Pushing the Stranger from the Bridge

There had been a slow and steady purpose to her gate…get it?  The gate?

breaking the rules and not counting the costs?

The gate could have been easily seen as the devil’s P.O. Box in downtown HELL.

The iron wrought fencing held in the ghosts that held her back.  Haggard and hung up wet the day could not end soon enough.  Wind at the front and at the back.  Poker in the front liquor in the back…ha, ha,,  dead ole Grand Dad would say.  The thought of Grand Dad and poker made her sicker.

Great Aunt Sister Ignatius never seemed real.  A paper thin doll met in the lime light of urban white ghetto life.  If that be true she, catholic girl starting much to late for goodness and piety…’why had this been so hard?’

The streets of Waltham ebbed and bowed out not so quietly in the rearview mirror of the Passat.  Mother crying, sobbing and holding on to sanity.  Father roughly making nice nice with Grand Ma Ruth in the front seat.

Words like, she was a good woman, she’ll be missed and try not to spill the coffee on the seat.

She, me, myself and I, catholic recovered felt the raw vindication of Irish drunken ghosts!  The funeral, the wake and the whole fucking boat load of shit on a seedy suburban street made everyone sick.

To this day the smell of worn leather and sidewalk piss makes me sick, she, me and myself, the stranger in the rearview mirror.

Through the barren decayed streets of humanity to grandmother’s house we go.

Why was it every time someone died it all had to come to in end at a little Italian restaurant?

One more condemned by poverty bridge and the suicidal meal would begin…

“It was here!  Right here.  Dad had wanted me to buy him cigarettes.  I had been young you know?  I had done something wrong.  Said the wrong thing.  Spoke the wrong word.  I knew what would be waiting for me at home.  It was right here!  On this bridge where I first thought of jumping from life!”

I looked over to her my matronly support.  She, me, myself and I had no words for the stranger I witnessed.  I just knew that it was there I decided to never let anyone see the stranger in me.

Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out and
Show ourselves
When everyone has gone
Some are satin some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
They’re the faces of the stranger
But we love to try them on

Though you drown in good intentions
You will never quench the fire

Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?

Don’t be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You’ve done it, why can’t
Someone else?
You should know by now
You’ve been there yourself

Once I used to believe
I was such a great romancer
Then I came home to a woman
That I could not recognize
When I pressed her for a reason
She refused to even answer
It was then I felt the stranger
Kick me right between the eyes

Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?

Don’t be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You’ve done it why can’t
Someone else?
You should know by now
You’ve been there yourself

You may never understand
How the stranger is inspired
But he isn’t always evil
And he is not always wrong
Though you drown in good intentions
You will never quench the fire
You’ll give in to your desire
When the stranger comes along.