Drag That Chain

Fifteen tons for fifteen miles, along a dark and broken road
Christmas tree lights in your head dance to yesterday’s tunes
The howling’s all over now, a soft low moan remains
That soulsick sound from way down deep in your bones
The marrow sucked dry from all good things

Out here where everything goes to die; rust, rot, ruin
Death all around, how is it that you’re so damned alone?
Over there, see? That’s where the moon used to be
Back in the years before loss infested your brain
And kite strings began to pop, one by one

Dentist’s drill orchestra wakes you up before dawn
Dawn never comes anyway, out here in the Hollowlands
But oh God it’s dark, as dark as your careworn soul
Crawling like tar in the thick of the night’s eyes
And you know that in some other world it’s Christmas Day