The Balladeer

There's a man on a power line dangling from the sky Asking God for the second time why did you take his wife away He stares down to the traffic whizzing by, and he starts to cry A hundred feet below that maze of cable in the clouds Betty Jean's been gone for days, she didn't take her pills And now she's walking into traffic and the people just assume that she knows how I am sitting here and marinating in my scorn I've got cold feet but the electric heat from this laptop keeps me warm I could move but that would only prove that my volition's mine to kill The line man talks and Betty walks, but I am standing still Captain Ivan is sinking down into the Bering Strait Though the iceberg tore his vessel's bow he stays with her content to wait 'Til the ocean's deep fills up his dying lungs, a tune he hums Father John balls up his fist as the poison takes control Once a loyal communist, he later took to saving souls And a public execution was his prize, he slowly dies I have not known sinking ships or martyrdom's sour kiss All is laced with the bitter taste of the flavors I have missed To fear is to tell stories of a million other fates Ivan sinks and the father drinks, but the balladeer just waits Oh, my dreams and salient schemes have wrecked this weary ship Dashed to rocks but yet still docked, anchored to a clever quip Someone please save me for I am all alone Grab the oars and set the course The balladeer is home