Caldonia Softens

We’ve beaten the ornery hours down between us
Their gold teeth spill onto the floor rattling for the corners
Yesterday the wolf took his tickets and ran
That thing that kept jumping in our business
Raising sand collapsed last week
Its wife came for the hog maws this morning
Now it’s just you and me
Caldonia

Caldonia

And that old at last
That’s got up next to us
It unclasps the bitter necklace from around your throat
It whistles Leadbelly between the lips of the bedroom door
What made your big head so
Suddenly doesn’t seem to be 
Such a burning question anymore
Dripping ignorant oil
By the dim light of a neckbone I wonder
Why I’ve never noticed
The dream book pages you’ve plaited
Into your hair
You shake your head slowly clicking
New beads together
And I see in that
Shimmer of glass an end of numbers
You pull me down with you onto the buffalo grass mat
That old at last has laid out for us
And just before the walls come
Tumbling down I hear you singing
Work with me baby

Work with me