A Million Miles

The headache formed against the man

As the house he grew in was destroyed

He was a million miles away

But not so far to be forgotten

He told himself he was having fun

But there was a phantom growing deep

Silence standing with growing numbness

An elephant in the room that no one had yet named

Vibrating like mother’s washing machine

He felt a somersault of past love

But then it fled like a fire in the summer

Coughing he heard the march of a parade

And removed a ticket from his mouth

He had a plan to go from border to border

A dreamer going from blur to blur

Rocking and Jumping while blushing like a girl

Hair only just appearing where it mattered

Being pulled by the elastic of his shorts

Like reeds being pulled by the jaws of the river

He was belly deep in the muddiest of swamps

He bit hard on his tongue

As the most beautiful of all walked past

He bit it as the bulldozer moved in for the last time

The English language took a turn for the worst

Substance became nothing but a brutal groan

A culture of greasy men who were naked but for urge

He rubbed himself against the bar

And the factory was built with the smoke sailing down

What apartment building would he be part of now?

One to take his pants off in

To take out his heart and hang it on a wall 

Where would he be gladdest?

Would his curtains be open or closed when the neighbour came in?

He was a million miles away

But not so far to be forgotten

He would drive, one hand on the wheel

With Hank on the radio

Driving to his home that was gone

The grass would still be there though

And the horse paddock