roadside song

i sit on spring lakes drive i just save a whole hive

of yellow and black cars arrive at the red light across the way

you know i think they know we’ll all be dead someday

but right now i sit on the side of the road and watch all the cars go by

each one drivin closer to the day it dies

and i say what about the poets who verified his life

we’ve got hubcaps of steel drunk dads behind the wheel

and we know that tomorrow night he’ll be on his knees to kneel

at the coffin of the kid who’s been shredded by his wheels

and maybe just today he will wake up and feel

i just got off the bus off the train

surrounded by the city folks who dress so plain

we went for a ride at high tide

of traffic from frisco under the burnin sky

from the city where i saw an old man in a wheelchair

tuck his grey hair behind his ears 

glare at the traffic and dare em to hit him

as he propelled across the sidewalk like he has for years

and me so self-pitying i collapse in tears

as the compassionless days turn into years

we’ve got hubcaps of steel drunk dads behind the wheel

and we know that tomorrow night he’ll be on his knees to kneel

at the coffin of the kid who’s been shredded by his wheels

and maybe just today he will wake up and feel

but twenty years later n he’s here all alone

if you can’t teach him new tricks just give him a bone

after all day after day now he’s got no home

around the streets of san francisco he roams

he hopes to god that someday his legs will heal

but more he hopes that someday that death will repeal

a life for life god won’t you make a deal

we’ve got hubcaps of steel drunk dads behind the wheel

and we know that tomorrow night he’ll be on his knees to kneel

at the coffin of the kid who’s been shredded by his wheels

and maybe just today he will wake up and feel

but now he and i sit on the side of the road

and i offer to help him with his heavy load

he just smiles n says ‘heaven no’

child you keep goin til you die

those wheels of time don’t pause when they go by

except by those poets who versify their lives

and i said sir pardon but can i tell you what’s real?

we’ve got hubcaps of steel drunk dads behind the wheel

and we know that tomorrow night he’ll be on his knees to kneel

at the coffin of the kid who’s been shredded by his wheels

and maybe just today he will wake up and feel