Carousels

On a bus ride into town
I wondered, "Why am I going to town?"
As I looked around
At the billboards and the stores
I thought, "Why do I look around?"
I got up and bowed
And I kissed the filthy ground
And in the first dry spot I found I laid back down
Without having to wonder
Why I was laying down

Before long I was too cold
And so I took a bus back to the station
I found a letter left by a pay phone
With no return contact
And it read like a horn blown
By some sad angel:
"Bunny, it was me
It was me who let you down"
It was the shyest attempt
I'd ever seen at conversation

If I didn't have you as my guide
I'd still wander lost in Sinai
Counting the plates of cars from out of state
(How I could jump in their path as they hurry along!)
Until you surround me
You're pretty but you're all I can see
Like a thick fog
If there was no way into God
I would never have laid in this grave of a body
For so long

St. Cyril's fair always came through
The first week of September
But it's already the 19th
And there's no sign of it yet
I have a hard time remembering
The things I should remember
And a hard time forgetting
All the things I should forget

Oh Christ, when you're ready to come back
I think I'm ready for you to come back
But if you want to stay wherever exactly it is you are
That's okay too -
It's really none of my business

And if I didn't have you as my guide
I'd still be wandering lost in Sinai
Or down by the tracks
Watching trains go by to remind me:
There are places that aren't here
I had a well but all the water left
So I'll ask for your forgiveness
With every breath
If there was no way into God
I would never have laid in this grave of a body
So long, dear