Poison Oak

Poison oak, some boyhood bravery
When a telephone was a tin can on a string
And I fell asleep with you still talking to me
You said you weren't afraid to die
In polaroids you were dressed in women's clothes
Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in a drawer?
Well, I don't think I ever loved you more
Than when you turned away
When you slammed the door
When you stole a car
Drove toward Mexico
And you wrote bad checks
Just to fill your arm
I was young enough
I still believed in war
Well let the poets cry themselves to sleep
And all their tearful words will turn back into steam
But me, I'm a single cell
On a serpent's tongue
There's a muddy field
Where a garden was
And I'm glad you got away
But Im still stuck out here
My clothes are soaking wet
From your brother's tears
And I never thought this life was possible
You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for
The end of paralysis
I was a statuette
Now I'm drunk as hell
On a piano bench
And when I press the keys
It all gets reversed
The sound of loneliness