Rough Draft

At the Edge of Town

I’ve heard about those travelers
who’ve made it, don’t know if I will
But I dream of walking
up to that mansion on the hill
Sometimes it’s like I can almost see
that invisible world come down
And I can feel a darkness lurking
at the edge of town

I don’t sleep much anymore
pacing in my mirror like surgery
It’s hard to look too long inside myself
I’m my biggest enemy
That problem, I suppose—to be
or not—must always come around
And I can feel something looking back
from the edge of town

I spend my days striking chords,
cables brass wound round in tears
And hope minds don’t disassemble
the havoc that’s been there for years
I believe that great train’s coming
but Judas has his ear to the ground
I know the darkness is approaching
from the edge of town

Sometimes I hear the sirens singing
driving towards emergency
In their sea-voices calling each to each
I feel the pulse of urgency
And when I hear them calling in the night
I wait and listen to the sound
And I know they’re undressing just for me
in the darkness at the edge of town

I’m just so tired, and everything
is narrowing to a single point
When I smile, don’t take me wrong
things have just lost their power to disappoint
Been pushing my hope up the hill
towards that house I once found
But it keeps rolling back over me
to that darkness at the edge of town

© 2004 Matt Malyon / Songs of Exile

Note:

The phrase "Darkness at the Edge of Town" is both an album and song title from Bruce Springsteen.  Though I knew of it, I'd never heard Springsteen's song when I wrote this lyric; after finishing, I listened to it.  His use of "darkness," in my understanding, has a different connotation and intention, and I thus feel justified in keeping my song as it is.  At the same time, I acknowledge and am indebted to him for the phrase.

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