Evergreen

Sweet sixteen tasted of saccharine
Left with a longing a name to be packaged in
The houses were empty
The streetlights all said to go home
So we waited and wondered a loitering sacrament
Too young to know the right girls to be older than
Too scared to dive in the oncoming traffic
Even though the lights were all green
They chopped down the evergreen
And we made a bonfire to burn away seventeen years
These are the best
This is the one in a million
In transit it hit me
I ran into something
I looked all around me the train left the junction
And things that seemed permanent faded to photographs
Tomorrow New Orleans
The next day oblivion
Roll down the window and let the whole city in
Summer's a drug that makes everyone beautiful
They chopped down the evergreen...
And the rains came
And the water sang
So we crossed the bridge where the trains used to run
But there's always the fear
That one last one might just come
Blazing on through like in days of my youth
Or maybe my father's
I can't be bothered
It's thirty feet down and it's colder than hell
But if you don't jump at 20 then you never will
So we hit the water like buffalo slaughtered
They chopped down the evergreen
And we made a bonfire to burn away seventeen years