But I Thought You Said Make Believe

I came back to boxes of merchandise and found that it felt like coming home. Stocking a car and arriving at a quiet venue that still smells like last night’s beer kegs, so alien under ceiling lights and empty, resting in anticipation. I wander the green room in search of treasure and forget, eventually, what the time is; alternate reality wraps itself around me like a warm blanket I knew I’d missed but not how much. The road lies endless ahead of the car, the rider, the setlist, each adoring ear is singular and all the same at once, you remember rocking in a dark cot on a blue night liner feeling like this was the only life and here it is again in morsels you sweep up the crumbs with your yearning heart. Look at him between verses and wonder how to explain that feeling in words, realizing you do not have to.

Music dances in your ears and tries to lull you to sleep.

In a million years you have never been less tired.