The straight line

Robert Hunter, poet and lyricist to the Grateful Dead, has died. He was one of my great favourites. I’ve sung Brokedown Palace as a lullaby to my kids many times:

River going to take me, sing me sweet and sleepy,
Sing me sweet and sleepy all the way back home.
It’s a far gone lullaby, sung many years ago.
Mama, mama many worlds I’ve come since I first left home.
[…]
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul

He had a knack for extremely underspecified, sometimes to the point of meaninglessness, lyrics that meant different things to different people.
Eyes of the World I’ve written about before, but here’s a selection of bits:

***

Dark star crashes
pouring its light into ashes.
Reason tatters
the forces tear loose from the axis.
Searchlight casting
for faults in the clouds of delusion.
Shall we go, you and I, while we can
through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?
Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter.
Glass hand dissolving to ice petal flowers revolving.
Lady in velvet recedes in the nights of goodbye.

***

In another time’s forgotten space
Your eyes looked through your mother’s face
Wildflower seed on the sand and stone
May the four winds blow you safely home

I’ll tell you where the four winds dwell
In Franklin’s tower there hangs a bell
It can ring, turn night to day
It can ring like fire when you lose your way

God save the child who rings that bell
I may have one good ring baby, you can’t tell
One watch by night, one watch by day
If you get confused just listen to the music play

Some come to laugh their past away
Some come to make it just one more day
Whichever way your pleasure tends
If you plant ice you’re gonna harvest wind

***

Went to see the captain, strangest I could find
laid my proposition down, laid it on the line.
I won’t slave for beggar’s pay, likewise gold and jewels,
but I would slave to learn the way to sink your ship of fools.

Ship of fools on a cruel sea
ship of fools sail away from me.
It was later than I thought when I first believed you,
now I cannot share your laughter, ship of fools.

Saw your first ship sink and drown, from rockin’ of the boat,
and all that could not sink or swim was just left there to float.
I won’t leave you drifting down, but woah it makes me wild,
with thirty years upon my head to have you call me child.

Ship of fools on a cruel sea
ship of fools sail away from me.
It was later than I thought when I first believed you,
now I cannot share your laughter, ship of fools.

The bottles stand as empty, as they were filled before.
Time there was and plenty, but from that cup no more.
Though I could not caution all, I still might warn a few:
don’t lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools.