the headlights coming at me look like angels in retreat and the city of angels looks like hell on the horizon and will you be there waiting for me to stop this metal ache from creeping out of my engine i should have brought my grandfather s bible i m always getting myself into trouble and he survived world war two he held on to it the way i want to hold on to you my dreams are torpedo messengers exploding in the desert while you sleep your valley it crawls with cactus and failure if the stars are on fire well then it s all because of me so goodbye old dustbowl hello mojave well you ve been living too close to the ocean to hear my trembling voice plateau you might find it shattered scattered and broken along the seashore among the other shells i ve got to learn to sing from my abdomen and hold on to the ghosts and let them haunt me and think of my heart as a javelin falling down and descending into los angeles i ve got the summer of strangers to look forward to if you aren t here and waiting for me and the blue of my eyes to look backward through and more headlights blowing by me indecently so goodbye great plains hello little earthquake