i’d cross this entire country

get my passport stamped around the globe

wear holes in my trusty vans

just to catch a glimpse of your lovely smile

i’d write a thousand poems

ink them in my own blood on billboards down the winding highways

graffiti the mona lisa with your name

just to let you know how i feel

kick up a cloud of smoke

run these tires down to bare rims

ride bareback on an unbroken stallion

on the off chance you feel the same way

take extra shifts in the coal mine

work these fingers to the bone

bare knuckle fight for gas money

anything for you my dream come true

i’ve fallen into the bottom of bottles

smoked until there was a perpetual haze

listened to every sappy love song in a row boat on a river of tears

strummed the strings on this worn out guitar

under the glimmering stars

sang myself hoarse

trying to get the message to your pretty little ears

if you’ve ever sat there and found your toes tapping to a song you can’t quite hear

that’s just me

the wind whispers your name as i travel gravelly old roads

leading me on past exhaustion

just to see your sweet little smile one time

walked until my blisters have blisters

worked until my callouses fell off

leaving pieces of myself everywhere i go

just poems floating on the breeze

bloody fingerprints on scraps of paper

searching for you

i’ve been broken

discarded like trash bobbing on the waves

but i never lost sight of you

my sweetest dreams come true

every country song of longing and loss

all those sweet r&b slow jams

never meant a thing to these tired ears and gnarled fingers

but you are the reason i get up with the sun

that fragrance in the breeze leading me steadily on

got my passport ready

a fresh pair of vans laced up tight

a brand new batch of poems singing

i do it all for you

my sweetest dream come true

just to fall asleep with you in my arms

one time

and it’s all worth while

so cock your head to the south

and listen for my mangled voice forced over strained vocal chords

it is all for you my dear

my wayward queen

and as the wind blows down the corn rows

floating like pollen ever forward

just to get a fleeting glance at you

times running out

and these weary legs continue to plod on

steadily to my only desire

the lone beacon in the darkness of battered heartache

only your healing embrace can put me back together

to bask in your light

and sip of your gentle stream of perfection

and end these lonesome poet blues