Call the Coroner, This Man is Dead

I can’t tell a story
I can’t sing a song
I can’t write a tune or a melody or strum soft
I can’t write about people I don’t know
I can only write bout characters I perceive as my own
I can’t walk no more or even sleep or make love to my girl
I hadn’t even taken the time to write my will
I can’t see no more trees or feel no more breeze
But I can’t stop shivering
Call the coroner this man is dead

I can’t drive a car or talk to my best friend
Or read a book
I can’t even get in a brawl with a look
My eyes ain’t movin’ no more, my kid is still asleep
I keep trying to shed a tear but I can’t even weep
The ground has never been so intimidating
Or my new wooden barracks where my head is illuminating
I can’t pet my dog or unlock my front door if I had one
Call the coroner, this man is dead

I can’t stop remembering bout the last thing I said
It haunts my memories
As stagnant as they are
Like a cest pool of knowledge all wasted in the earth
Why am I meant for
A tragedy’s harmfulness
It hurts my feelings which might as well be a guest
Call the coroner this man is dead

Thinkin’ back on all those little moments
Childhood is over get a job and start yer payments
Tax the living, cuz livings a necessity
Tax the dead cuz death is a truth
And tax the liars cuz lying is wrong
And tax the right cuz the left is down
And tax the down so’s they get up
Tax the behind so they get ahead
Call the coroner this man is dead

Oh, mama your face is an imprint
On the back of my hand
I know it
Like putting trust in a single strand
Of golden hair but black is my true love’s
Too bad I won’t get to meet her
I can’t stop remembering the last thing I said
“call the coroner, this man is dead"

Jon Rockefeller
12/10/09