by Alice
Heat on the dash, gold on the glass
White lines run thin through the flats
Sun drops low on the sodium plain
Red dust lifts off the shoulder lane
My hands hum warm on the weathered wheel
The rearview holds what I used to feel
A motel sign blinks once, then goes
Light spills pink on the hood in rows
The engine keeps its even prayer
Dry sage turns slow in the evening air
The radio drifts out of range
A woman's voice bends into rain
Then silver static fills the car
Like little ghosts between the stars
Oh, carry me west
Past the wire fence
Ah, let the band fade
In and out again
Road, open wide
Take this empty ache
Oh, under that blaze
I can drift for days
Mountains cut blue through the afterglow
The valley swallows all I know
A preacher shouts from a dying AM
A snare comes through, then leaves again
I catch one line about staying true
Then lose it all to a wash of blue
The speakers crack, the tubes complain
Still I turn that dial again
Each station blooms, then falls apart
A choir, a laugh, a steel guitar
They rise like smoke and then are gone
Before I learn what song I'm on
Oh, carry me west
Past the wire fence
Ah, let the band fade
In and out again
Road, open wide
Take this empty ache
Oh, under that blaze
I can drift for days
No town ahead for miles and miles
Just crescent moon on broken signs
The dark comes up in violet waves
And cools the burn the daylight made
If no one calls my name tonight
I still have sparks and dashboard light
A kick drum lost in desert air
And all this room to go nowhere
Oh, carry me west
Past the wire fence
Ah, let the band fade
In and out again
Road, open wide
Take this empty ache
Oh, under that blaze
I can drift for days
Heat leaves the dash, gold leaves the glass
White lines run on through the black