Perilous Road

Parables rich with the riddles you'd wrestle with if you'd read them through
But light leaks through these lines and fictions fail my designs
My pen will not obey – my characters don't stay

An avalanche rolled across the one road between us and town
So we stayed and we played with the bones and we watched the sad solstice sun go down
Stuck in the silence of acres of snow, tempting the tokens you took
And you want to get back to your drinks with the boys and I want to keep writing my book

'Cause I'm where he said she said no – and she said he shouldn't go
I know what they'll decide – I'll steer their words aright

But if your wheels get to weavin', if you drive like you're drunk
You can blame it on the ruts in the road
And if the big bad guys tail ya, if the little ones honk
Then just lean into your staggering load
It's a perilous road

I want one more chance, an allowance advance, I want absolution too
So they'll stay and they'll weigh all the good times and bad and they'll talk the matter through
I'll make them both make nice – I'll clear the mud and ice
I'll send them home tonight – and she'll sit down and write

Displacing her curses on second/third persons she'll fill three pages of mine
We'll write about writers who can't seem to right the reveals outside the lines
Stuck in the silence of acres of snow, struggling to structure the book
And they say that by now the way out may be cleared, and I don't think I like your look

And we'll bury bones beneath our layers of make-believe
But my pen will not obey – my characters won't stay

But if your wheels get to weavin', if you drive like you're drunk
You can blame it on the ruts in the road
And if the big bad guys tail ya, if the little ones honk
Then just lean into your punishing load

And if you're rollin' too fast, if your exit's just passed
You can blame it on the ruts in the road
And if you're runnin' too hot for the lamp oil you brought
Then just lean into your worrisome load

And if changes come slow, love, the farther you go
Blame it on the ruts in the road
And if your story don't follow that old plot you borrowed
Just lean into your staggering load
It's a perilous road