Pacing the Cage
Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward
Sometimes you feel like you live too long
Days drip slowly on the page
You catch yourself
Pacing the cage
I've proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip's worn thin
And each time I was someone else
And every one was taken in
Powers chatter in high places
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage
Set me to pacing the cage
I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It's as if the thing were written
In the constitution of the age
Sooner or later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage
Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can't see what's round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached-out land
For the coming of the outbound stage
Pacing the cage
Pacing the cage
- Bruce Cockburn
I simply had to pull out this Bruce Cockburn classic today. Won't you give it a listen (video below)?
There's a new documentary out about this extraordinarily prolific and socially engaged Canadian musician, and his website's as solid as any for a singer-songwriter. You can sample many of his tunes there. And may I urge you to attend his concerts whenever he wanders your way? I may, and I shall.
Back to words-only poems next week (maybe. It's summer, so we might enjoy a wee musical interlude for a week or two, who knows.) And I'm waxing a tad creative with the punctuation as well. Ah, freedom, sweet freedom, thou art nearly mine!
MFB,
L
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