Long Gone - Rob Chapman

Looking over everything

From high up on the wall

The treeline spans the distance

I can hardly see beyond

The world threw me it’s problems

And I threw 'em all right back

Got tired of living vicariously

Through my pen and pad

The shotgun against my sternum

Said the game was finally through

Well I watched it go and spread my wings

To come on home to you!

A circle in the distance

Crowns the faded ebony sky

The shot rang out for miles

Heard the sirens start to cry

As I laid back in that cool October soil

Then I thought…

That I might have had the answer

But that information’s lost

And far below down in the city

Cars are screeching through the night

While the gunner laid his life down

On that rusted army knife

And I felt the river flowing

All returning to the land

And I spat my bitter loathing out

Releasing it all at last

But just as I began to know

The first moments of peace

A blue clad angel grabbed my neck

And he chose to say his piece

They asked who pulled the trigger

And I swore it wasn’t me…

… Then I laughed and said I lied!

I lied down by the wall

To hear the voices call!

The ghosts of the forest

In summertime

Are all long gone!

Well they threw me in a big white box

And took me somewhere safe

I didn’t care where we were going

My soul had left that tepid place

And they re-filled that empty basin

With all the contents of their bags

With a needle they resurfaced

All the fissures, cracks, and crags

So they filled me up with dopamine

And isoflurane too

And they sent me off to summer camp

With pills red, white, and blue

From there I watched the sunset

Watched the warm hues fade away

'Til it left me with the coldest skies

Of dark blue, black, and gray

And I sat in silent wonder

Of the stories that I knew

And I found myself debating

If a word of them was true

So herein lies the ending

The summit of my fears

The spirits that I chased so long

Won after all these years

They died!

I lied down by the wall

To hear the voices call!

The ghosts of the forest

In summertime

Are all long gone!

I cried!

I lied down by the wall

To hear the voices call!

The ghosts of the forest

In summertime

Are all long gone!