FULTON STREET I

Found a body at the rest stop
Buried in the woods beneath
The garbage and leaves

Workers clearing overgrowth
Saw hidden in the brush
Just beyond the line of the trees
A jawbone and teeth
Winter into spring on Fulton Street

And cities grow weeds, and cities grow
And cities keep secrets in the trees
In the shadow of the pyramid
The cities grow weeds, the cities grow
By the river and the covered bridge
The cities grow weeds, I know

All the memories your dreams retrieve
Pick a dress out for the funeral
Hold the vigil in the field, release
Lanterns at night and I saw
On the shoulder of the interstate
When I followed your eyes, when I followed your eyes
All the crosses for the accidents
All the photos in the flowers by the street

Will I ever put flowers by the street?
Will I ever put flowers by the street?
Never needed to live and suffer through the pain
All the tyrannies of grief, if I ever do
Will I even have the strength to do anything?
Could I go and leave flowers by the street?

And I saw signs on the shoulder of the interstate
When I followed your eyes
And I saw lights fading every monument
And the passage of time
If I could just try, could I banish all the pain in you?
Give you everything you need
If I hid rose quartz underneath the mattress, would it help your nights
When you're struggling to sleep, when you're struggling to sleep
Will I ever be half what I can be?
Can I ever be half what I can be?
If you needed me to be anything
Could I even be half of what you need?
Will I ever be me? Will I ever be me?
If I can take hands to shake you, would you want me to?
If it shook you out of grief, if I gave chase
Summers when you tunneled into nothingness
Would it bring you some release?
If I saw signs on the shoulder of the interstate
When I followed where your eyes went
If I saw nights spent after midnight in a eulogy
Which you never got to give
And I saw fenders bent hard on an oak tree
Also sirens at the scene
I saw cigarettes falling in the tangle of machinery
Between the console and the seat
And I saw hands reach, car lurched across the center line
I saw it all in my dreams
And I saw leaves hiding bodies in the treeline off the interstate
But I've never put flowers by the street

I've never put flowers by the street
If you need from me, to be anything
I could be everything you need
If you need from me, to be anything
I could be everything you need
Every monument, every memory
And I've never put flowers by the street