By Christopher Lake
Date: 18 May 2000

hope springs

first season on the river
first day off
first ecstatic blue-sky friday in may
and four guys with suddenly too much time
or not enough
tearin' up the back roads
in a new jeep
and a new band called nirvana
on the radio
lookin' for open pizza parlors
maybe liquor
definitely girls
just any reason at all
to raise hell
but reasons aren't needed
and we knew it

it's all impossibly far back now
i can't even remember
who i thought i was in love with then
who i could have had but lost
and didn't care
because i was too busy runnin'
too busy speedin' along bad roads
not yet aware
i was being chased
but goin' like hell all the same

eight years later the flight from nothing
and everything
goes on
and i think more and more
i might have finally done it
finally wandered too far out into the desert
without enough water
dove down too deep
or come up too fast

nothing lasts

but now there's this person
this person who makes me laugh
this person i love
this person i need
this person who Knows

the journey ends with her
there will be no further words