Holy Bones

An old man bent in half walks towards the train tracks

With his head at his ankles, I watch his hair drag

On the cracked concrete, catching trash at his feet

Heart candy and pink rose petals

I should have known by the cold, it was Valentine’s Day

"This month's for groundhogs and dying", my father would say

The man shuffles by, hear him groan, hear him sigh

As the train rattles up and waits

Ribbons trail from his shoes

Like the ones you’d use to tie your hair in a halo braid

Baby, deep in the heart of Rome

There's a sanctified crown of flowers

That would be better blessed as your headdress

I'd brand your name on my face if you asked me to

I'd kill the winter with my shadow so your dogwoods can bloom

Though it seems like I forgot, there's this plan that I got

To steal a present luminescent as you

Ain't no sacred price too great, no law that I won't break

To see you shine like a stained glass saint

Baby, deep in the heart of Rome

There's a sanctified crown of flowers

That rests on holy bones encased in gold

But it would be better blessed as your headdress

I'll walk the coast 'til I crawl, bathe in pool hall stalls

Steal for my meals, feed the hounds at my heels

Float, unknown, into Rome in a cargo hold

And snatch the crown, on a moonless night

Right off the skull of Saint Valentine

Then I'll smash his fucking head in

Baby, I'd risk eternal fire

To see your pretty head crowned in flowers

Don't you cry for Saint Valentine

He won't mind, no, he won't mind

He’s been dead for so long, but we still got time

Elena please, come on, baby, say you're still mine