What You Hear And What You Know

If you were driving your mother's car

Driving I don’t know where

But driving far

Would you be regretting anything?

Not knowing constellations

Just knowing the evening star

Hearing your thoughts dance

Like the benders in the bars

Hearing the tires turn

Taking you to new thresholds to pass

But you are here for good

Even though you don’t know where you are

And when you awake at night

Panic like wind beating at your wall

You know its time to quit

Like the flinch before a punch that’s hard

And the kicks were fun

The fun couldn’t last

But it’s the victory that makes you believe

And the loss of memory is your defeat

A choking laugh in the corner of your mind

That you never tried to beat

And the further you drive

The further you get

With the window down

Watching the finches fly

Peter Paul and Mary spilling from your tongue

But Mary has died

And the contingent has gone

The generation lied

They just left us their cars

Like your mother

And you are gonna go far

In the sound of the wheel

It’s your minor Hejira, tattered but glorious

A horse fresh from the frost

And the prayers are heard for you

For the first time

Although you will never know this