Inward Road

Inward Road

You’re on the outward journey
On an inward road.
The bridge behind you’s burning
As you pick up the load.
The crows fly over the cornfields,
The dogs bark back in town.
It’s the moment of the morning
You find you are alone.

Ahead lie grief and danger,
Hostility and shame,
The comfort of a stranger,
The loss of your own name.
Sun burns through the branches
In the chilly wind of dawn.
Dew on the barbed wire flashes.
Blackbird sings on the thorn.

The neighbours always had you pegged
For someone who’d move on.
The question every how-do begged
Was where to and how long?
They didn’t build their town on love
But superstitious fear
And push came gradually to shove,
Now it’s time that you weren’t here.

Ahead lie thirst and hunger,
Maybe an unmarked grave.
Still you’ll live to be younger
Spending the time they save.
Robin sings in the hedgerow,
Sun streams over the wood.
Robin sings in the hedgerow.
You’re leaving now for good.

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