The Salt Islands

There's a lone stone house
Down a desert cul-de-sac
A father's hands made alone
The family names are carved in the cement

Where the pine trees stood
Is a brand new neighborhood
And everything they made
Is worn and torn away

There's a swimming hole
Down near the gravel pit
That people dare to jump in
So you went first
And when I took my turn

You were gone
Without a trace or sound
But I swam on
Pretending I was fine

History's no mystery
Where it stopped from you to me
There are never words left to explain
How my days turn to nights
And you disappeared from sight
And I lost all of your things along the way

There's a truck outside
Waiting in the pouring rain
Just to drive away
From a mother's tears
She's held onto for years

You'll go into the night
The rest of your life
To follow things
You have never seen

But you have faith and you have hope
That all you've known is not just smoke
That rises up and blows out through the trees

That will lose their leaves
As the seasons please
To show the year has died and gone away

Long nights
With no starlight
Traffic chokes up the West Side
Radio is singing for you alone
As you leave this world behind

There's a light that shines
Down from the Empire State
That reaches all across town
Pulls people in
On a spoon made of tin

With the promise of some bread
And an easy death
Whatever you could want
Whatever you can get

Now you know everyone in here
Cigarette another beer
But when all the barstools are clear

Who will know your fear
As it draws so near
And you turn again away again
And disappear