Original poem After Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands - Live at The Fiddler's Elbow
Hey Steemers,
This is a poem from my 2015 live album, Artefacts of Desire. It was inspired by Bob Dylan's spellbinding song Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. I fell in love with the intense, densely packed and utterly obscure lyrics of his song and felt compelled to write my own version. Here's Bob's original: open.spotify.com/track/4jdtLLyEL7wY0TlCdMKhxq
After Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
On your slaughtered streets
with the abattoir signs
and your wounded dress,
bloodied on the lines
with your rusted meats
and your muddied wines
whoever thought they
could out drink you?
When your silver gent
embraces you at last
with your embroidered face
protected by the glass
with your children's tools
and your monkey's class
whoever thought they
could out do you?
With your herbal switch
and your animated vows
with your walking stick
and your elevated slouch
with your broken knees
and your splintered mouth
whoever thought they
could not break you?
With your blistered tongue
and your corrugated spine
your assassin's gate
and your cursory finds
with your stable states
and your reckless crimes
whoever thought they
were beneath you?
With your rusty blades
and your temporary dons
with your mother's pouch
and your honorary sons
with your breakneck speeds
and your madman's gong
Whoever thought they
could not fail you?
With your cautionary tales
in these reactionary times
and your marbled house
with your mathematician's signs
With your feeble itch
and your wayward nights
whoever thought you
were not young once?
With your safety catch
imprinted on your mind
and your howling dogs
controlling all the time
with your beastly cries
and your holy whines
whoever thought you
would come through this?
With your waitress dress
and your purgatory clowns
in your captain's mess
on your country doctor's rounds
with your angry smile
and your lonely sounds
why did they not
see fit to comfort you?
When your bullet proof mascara fades
and behind your eyes
the evening is blazed
on a limitless sea
a tough chance will arise
is it not this chance
you have been waging?
When your corporal's jeers
are ending his supplies
though your command-less troops
will limit your disguise
your children come
and your children go
your children are
not your keepers
With your tender face
you can't help but show
your patriarch enthusing
at your show
he may look at me
but he thinks of you
have you ever said,
'now, that's enough, sir'?
on your country doctor's rounds
with your angry smile
and your lonely sounds
why did they not
see fit to comfort you?
When your bullet proof mascara fades
and behind your eyes
the evening is blazed
on a limitless sea
a tough chance will arise
is it not this chance
you have been waging?
When your corporal's jeers
are ending his supplies
though your command-less troops
will limit your disguise
your children come
and your children go
your children are
not your keepers
With your tender face
you can't help but show
your patriarch enthusing
at your show
he may look at me
but he thinks of you
have you ever said,
'now, that's enough, sir'?
on your country doctor's rounds
with your angry smile
and your lonely sounds
why did they not
see fit to comfort you?
When your bullet proof mascara fades
and behind your eyes
the evening is blazed
on a limitless sea
a tough chance will arise
is it not this chance
you have been waging?
When your corporal's jeers
are ending his supplies
though your command-less troops
will limit your disguise
your children come
and your children go
your children are
not your keepers
With your tender face
you can't help but show
your patriarch enthusing
at your show
he may look at me
but he thinks of you
have you ever said,
'now, that's enough, sir'?
Photo by Alexander Nachev on Unsplash
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