i am disappeared

i keep having dreams

of pioneers and pirate ships and bob dylan

of people wrapped up tight in the things that will kill them

of being trapped in a lift plunging straight to the bottom

of open seas and ways of life we've forgotten

i keep having dreams

amy worked in a bar in exeter

i went back to her house and i slept beside her

she woke up screaming in the middle of the night

terrified of her own insides

dreams of pirate ships and patty hearst

breaking through a life over-rehearsed

she can't remember which came first

the house

the home

or the terrible thirst

she keeps having dreams

and on the worst days

when it feels like life weighs ten thousand tons

she's got her cowboy boots and car keys on the bedstand

so she can always run

she can get up

shower

and in half an hour she'll be gone

i keep having dreams of things i need to do

and waking up but not following through

but it feels like i haven't slept at all

when i wake to a silence and she's facing the wall

posters of dylan and of hemingway

an antique compass for a sailor's escape

she says you just can't live this way

and i close my eyes and i never say

i'm still having dreams

and on the worst days

when it feels like life weighs ten thousand tons

i sleep with my passport

one eye on the back door

so i can always run

i can get up

shower

and in half an hour i'll be gone

and come morning

i am disappeared

just an imprint on the bedsheets

i'm by the roadside with my thumb out

a car pulls up

and bob's driving

so i climb in

we don't say a word

as we pull off into the sunrise

and these rivers of tarmac are like arteries across the country

we are blood cells alive in the bloodstream

the beating heart of the country

we are electric pulses

in the pathways of the sleeping soul of the country

we are electric pulses

in the pathways of the sleeping soul of the country

we are electric pulses

the sleeping soul of the country

the sleeping soul of the country

the sleeping soul of the country