Homing
The water's wonderful there And the women aren't bad Neither when you look at them Twice, but the blame Lies in that glass from the tap For making me want to go back. I went looking for where they get It from but I got a ticket For speeding; and when I said I'm Mister Shine, a black ghost, Cop said that's too bad. Glow I was lost. But my sermon is about the water, How it's precious like family When you wanting something familiar. It made me happy-- It taste like baby's breath, Like dew. I never knew sweeter water. But I'm a spook's spook; I stole This story from a dead man's mouth. He was a preacher from Virginia Who before he expired said: Somewhere there's a well of sweet water. Somewhere in Ohio or maybe Carolina.
From The Shine Poems by Calvin Forbes. Copyright © 2001 by Calvin Forbes. Reproduced with permission of Louisiana State University Press. All rights reserved.