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I've been trying to work this into a lyric, it's coming along - will certainly be an odd one when it finds its musical mate - open to feedback or reactions, thanks

It's a ghost town
god-forsaken hometown
dirty playground
we used to blow around
brittle leaves, hard to catch
like drifting sound

where now
old shipwrecked demons
sit down
along the pot-holed street
struck empty
of you and tired of me

transparent pitiful
lackluster, lame
like wrinkled cellophane
with their pathetic rattling chains
complain to me how it's all become
a deadly bore

just another pointless chore
all that noise
and what for?
Wasn't there
supposed to be
something more?

And then there's the missing refrain
we always swore we'd hear it again

but twisted road signs
along the sidelines
led me away until now
it's a different game
though some of the names
remain the same

so where are you now?
Just another local ghost in town

with your hidden tapes,
your fire escapes
forbidden tastes
washed down with cheap beer
not too far from here

no one to ignore
no one to fear
no one to whisper
into my stoned ear
wasn't there supposed to be
something more
we were supposed to do?

I talk out loud to you
as the semi's haul ass
and U.S. steel
down Route 62
trying to get home
for the 11 o'clock news

while I stalk the old haunts
in the easy chair
anonymity
of my rental car
make a wish upon a star
never gets you far

it falls to the ground
in a meteor shower
of diamond rings
and wedding gowns,
missed planes, turning up
in lost and founds

not on the other side of town
but the underside of down
& not so far away from now
where I lean an elbow
out of my car window
& get the low down

from washed up demons
who still complain to me
about the holiday season
catch me up on more old news
I'm listening for
some whisper of you

in my ear, you here?
I'm back in town
surfacing from the riptide of
bartered deals gone wrong
half-drowned in salty rain

and then there's the missing refrain

I could have sworn
I heard it again
just now
a faint background sound
where are you now?
you around?

Pretty long for a song lyric, but you paint a vivid picture. We need to get up from our TVs and computers and clean up our cities.
Jim Colyer

Thanks for checking it out Jim - yes, partly about the sad state of the "hometown" - but also about "going home" to the past we'd hoped we left behind. And the casualties of young adulthood. Thanks again for the read.

My own version of the same sentiment......... Not much different, but that's really the sad part, isn't it?

GHOST IN THE CITY




Just aint much left anywhere

The more I see the less I care

Like to find my own way through

But I'm always tripping over you



Am I a wolf at your door

A cobra in your bed

Just can't do it anymore

Really hurts my head



I know it all sounds so unreal

Tell me, tell me can't you feel

Ghost in the city tonight



Six years now I been hangin strong

Wonder maybe that's too damn long

I couldn't make it without my friends

But I fear the bitter bloody end



Find my own place somewhere to hide

Hang on tight, it's a wicked ride

Caught up in that damn freezin' wind

Wanna go back just once again



Am I a wolf at your door

A cobra in your bed

Memories I can't ignore

Words I never said



I've always heard time can heal

Tell me, tell me can't you feel

Ghost in the city tonight



I sure do miss her beautiful smile

Gone after such a little while

We're here but we ain't really livin'

Only hope to die forgiven



Am I a wolf at your door

A cobra in your bed

Thinkin' how it was before

Tryin' to see ahead



Pains within are now revealed

Tell me, tell me can't you feel

Ghost in the city tonight