Rexroth's Daughter

Coldest night of the winter
working up my farewell
In the middle of everything
under no particular spell
Dreaming of the mountains
where the children learn the stars
Clouds roll in from Nebraska
dark chords on a big guitar
My restlessness is long gone
standing like an old jack pine
Im looking for Rexroths daughter
Shes a friend of a friend of mine
Cant believe your hands and mouth
did all that to me
And they are so daily naked
for all the world to see
That thunderstorm in Michigan
I never will forget
We shook right with the thunder
& with the pounding rain got wet
Where did you turn when you turned from me
with your arms across your chest
Ya,Im looking for Rexroths daughter
saw her in the great northwest
Would she have said it was the wrong time
if I had found her then
I dont ask very much
a field across the road and a few good friends
She used to come & see me
she was always there & gone
Even the very longest love
dont last very long
Shed stood there in my doorway
smoothing out her dress
saying life is a thump-ripe melon-
-so sweet and such a mess
(I wanted to get to know you
but you said you were shy
I would have followed you anywhere
but hello rolled into goodbye
I just stood there watching
as you walked along the fence
Beware of them that look at you
as an experience
Youre back out on the highway
with your poems of city heat
Im looking for Rexroths daughter
here on my own side street)
Well,The murderer who lived next door
seemed such a normal guy--
You try to swallow what they shove at us
you run out of tears to cry
I heard a man speak quietly
I listened for a while
He spoke from his heart to my woe
& then he bowed & smiled
What is real but compassion
as we move from birth to death
Ya,Im looking for Rexroths daughter
& Im running out of breath
Spring will come back I know it will
& itll do its best
so useful, so endangered
like a lion or a breast
I think about my children
when I look at any childs face
pray that we will find a way
to get with all this amazing grace
Its so cold out there tonight
stormy I can hardly see
Im looking for Rexroths daughter
& I guess I always will be.