Racing

Racing

(oehler/goedken)

Orange pylons racing by the light
Mercury beams sliding through night
Figures move as shadows crawl
Here beneath the heart of it all
At high speeds we look to see
And we try to mind the signs
Racing by, we fail to recognize
All the things that cannot be

Lights off the horizon
All the world’s poetry outdone
Do I see the future
Or do I see the sun?

Broken lines speeding through the night
Vapor red glows cut though my sight
Fog enshrouds the still air whole
Racing toward the final goal

In this way we speed on by
To raise our voices in time
Flying on with planets crashing down
And we merely curse the skies

Glow looming in the distance
Promising days still to come
Do I see tomorrow
Or do I see the sun?

Purple shadows fading in the light
Halogen lamps fading from sight
Silence grows as echoes crash
Run aground on the culture clash

In this race we try to see
Never stop to read the minds
Speeding by, we fail to realize
All the things that will not be

The lights from the horizon
All the world’s poetry outdone
Do I see the future
Or do I see the sun?

[EO] After a particualrly long drive to DC for a festival (including an unexpectedly long detour into Michigan after a wrong turn), Dan remarked that the whole drive had just, for him, turned into “a blur of orange pylons and concrete dividers.”

Thus came this song.