Shade Tree

oh shade tree save me
more today than yesterday

oh shade tree, you…
savin’ me
lettin’ me breathe
helpin’ me see

dear shade tree
Love and thanks to thee

what you come to expect
what’s it mean to redress

down to the wire
mid-august on fire

flames burnin’
higher and wider

and a music man
our one-man band

down by the river plays on
so much yet to learn

bout what will
and [will] not burn

thought things
were starting to turn

but [it’s] back to the mat

oh basement
shade tree

shade me from
shady, shaky law-men
and their friends

alotta lack we extend
but it all has an end -

somewhere…
out there
or in here
down there
or up in the air

was it…
the real thing
or just a scare

do we even care

when…
any-where
any-way
every-day

[a/the] neon sign blinks

fresh graves
fresh graves

what’s a modern man to say
I don’t believe the narrator

just a pr-whore
the battle rages

but…
not sure what for
not sure what for…