Not Gone Tonight

Thick as a Bostock brick, spun as a feather
Still with no name to his name – and not much money to it either
Cop light through the broken blinds, alarm clock starts its stutter
Little John will awake at once, violently throw back the covers
Shatter one word with another
Will you be gone tomorrow?
Bolt up at the dawn-break door, rumble of a dumptruck
Gutter gait down a wind-swept street – incantation for a late bus dumb luck
No such dumb luck!
Sound as an ancient schedule, ringing of a church bell
Shot off, got off, caught off, bought off – time down a wish well
You keep blowing higher – you’re the everlasting kite
You’ll be gone tomorrow, but your not gone tonight
“Hey – hey, look! Little John alive at long last, burns bright like a summer!”
Throws his shoulder up against the mold inside the old factory for rubber
Approaching the hour you exchange your labor for your lover…
Then learning in a cold sweat moonlighting in a quintet
Most minds, most mouths, tongue-tied. Not him, flipped on by the riverside:
Slide, slip, shake her a little smile – lit, fired, takes to a sudden sky –
You keep blowing higher – you’re the everlasting kite
You’ll be gone tomorrow, but your not gone tonight!