my breath
And now here I am in my own uptown closet
Alone with my cauliflower nose
But on an overnight train home
Over open dirt years ago
I lost what I`d known all along
And from then on it would be only to myself
I`d belong
And is this my last stand
A call to arms to lower back
and finally stop asking
Each other what`s wrong
All the time