Man Bleeds in Glasgow

and there's a road I have to walk
to be free of this sorrow
because I just can't take the taste
of this salt on my chains
I just can't bear to hear once more
how a man bleeds in Glasgow
and how he once walked
head held high from a West Highland train

But even then he sat alone
in a room full of nothing
behind a bar where music played
and the shadows were strong
and though the celtic undertone
of the music was healing
the bleeding man looked out
of the window and was gone

and he was gone across the waves
of a cold bay in winter
where the clouds formed into names
of the lost and the lone
and when the rain swept through
and lashed harbour walls and the hotels
he felt his fear slip down
between the sea and the stone

I will arise therefore
with rain dripping down thru the clachan
where the fearful calf awaits
the first boat of the dawn
in the east I hear a man
bleed alone in Glasgow
I can't forget how once
I lost my mind in your song

Jackie Leven

Unexpected, Acrylic, 30" x 20"