After The War - Joe Henry

A dog-eared mind sniffed my heart

Like a pocket full of German marks

Long after the war was through

Stood me on a rusted rail

Turned my face and kicked my tail

Up toward the yonder blue …

Threw a fish up on the bank

And watched him dance from the air he drank

And then my hunger knew

That sparks will fly around my head

When I stir the coals down in my bed

Like I was walking back to you

Time slips out of the leaning fence

That lost the border ever since

Our beloved war took to the road

With caravans and mocking birds

And painted girls with twisted words

Whose knees and ankles showed …

Now, I sit and watch the failing moon

The shower-stars and, coming soon

The whole thing will look new

When blessedly I will forget

The ways of God and all regret

Like I was walking back to you