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Crickets - lyrics
As a boy, I dried insects on the window sill and stared through the woven curtains, whispering to the hornets dancing by the river. I stared and wondered about father. Mother, you said the river split father�s head upon a stone. And you said that he was buried in the bulrush, under a mound of driftwood and shells. At night, I hobbled down the muddy path out to the estuary. At dawn, I came to you with bleeding fingers and said there was no body in the grave. I heard unsteady footsteps climbing the stairs. I looked to you as grandfather gripped my arm and pulled me from beside your mattress bed and dragged me to the bathtub. Stay away from me, I said in my head. Then he whispered to me, I�ve been waiting for you. Put your hands on my heart. It was beating like a fist of crickets. He lifted his wineskin to his mouth, spilling kerosene on my arms, and he held me as he swallowed. In the window, I watched your neck twist and harden like a wick. Then he knelt and smashed his knife on a stone. There was an orange flash. I saw my arms on fire, and I stumbled down to the river�s edge. When I came back grandfather was dead. |
