Matthew 25:21 - The Mountain Goats

They’d hooked you up to a fentanyl drip

To mitigate the pain a little bit

I flew in from Pennsylvania

When I heard the hour was coming fast

And I docked in Santa Barbara

Tried to brace myself

But you can’t brace yourself when the time comes

You just have to roll with the blast

And I’m an eighteen wheeler headed down the interstate

And my brakes are going to give and I won’t know until it’s too late

Tires screaming when I lose control

Try not to hurt too many people when I roll

Find the Harbor Freeway and head south

Real tired, head kind of light

I found Telegraph Road, I’d only seen the name on envelopes

Found the parking lot and turned right

I felt all the details carving out space in my head

Tropicana’s on the walkway, neon red

Between the pain and the pills trying to hold it at bay

Stands a traveler going somewhere far away

And I am an airplane tumbling wing over wing

Tried to listen to my instruments, they don’t say anything

People screaming when the engines quit

I hope we’re all in crash position when we hit

And then came to your bedside

And as it turns out, I’m not ready

And as though you were speaking through a thick haze

You said hello to me

We all stood there around you

Happy to hear you speak

The last of something bright burning, still burning

Beyond the cancer and the chemotherapy

And you were a presence full of light upon this earth

And I am a witness to your life and to its worth

It’s three days later when I get the call

And there’s nobody around to break my fall