Pints of beer link our troubles in broken chain
lips on brims speckled with words we chase asleep
cigarette-breaks coil conversations around a floating spool
ever dripping with rain caught as stylus in a groove

and a river turns in its sleep and mutters a song

he keeps his promise to take you to Rock Forest Bar
names drag and drop but life’s rhymes and meter thrive
the bartender shakes your hand with a look in his eye
and you can tell he knows
he knows you think of what you lost, every night.

a river turns in its sleep and mutters your song