Bluegrass Lamentation
by Daniel Dyer
tortoise shell pick
furiously undulating
mandolin tremolo
Five years I been gone from the
hills of old Virginia
where the mountain meets the sky
there I had my heart broken
Saw you in the arms of another man
left on a hotshot freight train
West of midnight
gibbous moon risin’ high
three fingers pick steel strings
vibrating above drum head
hot licks on the banjo
California dream
been my destruction
Where my lover was
my murderer
my ghost wandered back to the hills of my home
to drift between hill and holler
following your love
only to stop at your cabin door
seen your teardrops fall
evaporate like mirage
on cast iron stove
seen your calico dress
hangin’ by your bed
drippin’ with tears
and you hear me creepin’ cross your shingles
bow smoothly drawn
fiddle whines and shimmies
now I done found out
ghostin’ and eavesdroppin’
‘bout your brother’s consolation
over the death of your kin
on the night of my flight
of a lover scorned
now the ache of mistaken assumption
births ghostly tears
and it is too late to feel sorrow
too late to feel pain.
washboard
bass thumpin’
a hollow tattoo.
