Shade Tree

rest and relaxation
are just what I need
my zest is lost in taxation
weariness is a seed
that grows until its a tree
shadowing over all I see

nothing's wrong, really
no nothing big
it just feels like I'm up from a coma
and ready to go back in

yet as tired as I am
I may as well lay here in bed
and memorize the specks on the ceiling
like God knows the hairs on my head

I can't get a nap in edgewise
between these thoughts that weigh on me
I'd move out from underneath this pine
but I don't have the energy
so many cry for freedom, I just want a good night's sleep

I listen to my neighbors having sex
I play for them Jackson Browne
I think of how great men become wrecks
and how every king shall break his crown
have I been Jack and falling down?

at times the music's too loud
but I can't bear to move
to way across the room
to pull the needle from the groove

oh let them be disturbed
I've never been polite
it's not as if this is a special day
they get lucky every night

on the last track
tiredness yawns in my bones
for now this place will do
the purpose of a home

my mind may reel
but my eyelids are no longer wide
they pull with all their strength
like the oceans draw the tide
and with Jackson Browne's calming voice
I believe that I have died
under the branches of a shade tree
with the whispered words of a lullabye