“There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in” L. Cohen
A Crack In Everything
While the snakes and sinners
scarf down their VD dinners
In the back of Leonard’s
old beat up Caravan
the dodgy lyric thief
provides himself relief
in the key of P
singing ‘I’m Your Man’
They get tangled in a twister
with mercy’s little sister
as the sailor sips his wine
and soaps their feet
they all tumble falling down
upon a rusted battered crown
that the prophet’s pusher
kicks along the street
Comes the sweeping machine
at closing time on the scene
just as every now
moves its way toward a then
tomorrow is one more today
that got sent along its way
and everybody knows
not to pray for when
The limo had no reverse
so they left behind the nurse
when she vehemently refused
to put on mourning black
she got locked inside the van
and bid a ‘so long Marianne’
they all laughed and cried
for there’s no going back
The partisan opened fire
on every bird on a wire
until a feathered frenzy
rained down from above
and every single rat in
the borough of Manhattan
swore up and down
there was no cure for love
Out the prophet passed
from the debts he had amassed
with no more words
he uttered one last sigh
as the gospel ghost revival
failed to secure his survival
they admonished, ‘hey
that’s no way to say goodbye’
The eulogies were spent
inside a strange woman’s tent
made of torn blue raincoats
with flakes of life for a liner
the weeping widow was unnerved
until a light repast was served
of tea and oranges
that came all the way from China
The wannabe’s remain loyal
to sermons from Mount Royal
spoken by the prophet
who struck that secret chord
he left them with one major gift
that a minor couldn’t lift
and not a single one
will ever please the lord
Suzanne is no longer hot
but she still gives it her best shot
there’s always one more poet
still drunk enough to do her
snakes and sinners in the grass
still kiss her half-crazy ass
and dance her naked
to love’s end … hallelujah
s. paul (rewrite - Nov. 2022)