Face Of Love

Her nametag says Elena
But she moves just like you used to
When I order a drink
Our eyes meet
And the walls recede into—

Fog so thick I can hardly see
Stumbling through the woods
To the sound of your feet
Kicking up leaves
I find you on your knees
Staring at a nest
Of dead copperheads
Under a tree-split boulder
I say
"When you're running like a maniac
You'll get there fast
But the wind whips colder"
You grab the cross
Hanging at your chest
Your other hand
Soft, on the back of my head
As I'm catching my breath
You lick my ear
Then nearly bite it off
"Save preaching for the flock,"
You say
Then smile at the rocks and proclaim
"Here's the spot where God said to me
'Once love has a face, child
You can never be free'"

Sweetheart, nothing can save you
From the face of my love
Sweetheart, nothing can save you
From the face of my love

Elena's hand mimes
That she's waiting for me
Stick-and-poke lines
Etch the tide on her sleeve
And birthmarks off the coast
Of her sea
Change shape and fade
Near the nape of her neck
The faint pink of a dead reef
But her eyes shine with a violet hue
I've only seen in you
The same pious smile too
My whiskey sweats on Elena's tray
As I try to count the years
Or the decades I've aged
Since I drove away
Like a snake that bites after death
Some faces are ageless
In stasis
'Til one night they inject shame into an older you
What's left to do?
But project on the ice
As it melts in your drink

Sweetheart, nothing can save you
From the face of my love
(Watch her shimmy though acrylic beads)
Sweetheart, nothing can save you
From the face of my love
(Her hips are swaying, but I see yours swing)
Sweetheart, nothing can save you
From the face of my love
(My broken body starts to feel like it's seventeen
I hear you singing)

The highway threads a line through your past
Do you see me every time you look back?
Bright red in the sunrise crying
Wondering where you might be driving
In the fading crowds of fools you lie to
Do traces of my face
Still find you?

(In the fading crowds of fools you lie to)
Wait for me
(Do traces of my face still find you?)
I'll jump in the truck and speed
(In the fading crowds of fools you lie to)
'Til I'm between your knees
In the Technicolor gleam
(Do traces of my face still find you?)
Of the Starlight Drive-in screens
(In the fading crowds of fools you lie to)
Then I'll get that jealous priest
Who ran me out, baby
(Do traces of my face still find you?)
He's just a fraud like me
(In the fading crowds of fools you lie to)
And when my knuckles start to bleed
You'll kiss 'em clean
(Do traces of my face still find you?)
Yeah, but that's a fantasy
(In the fading crowds of fools you lie to)
'Cause I'm just ashes
Waiting to be scattered
(Do traces of my face still find you?)
Any place is fine, don't really matter