(The Love Story Of) Marjorine & the Juggler

Love was fallin’ down easily from the yellow bulbs
in the miracle's tent
in Tuscaloosa
the night the juggler was in town

the scent of the river was floating around us
in small cotton like waves
young kids were smuggling their fathers moonshine
the hunters were coming out from their caves

Wild berries in your sweet palm
White horses at the door
she was a lone rider ever since
her father never came back from the northern war

The juggler was a-smiling
looking at the yellowed faces of the righteous people
the sound of the bells ringing from the steeple

Barbeque smoke, sweat
Wavy hair
Blackest that I had never seen before
over soft tanned shoulders that shine in the shade
A band was playing some degraded copy of
the waterboys
And I was singing Hank Williams songs for you
In my mind

The Major drop by your little shack
All white suit and cologne
And a golden watch
And a twisted smile
You are the prettiest girl around Marjorine
You’re the nicest gal I’ve ever seen

It started to rain
The fat drops cool down his cigar
And the band run behind the diamond house
“It’s overcrowded here my dear” – He said -
“Why don’t we go inside?”

And in the tidewater red-cypress home
Words were said
Knots untied
The earth stood still when on her back she laid
And the singer
So softly came
Silver sharp in his hands and nails
Blinking on the night like the distant lights
of the resting summer fair
heavy moon in his head
a torn turn inside their bed
“I only wish you had some money my little mare”
Blood and grievance just filled the air
Of the sticky Louisiana night

“What have you done my fatuous boy?”
Said the major in a hush
“I’m just freeing Helen of Troy , can’t you see?”
“You’re doomed
No swamps will shelter you
No rest you’ll find
I am the king of the bayou
I’ve got my cane and all”

There was a lot of fighting
A lot of rushing
Some pistols were shot
Some flesh was cut
Sentences were laid
Some crystals were broken and some favors were paid
Underneath the rain and the trees and the staggering moon
Who smiled cold and far away over his poisonous bone

And in the dark side of the trees
His footsteps fresh
The silver kid still
Waits for the right time
When the heat comes down
And he can go back to her lover’s home
back in the Major’s land