Galveston Blues

We drove all night to see you
Leave your hospital bed
Your bride said, "Don't feel that you need to
But if you want to, then go ahead
And come to Galveston"

We soaked up margeritas in some crab shack
And searched for whales out on the horizon
We had the whole pier to ourselves
But the waiter said, "You should see this town in season
You should see Galveston"

In Galveston, I saw floating docks above a littered beach
And a casino lit up like a peacock getting swallowed by the sea
I saw a giant seagull eating Wonder Bread from the hand of a little girl
She said, "This is where the ocean begins but it's the end of the world"

I took a photo of a graffiti sunset
On the boardwalk above the sand
A concrete wall signed in spraypaint hieroglyphs
I strained to see the master's hand
In Galveston

In Galveston I shut my eyes in the neon light of a sunken bar
And saw twenty-nine years stacked in boxes in the back of a rental car
I saw a nurse roll a cigarette outside the revolving door of your hospital
She said, this is where the ocean begins but it's the end of the world