The Possum

Yesterday, I was working in my yard when I saw a possum
Swinging in the foothills and he was old and beat up and hobbling
I got a closer look and his foot was mangled
I was woken up earlier by what I thought was a cat tangle
But it was him who got it bad from the cat that night
He moved slowly down the hill when he slipped under the fence
I propped myself up to check him out and he found nook under the air conditioner
I pointed him out to Caroline and she crouched down and he was shaking and full of fear
And when she stood up, I asked, "Baby, why are you crying?"
She said, "Because he's cute and he's down there and he's dying"

I went up to my room and I got a call from Justin
He was in San Francisco and Godflesh was playing
Caroline drove me halfway there where I met Tony
And we drove to the city and we parked out in front of the DNA
Justin and us, we had some laughs and we took photographs backstage
And our guts were protruding in all of them and we just kept laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing
Laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing
Laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing
Laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing

And when Godflesh took the stage, Tony and I, we stood there floored
Drum machines hammered and feedback blazed
And for a moment, everybody grew silent
While Justin tuned his guitar; like a church, it got so quiet
Just for a minute, and then they all soared together
Like a car off a cliff, they crashed and burned over and over and again and again
They threw hard vicious guttural B-flats that shook their opponent
Like a tough Roberto "Hands of Stone" Durán, seventh round
Davey Moore June 16, 1983
Godflesh shook the ramp that night like an early Mark “Gator” Rogowski
Justin lunged at the mic like a hungry great white
He was on fire, giving everything he had and killing it that night!
Tearing at his prey and then it came to a screeching halt
A relentless and beautiful and glorious 70 minute assault
And then he bowed down and set his seven string electric guitar down
And it screeched to holy hell and they disappeared and off went the crowd

Then we had pizza and I came back to my apartment in the city
Until 4AM, I watched movies and my ears were ringing
And I called Caroline out at the house
And we talked about the concert and about the possum down in the nook

And the ocean air came through my window
And the sound of foghorns, and then when I awoke
Godflesh was down in LA
And Tony had an open house that day
And I looked out at Sausalito
And Caroline was on her way back from Lake Tahoe
I got a call from Paolo Sorrentino
I'd be off to Switzerland in a week or so

Caroline came home that night and we had dinner and watched HBO
And I'm grateful for her love and for my friends
And to have seen the possum walk its last walk among the ivy

I want to grow old and to walk the last walk
Knowing that I, too, gave it everything I got
Against all roadblocks and obstacles I fought
For to live another day is much better than to not
And I'd like to die with music in my ears
The piano of Maurice Ravel or Godflesh's guttural growls from hell
The sound that evokes good memories of being young and able to get around
And I'd like Caroline beside me

That old possum lost the fight
His sad, black eyes; what a thing to see on a glowing Easter Sunday
But that rodent was loved and he's still thought of
And church bells rang that day
I remember hearing them in the afternoon just as we left
He had to have heard them too