his lips don't move

but still he speaks

his dark green eyes stare at me

he tells me of his papa

working on the railway

blowing his harmonica

in the morning



i'm checkin' in, checkin' out

feeling loved, filling out

deeper fish, deeper lungs

deeper words for the deeper tongue



he says i'm telling you

i'm burning the river



so i go home

a girl lies in my bed

i hold her hipbone

and pulle her closer

i put her cold hands

between my thighs

stare out the window

into a darkening sky



i'm checkin' in, checkin' out

feeling loved, filling out

deeper fish, deeper lungs

deeper words for the deeper tongue



he says i'm telling you 

i'm burning the river



she's left only

her body for me

i lie here feeling her hair

waiting for sleep

in the early hours of night



i'm checkin' in, checkin' out

feeling loved, filling out

deeper fish, deeper lungs

deeper words for the deeper tongue



he says i'm telling you 

i'm burning the river