Ride My Arrow - Bill Callahan

I don’t ever want to die

Do you know this arrow when it arches high

To meet the eagle in the sky?

The eagle flies using the river as a map

A small animal in its clasp

Alive and enjoying the ride

Is life a ride to ride

Or a story to shape and confide

Or chaos neatly denied?

Some people find the taste of Pilgrim guts to be too strong

Me I find I can’t get by without them for too long

Tear at the flesh, tear at the bone

Of anyone who’ll tell you the known is unknown

Life ain’t confidential

It’s not

It isn’t

And it ain’t

Confidential

Ride my arrow

Ride my arrow

The land I love is splitting in two

Again

And again and again and again

War muddies the river

And getting out we’re dirtier than getting in

Ride my arrow

Ride this arrow