the windows break

piles and piles

of old magazines

windows locked up and hidden from the street

in a crawlspace

forgotten money

people tensing and waiting to come back home

you can feel the tension in the house

the moment you walk through the door

sudden madness allow me in again

when the first train flies past the house

miles away

the screaming starts and it feels like a minefield

neighbors silently hiding in the shadows

there's a person locked in

behind that door -

don't let anybody catch you turning the handle

it's a long

long night. it's going to be an awful and lonely night

well. you can blot out the years and abandon the jungle

cover up the tapes and refuse to look back

but your own right hand is not gonna save your soul

you have been followed! ah

the mechanics

all the reactions that seem to attach themselves

it's been a very very very long year and it's gonna be an even longer night

and then a screen door slams; the windows break

a woman just jumps and scrapes at the hood of a car

when the car backs up into a streetlight

all of the neighbors call the cops

she falls off and the car speeds away

headed for the border of a far away state

it's gonna mean an hour of freedom with the radio and a quarter-filled gas tank

and a quarter filled gas tank

with the high beams on

and the windows down.